FINAL: MAINEiacs 2, Sea Dogs 6
SAINT JOHN – Another day, another win.
The Saint John Sea Dogs won their seventh straight Quebec Major Junior Hockey League contest on Friday night at Harbour Station, defeating the Lewiston MAINEiacs 6-2.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Danick Gauthier, Michael Kirkpatrick, Tomas Jurco, Simon Despres, and Mike Thomas all scored for the Sea Dogs. Goaltender Frederic Piche was solid, making 28 saves for the win.
Saint John dominated the first period, but slowly, the Maineiacs got into the game. But the Sea Dogs were too much, scoring often to take the win.
Cole Hawes and Jess Tanguy scored for the visitors. Nicholas Champion played well in net, stopping 34 shots in the loss.
Lewiston was surly a bit fatigued after playing in Moncton on Thursday and Cape Breton on Tuesday. The Maineiacs will look to get their revenge next Friday when the Sea Dogs visit Lewiston.
FIRST PERIOD
Early in the first, Gabriel Bourret let a one-timer go from the circle but was stopped by Lewiston goaltender Nicholas Champion. The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 2:34 after Zachary Evans-Renaud shot the puck out of play. Their best chance came when Stanislav Galiev had an open net but the puck bounced over his stick while on the man advantage. Saint John put forth a terrific power play effort but could not beat Champion.
Scott Oke was robbed by a huge stop from Champion a few minutes later, throwing an arm and/or leg up to keep the disc out.
The Maineiacs opened the scoring at 6:35 after Francis Beauvillier centered the puck into the crease. Cole Hawes was there to jam the puck past Frederic Piche to make it a 1-0 lead for the visitors.
At 10:16 on the power play, Ryan Tesink sent a perfect cross crease pass to Jonathan Huberdeau who had an open net to tie the match at 1-1.
Gabriel Bourret headed the sin bin at 11:05 after he nailed Jess Tanguy in the corner. But it would be Saint John having the best chance during the two minute span as Nathan Beaulieu sent a pass from the point down low to Michael Kirkpatrick who tipped a backhand shot just wide.
Near the end of the frame, a Lewiston two-one play was broken up nicely by defenseman Guillaume Cloutier.
Shots in the first frame were dominated by Saint John, outshooting the visitors 20-4.
SECOND PERIOD
The Sea Dogs kept rolling in the second period. Tesink had a good chance when he fired a shot on net from the wing but was stopped by Champion. Then, Danick Gauthier was denied in close by the pad of the Maineiacs netminder.
Saint John opened up a one goal lead at 2:15 when Gauthier connected on a cross ice pass in the slot. The third liner had an open cage and made no mistake, giving the Dogs a 2-1 lead.
After Saint John failed to connect on two man advantage opportunities, Simon Despres took a penalty at 9:38 for high sticking. Piche was forced to make a nice save down low on a rebound during Lewiston’s power play. Then Stefan Fournier skated down the wing and fired a hard shot on goal but was pushed away by Piche’s paddle.
Saint John opened up a 3-1 lead at 15:59. Kirkpatrick crossed the line and had the puck poked off his stick. He regrouped quickly and fired the puck on goal, fooling Champion up high to give the Sea Dogs a two goal lead.
The Dogs got some momentum after the goal. Kirkpatrick sent a pass down low to Galiev but the Russian tipped it wide. Then on a two-on-one, Galiev kept the puck and fired it on goal but Champion made the easy pad stop.
At 19:34, some rough stuff in front of the Lewiston goal resulted in Jonathan Huberdeau picking up an extra penalty. On the power play, Michael Chaput had the puck at the faceoff dot on the circle and quickly sent it on goal, forcing Piche to slide across his crease and make the stop.
Shots in the middle frame were 15-11 Lewiston.
THIRD PERIOD
With Huberdeau still in the box, Gauthier had a shorthanded breakaway but sent the puck high and wide. The Maineiacs had one of their better scoring chances moments later with Pierre-Olivier Morin ripping a shot off the post.
The Sea Dogs made it a 4-1 game at 2:16. Kirkpatrick sent a backhand pass from the goal line and across the crease, finding Tomas Jurco at the side of the net who jammed the disc past Champion and extend Saint John’s lead.
Soon after the Maineiacs had a terrific scoring opportunity, Evans-Renaud was tossed from the game and given a five minute major after he ran into Galiev at the blue line, making knee-on-knee contact. Galiev left the game but would return. On the power play, Simon Despres fired a wrist shot from between the faceoff circles and beat Champion to make it a 5-1 game.
Huberdeau went to the box fir tripping at 9:22. Samuel Carrier had the best chance on a solid Maineiacs man advantage, tipping a shot wide.
At 13:28, what appeared to be an air mail pass stayed in the air and fooled Piche upstairs, giving the Maineiacs their second marker of the evening. The goal went under a lengthy review but it was ruled a good with credit going to Jess Tanguy.
Not long after at 13:53 and with the Harbour Station faithful failing miserably at starting the wave, Mike Thomas jammed the puck in down low to make it a 6-2 game. Once again, the goal went a fairly lengthy review, but it was ruled good as well.
That would be all for the third period. Lewiston outshot Saint John 11-10 in the frame.
The Maineiacs went 0/4 on the power play while Saint John went 2/7.
SCRATCHES
Stephen MacAulay was suspended for this contest after he received a penalty in Wednesday’s game versus the Acadie-Bathurst Titan for removing a players helmet during a fight.
Tyrone Sock was the other scratch.
LINE CHANGES
The Sea Dogs’ coaching staff switched up their line combinations Friday night. Here are the lines in no positional order:
Kirkpatrick-Galiev-Jurco
Phillips-Huberdeau-Tesink
Anthony-Thomas-Gauthier
Cameron-Oke-Kelly
NOTES
Two of the Maineiacs’ impact players – Olivier Dame-Malka and Kirill Kabanaov – were scratched… the Sea Dogs continued their pace of scoring at least five goals per game… the Sea Dogs improved to 14-0-0-1 at Harbour Station this season… Michael Kirkpatrick returned from a three-game suspension with a goal and an assist… Kirkpatrick recorded his 200th career QMJHL point in the game… Steven Anthony was the News 88.9 Top Dogs.
QMJHL Game Sheet | Sea Dogs Webiste Recap | Marc Henwood’s Game Photos | SN Live Blog Replay
NEXT GAME
Up next for the Port City’s major junior squad is a Saturday night showdown with the Gatineau Olympiques at Harbour Station (puck drop: 7pm). Tickets to this contest can be obtained by calling the arena box office at (506) 657-1234, or by visiting www.tickets.harbourstation.ca.
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