FINAL: Sea Dogs 7, Huskies 0
ROUYN-NORANDA, Que. – It was the perfect ending to an unreal road trip.
Playing their fourth game in five days in northern Quebec, the Saint John Sea Dogs showed no signs of fatigue BY trouncing the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 7-0 at the Iamgold Arena in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Sunday evening.
With the victory, Saint John swept their four game road trip against the Val-d’Or Foreurs and the Huskies. Sweeping three games in Quebec is tough enough, but winning four games in the two northwestern communities is almost unheard of.
Stanislav Galiev and Michael Kirkpatrick led the way for Saint John producing two goals apiece. Gabriel Bourret, Mike Thomas, and Danick Gauthier also added goals. Steven Anthony and Stephen MacAulay both had two assists. Goaltender Frederic Piche was not tested too much, stopping 28 shots for the shutout victory.
Saint John simply dominated this game from the beginning to the end. Even in the third period when things got a little wild, the team kept their cool and cruised to victory.
Mickael Audette, who took three roughing penalties in the third period, made 29 saves and allowed six goals on the night. Backup Jeffery Noonan stopped eight-of-nine shots when he came in as relief in the second period.
FIRST PERIOD
Saint John dominated the first period. Their first good opportunity came when a Jonathan Huberdeau shot hit something in front, bouncing to Tomas Jurco. Jurco worked his way to the side of the goal with Mickael Audette down but defenseman Gabriel O’Conner dove to keep the puck out.
Zach Phillips then a sent a great pass to Kevin Gagne from the icing line. Gagne shot the puck from just above the dot but sent a low wrister wide of the goal. Then Stephen MacAulay fed a streaking Danick Gauthier but he couldn’t get a shot off.
While News 88.9 was experiencing some technical issues, Steven Anthony just missed a one time shot at the side of the net following a faceoff to the opposite side of Audette.
Saint John made it 1-0 at 10:56 when Michael Kirkpatrick centered the puck for Stanislav Galiev. Galiev wired the disc into the corner of the net to give Saint John the lead.
After Huberdeau was denied on a solid wraparound chance, Jurco cut through the defense but could not get a shot off before ramming into Audette in the Rouyn-Noranda crease.
The Sea Dogs doubled their at 16:23 when Mike Thomas fed Gabriel Bourret. The Saint John defenseman one-timed the puck with nobody around him to give his team a 2-0 lead going into intermission.
The Sea Dogs outshot the Huskies 13-4 in the period.
SECOND PERIOD
Just 11 seconds into the period, MacAulay sent a pass ahead to Danick Gauther as the two crossed the line. Gauthier fired the puck high glove side and beat Audette to make it a 3-0 game.
Maxim Kazakov actually had a good scoring chance following the goal, forcing Bourret to take a hooking penalty at 2:00. After the Huskies failed to get anything going on the power play, Jason Kelly was called for high sticking at 4:04. Despite Nathan Beaulieu firing a couple of good point shots, they could not get anything by Audette on the man advantage.
Following the power play, Ryan Tesink had a partial break but sent the puck wide. Then at 7:11 Jason Cameron and Kelly dropped the gloves in a rather uneventful fight.
The penalties began to come fast and furious following a Saint John power play. Jurco and Sean Girard were called for roughing at 8:57 and then Mike Thomas and Robbie DeFulviis headed off for roughing as well at 9:34.
During the four-on-four span, Scott Oke had a partial break but ripped a long shot wide.
With Beaulieu in the box for Saint John at 11:50, the Sea Dogs went back to their offensive penalty killing style. MacAulay entered the zone and fired a shot on Audette, producing a big rebound. Thomas was right there to sweep it in and make it a 4-0 game.
The Huskies had a decent scoring chance at the other end as Frederic Piche was forced to stop Jerome Raymond with the leather in front.
The Sea Dogs made it 5-0 at 12:28. Galiev chipped the puck ahead to Kirkpatrick who entered the zone down the wing at top speed. Audette did not even move before Kirkpatrick fired a wrist shot that beat the goaltender wide to extend Saint John’s lead. Jeffery Noonan replaced Audette following the goal.
Galiev made it 6-0 at 15:46 immediately following a faceoff, beating Audette down low to officially make it a blowout.
Huberdeau was sent to the box at 17:04 for tripping. A big scrum was produced in front of Piche during the power play, but the goaltender stood his ground and made a few nice stops.
Rouyn-Noranda, despite allowing four goals, kept pace with Saint John as the two fired 17 points each.
THIRD PERIOD
The Sea Dogs went to an early two man advantage at 1:54 with Andrew Roski and Raymond in the box. Huberdeau and Jurco both had decent chances but could not score.
Audette came back into the Huskies crease to open the third, but he was called for roughing after he went after MacAulay and washed his face with his glove for some unknown reason. On the power play, Gauthier made a nice move to get around his man but was stopped in the crease. That would prove to be the best opportunity.
At the other end, Roski had a good chance down low but Piche came up big with the glove. After that, Steven Anthony had a short breakaway but couldn’t get a good shot off after his stick busted. Then Oke was alone at the side but couldn’t get the disc on his stick.
The Sea Dogs had yet another power play after Audette took yet another roughing call for going after MacAulay and Alexandre Beauregard picked up a double minor on the play at 16:19. Bourret also went off on the same play for Saint John.
On the power play, Kirkpatrick tied Ryan Sparling’s franchise goal record at 18:31, scoring the 83rd marker of his career. The 20-year old made a deke on a diving Audette and went in alone to make it 7-0. Audette, of course, picked up a roughing penalty on the play.
In the dying seconds of the game, things got a little wild in the Rouyn-Noranda zone involving everyone. The officials had to hold Audette back. Despite there being 1.6 seconds remaining on the clock, the officials decided to end the match.
Shots in the final frame were 13-7 Saint John.
The Sea Dogs were 1/7 on the power play while the Huskies went 0/5
NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow afternoon.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs return home to host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station.
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