GAME 5 RECAP: Sea Dogs Lose 4-3 (OT)

FINAL: Cape Breton 4, Saint John 3 (OT)

SAINT JOHN – The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles are a win away from the QMJHL semifinals.

With a 4-3 overtime win on Friday night at Harbour Station, the Screaming Eagles lead the best-of-seven second series 3-2 over the Saint John Sea Dogs. Game six is on Sunday night at Centre 200.

Giovanni Fiore was the hero, putting in a rebound at 7:25 of extra time to give the Eagles the win. Michael Joly scored a pair of goals in regulation time while Jordan Ty Fournier had the other. Alexandre Belanger made 38 saves.

Matthew Highmore had a pair of goals for Saint John and Daniel Del Paggio added a solo marker. Marc-Antoine Turcotte made 22 saves in the loss.

The Sea Dogs played fairly well in this one and doubled the Screaming Eagles in shots for much of the game. But they couldn’t pull it off, and now face a must-win situation in Sydney on Sunday.

Imama Suspended Seven Games

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The Saint John Sea Dogs will be without Bokondji Imama for the remainder of the second round.

The QMJHL announced this afternoon that Imama has been suspended seven games for his hit on Cape Breton’s Tobie Bisson in game four of the second round playoff series on Tuesday night. Imama was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for the hit.

Via the QMJHL website, here is the rationale for the decision:

• The opponent recovered the puck in the left corner of the ice and went around his net to exit his zone.
• The player at fault started from the left side of the ice and headed towards the puck carrier on the other side.
• He finished his hit on the opponent at the height of the face-off dot on the red line of the circle.
• The player at fault traveled a great distance to get to his opponent.
• He accelerated and took several strides without gliding before his hit; he had a lot of speed at impact.
• After completing a pass to a teammate, the opponent was in a vulnerable position at impact.
• Seeing that the opponent was slightly ahead, the player fault stretched forward and hit him with force.
• At the moment of impact, he was propelled shoulder and head first into the boards.
• Several factors were considered in the decision-making:
• Distance traveled (charging)
• Speed ​​at impact
• Distance between the boards and the player at contact (boarding)
• The force used on the opponent
• The player at fault has the responsibility, when a player is in a vulnerable position, to either try to avoid or minimize contact, which was not the case.
• This is not the first offense of the player at fault.
• The opponent was severely injured on the play.

According to reports, Bisson will miss the remainder of the series with a concussion. He was stretchered off the ice following the hit.

Imama has one goal and two assists in nine playoff games this year. The Sea Dogs have called up forward Cedric Pare to help fill some of the holes left up front, holes that now include Imama, Mathieu Joseph and Adam Marsh.

Game five of the series is tonight at 7 p.m. at Harbour Station.

PLAYOFF GAMEDAY 5: vs Screaming Eagles

With the series tied at 2-2, the Saint John Sea Dogs and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles meet for a pivotal game five tonight at Harbour Station. Game time is 7 p.m.

TV/Radio/Webcast: Rogers TV/96.1 NewSong FM/QMJHL Live

Series status: The best-of-seven second round series is tied at 2-2.

Game 1 – Cape Breton 4, Saint John 1
Game 2 – Cape Breton 3, Saint John 4 (OT)
Game 3 –Saint John 5, Cape Breton 2
Game 4 – Saint John 1, Cape Breton 4

Game 5 – Friday, April 15 at Saint John – 7 p.m.

Game 6 – Sunday, April 17 at Cape Breton – 7 p.m.

Last game: The Screaming Eagles evened the series at 2-2 with a 4-1 victory at Centre 200 on Tuesday. Giovanni Fiore, Phelix Martineau, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Evgeny Svechnikov scored for Cape Breton. Jakub Zboril scored Saint John’s lone goal. Alexandre Belanger made 32 saves in the win. Marc-Antoine Turcotte made 32 saves in the loss.

2015-16 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 6-3-0-0 against the Screaming Eagles in the regular season while Cape Breton went 3-5-0-1 against Saint John.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Screaming Eagles: Defenseman Olivier LeBlanc

Player to watch: Michael Joly is due. After recording eight goals and five assists in Cape Breton’s first eight playoff games, he has been held pointless in the last two – despite putting seven shots on goal on Tuesday. Joly can’t be held off the score sheet forever.

Three Things to Know

1. Bokondji Imama will not play tonight, according to a source. The league still hasn’t made a decision on a suspension following his hit on Tobie Bisson in game four. The Sea Dogs have recalled Cedric Pare to help fill some holes up front.

F @CedricPare12 has rejoined the Sea Dogs for the remainder of the series vs. @CBSEHockey #DrawALine pic.twitter.com/0dfigh6Dyf

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) April 14, 2016

2. The Sea Dogs are 4-1-0-0 at Harbour Station this post-season – with their only loss coming in game one of this series. The Screaming Eagles are 3-2-0-0 on the road.

