FINAL: Bathurst 4, Saint John 7
By Lorne Webster | SN Staff
SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs
defeated the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 7-4 Saturday evening at Harbour Station to
extend their current winning streak to five games.
In light of Shawinigan's 3-2 shootout
win over Quebec on Saturday, the Sea Dogs still hold the third seed in the
QMJHL playoff race - with two games in hand over the Cataractes. The win -
combined with Moncton's 3-2 loss in Charlottetown - also allowed Saint John to
inch closer to securing first place in the Maritimes Division. Two more points
for the Sea Dogs - or another loss by Moncton - will ensure that Saint John
will earn a top three seed for the playoffs.
Bokondji Imama, Spencer Smallman, Joe
Veleno, Daniel Del Paggio, Sam Povorozniouk, Mathieu Joseph and Samuel
Dove-McFalls scored for Saint John. Matthew Highmore contributed
three assists to lead the Sea Dogs. Emanuel Aucoin had a pair of goals for the
visitors. Christophe Boivin and Guillaume Brisebois also replied for Bathurst.
1st Period
The Sea Dogs got off to a slow start. A
few seconds after a successful Titan penalty kill, Boivin capitalized on a
turnover when his shot from the top of the umbrella pinballed past Marc-Antoine
Turcotte at 4:15. Imama showed some of his offensive skills just past the midpoint
of the opening frame. Luke Green stole the puck in the neutral zone and fed
Imama, who in turn made a nice inside out deke past a Titan defender and then
unloaded a rocket over Reilly Pickard's glove at 10:52. On a power play at
19:01, Smallman one-timed a slap shot off a feed from Veleno that beat Pickard
through the five-hole to give Saint John a 2-1 advantage after one.
2nd Period
A wild second period included five goals
and a goaltending change by both teams. At 3:34, Aucoin's wrist shot from the
right faceoff circle beat Turcotte to the far side just over his pad. Veleno
would answer with a lovely move from the right wing boards to the slot and a
hard wrist shot past Pickard at 8:14. 26 seconds later, Brisebois flew past a
couple of Sea Dogs, took a pass in the slot and wired a wrist shot past
Turcotte's blocker. Another 17 seconds later, a turnover ended up on Aucoin's
stick in the slot and he quickly snapped the puck past Turcotte. After the
Titan's fourth goal, Alex Bishop would replace Turcotte - while Danny Flynn
tore a strip off his teammates during a time out. The Sea Dogs tied the game on
a five-on-three power play at 11:08 when Del Paggio snapped a rebound over a
sprawling Pickard. The Sea Dogs appeared to have scored again at 11:48 but the
goal was quickly waved off as Pickard had lost his mask - and was injured -
after he had been run over by Nicolas Dumulong during a scramble. Alex Kelly
would be called upon to replace Pickard for his first regular season QMJHL
action.
3rd Period
The Sea Dogs' power play clicked again
at 2:56 of the third when Povorozniouk one-timed a slick saucer pass from
Joseph past a sprawling Kelly to give Saint John a 5-4 lead. Following a pair
of scraps - between Jakub Zboril and Jeffrey Truchon-Viel and then Cole
Reginato and Dumulong - the Sea Dogs would score again at 7:33, when Highmore
tipped the rebound of a Luke Green shot to Joseph for a tap in. At 10:44,
Dove-McFalls was thwarted on a partial breakaway but curled back into the slot
and wired a shot over Kelly's blocker to set the final score at 7-4 for the
home team.
