GAME DAY
Round One, Game Two - 2011 President’s Cup Playoffs
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight, 7:00 pm
Harbour Station
SERIES STATUS
The top-seeded Saint John Sea Dogs currently lead the 16th seeded Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 1-0 in the best-of-seven first round series.
SAINT JOHN – Following last night’s blowout of epic proportions, the Saint John Sea Dogs and Cape Breton screaming Eagles go right back at tonight at 7:00 pm at Harbour Station in Game Two of their President’s Cup playoffs first round series.
This series wasn’t expected to be very close, but the Sea Dogs’ destruction of the Screaming Eagles in the opening game was a bit stunning. The Eagles had a pretty good first period, but completely lost control of the game in the second period.
The Sea Dogs scored just once in the first and then turned on the jets in the middle frame, scoring a franchise record seven goals over the 20-minute span. Saint John added two more insurance markers in the third to make it a 10-0 final.
The Eagles just imploded. They took a ton of penalties, applied no offensive pressure in the middle stanza at all, and lost their cool as the game grew on. Eagles coach Mario Durocher was tossed from the game late in the second period after repeatedly trying to get the referees attention and not closing the bench door.
Unfortunately for Cape Breton, they have a minimum of three games left in this series. They’ll need to do the opposite of what they did in the second period to have any success at all. The team was undisciplined and it was costly as Saint John went an amazing 6-for-9 on the power play. Five of those power play goals came in the second period.
For Saint John, they’ll need to stay a bit more composed as well. They gave Cape Breton six power play opportunities but, fortunately, the Eagles offense was a no show. The Sea Dogs also got off to a slow start and really did not have a great first period. The Eagles had some decent chances in the opening frame and even hit a couple of goal posts.
A Sea Dogs win today would give them a commanding 2-0 series lead heading to Sydney for Game Three on Tuesday.
REGULAR SEASON NUMBERS
| Cape Breton | Saint John | |
| Record | 18-45-1-4 (6th Maritimes) | 58-7-1-2 (1st Maritimes) |
| Home Record | - - - | 32-0-1-1 |
| Road Record | 8-24-0-2 | - - - |
| Streak | 1-0-0-0 | 2-0-0-0 |
| Last 10 | 2-8-0-0 | 8-2-0-0 |
| Goals For | 154 | 324 |
| Goals Against | 276 | 165 |
| Goals/Game | 2.26 (16th) | 4.76 (1st) |
| Goals Against/Game | 4.06 (17th) | 2.43 (1st) |
| Shots/Game | 25.38 (17th) | 36.81 (1st) |
| Shots Against/Game | 30.22 (9th) | 26.96 (5th) |
| Overall PP | 15.2% (16th) | 25.1% (6th) |
| Home PP | - - - | 24.4% (8th) |
| Road PP | 16.9% (14th) | - - - |
| Overall PK | 74.1% (17th) | 83.7% (1st) |
| Home PK | - - - | 86.1% (1st) |
| Road PK | 74.1% (17th) | - - - |
| PIM/GAME | 16.1 (6th) | 13.1 (13th) |
SCHEDULE/RESULTS
GAME ONE – Friday, March 25: Cape Breton 0, Saint John 10
GAME TWO – Saturday, March 26: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
GAME THREE – Tuesday, March 29: 7 p.m. @ Centre 200
GAME FOUR – Wednesday, March 30: 7 p.m. @ Centre 200
*GAME FIVE – Friday, April 1: 7:30 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*GAME SIX – Sunday, April 3: 4 p.m. @ Centre 200
*GAME SEVEN – Tuesday, April 5: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*If Necessary
PHYSICAL AFFAIR
This game had a lot of nastiness to it and it started just after the first whistle was blown in the first period. There was a lot of scrums after whistles and stuff as well as a few cheap hits into the boards by both teams.
Not surprisingly, it was Cape Breton who was starting most of this stuff. They seemed to be trying to get Saint John’s top players off their games with a physical tone, but after a while the Sea Dogs were not biting and the Eagles got into penalty trouble.
The Eagles had a hard time containing all four of Saint John’s lines, allowing the Sea Dogs to open the flood gates in the second period.
Saint John did get involved in some stuff that resulted in penalties though, something they can try and correct this evening.
ZACK ATTACK
It was a huge night for Zack Phillips who scored a team record four goals in one game. He also added an assist in the blowout win.
All four of his goals came on the power play with Jonathan Huberdeau and Nathan Beaulieu assisting on three of those goals. Stanislav Galiev had the lone helper on the fourth goal.
OTHER GAMES TONIGHT
P.E.I. at Shawinigan - 4:00 PM EDT
Victoriaville at Acadie-Bathurst - 7:00 PM ADT
Chicoutimi at Drummondville - 7:00 PM EDT
Rimouski at Gatineau - 7:00 PM EDT
Moncton at Lewiston - 7:00 PM EDT
Val-d'Or at Québec - 7:00 PM EDT
THE RINK
Venue: Harbour Station
Capacity: 6,297
Reg. Season Average Attendance: 4,360
Playoff Average Attendance: 4,007
QMJHL Arena Guide
MEDIA GUIDE
Radio (Sea Dogs): News 88.9 FM
Live Web Feed: Telus
Television: None
Post-Game Coverage: Station Nation, Cape Breton Post
Live Coverage: There will no live coverage from Station Nation during this game.
AFTER THE BUZZER
The Sea Dogs head to Cape Breton Tuesday night for Game Three of the best-of-seven first round series. Game time is 7:00 pm.
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Saint John Mill Rats Facebook page
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