3. Maxim Lazarev has (somewhat) quietly moved into second in QMJHL playoff scoring with five goals and 15 points in nine matches.

What Is Going On Here?

Hey, QMJHL, we need to talk.

Like, I know it’s hard sometimes being a sports league and all, but this season long series between Cape Breton and Saint John has gotten really weird.

There have been a lot of “incidents” between the Sea Dogs and Screaming Eagles this year – which maybe shouldn’t be a huge shock considering the two led the league in fights. What’s disturbing is how the league and officials have handled these incidents. There’s definitely some inconsistencies when it comes to suspending players (shocker). But the amount of suspensions that resulted from minor penalties or no penalties at all is shocking.

Here is a look at all the suspensions and some of the dangerous plays that have come from the season long series.

NHL Playoffs Begin Tonight

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Five former Sea Dogs are in the hunt for the Stanley Cup.

Tonight, Tomas Jurco's Detroit Red Wings begin the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tomorrow, Jonathan Huberdeau and the Florida Panthers begin their series against the New York Islanders, Charlie Coyle and the Minnesota Wild face the Dallas Stars and Stanislav Galiev's Washington Capitals take on the Philadelphia Flyers. On Friday, Simon Despres and the Anaheim Ducks take on the Nashville Predators.

It was another good regular season for former Dogs in the NHL, highlighted by Jonathan Huberdeau, Gerard Gallant and Mike Kelly helping the Florida Panthers win the Atlantic Division.

Mike Hoffman also had a good season, despite being in the Ottawa Senators' dog house at times. Stanislav Galiev, although he only played in 24 games, helped the Capitals win a league high 56 games.

Here's a look at how former Sea Dogs performed, via Elite Prospects.

Player	Team	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
Mike Hoffman	OTT	78	29	30	59
Jonathan Huberdeau	FLA	76	20	39	59
Charlie Coyle	MIN	82	21	21	42
Nathan Beaulieu	MTL	64	2	17	19
Tomas Jurco	DET	44	4	2	6
Eric Gelinas	NJ/COL	40	1	5	6
Simon Despres	ANA	32	0	4	4
Stanislav Galiev	WAS	24	0	3	3
Alex Grant	ARZ	5	0	0	0

GAME 4 RECAP: Sea Dogs Lose 4-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Cape Breton 4

By Lorne Webster | SN Staff

SYDNEY, NS – In a critical game, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles came up with a 4-1 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs Tuesday evening at Centre 200.

As a result, the best-of-seven QMJHL second round playoff series is now tie 2-2 - essentially reducing the series to a best-of-three set, with Saint John again holding home ice advantage.

Giovanni Fiore, Phelix Martineau, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Evgeny Svechnikov scored for Cape Breton. Jakub Zboril replied for Saint John. 

1st Period

The game began with a bang as a huge hit by Dillon Boucher caused a pane of glass to explode, causing a delay. Soon after the glass was replaced and the mess cleaned up, Cape Breton was granted a power play. Fiore took full advantage when he beat Marc-Antoine Turcotte just 2:20 into the game. The Screaming Eagles controlled much of the play in the first but Turcotte came up with big saves, notably when he stoned both Martineau and Michael Joly in the second half of the period.  

2nd Period

On a power play at 9:09 - moments after going postal twice - Zboril collected a loose puck in the neutral zone, rushed into the Eagles zone, split the defence and snapped a shot over Alexandre Belanger's glove to tie the game at 1-1. Seconds later, Bokondji Imama leveled Tobie Paquette-Bisson. Bisson had to be taken off on a stretcher, leading to a major penalty and game misconduct to Imama.

Here is the Imama hit on Bisson pic.twitter.com/VFZ1ue5YwS

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) April 12, 2016

However, the Sea Dogs penalty kill kept the high-flying Eagles at bay. Turcotte also robbed Joly once again with just over one minute remaining in the second to see the middle frame end tied at 1-1.

3rd Period

The Eagles took full advantage of their opportunities midway through the final period as they scored three goals in a span of 3:13. At 8:36, seconds after former Sea Dog Olivier LeBlanc did yeoman’s work to keep the puck in the Sea Dogs zone, Martineau collected a rebound and banged the puck past Turcotte. On a five-on-three power play at 10:06, Dubois unloaded a booming slap shot from the high slot past Turcotte. Finally, at 11:49, Svechnikov sent a low laser from in close to stake the home squad to a 4-1 lead. Things got a little nasty in the closing minutes, including a five-on-three power play for Saint John. But Belanger barred the door to secure a series tie.