SUBWAY GAME RECAP: Sea Dogs Fall 5-2 Against Maritime Leading Mooseheads
 The Saint John Sea Dogs (20-36-1-1) kept pace with the Maritime Division leading Halifax Mooseheads (41-9-4-3) but came up short 5-2 on Thursday night. Alexandre Doucet led the Mooseheads with a hat trick and an assist while Markus Vidicek added a goal and an assist. Jordan Dumais had three assists while former Sea Dog Josh Lawrence had two. Noah Reinhart, who led the Sea Dogs with a goal and an assist, and Luka Benoit found the back of the net for the Sea Dogs. Brady James made 29 saves to get the win in net for Halifax while Ventsislav Shingarov stopped 32 for Saint John.  37 seconds in, former Sea Dog Josh Lawrence rushed up the right wing into the Saint John zone and around the net for a close chance on a wrap-around, but Shingarov got across to make the early save. Just under two minutes later, Cole Burbidge fed a backhand saucer pass to Reinhart on a 2-on-1 break, but James made the stop on the ensuing shot. Shortly after Dumais connected with Evan Boucher on a Mooseheads 2-on-1 that Shingarov read well and got across to keep out. Five minutes later the Sea Dogs opened the scoring as Nicolas Bilodeau put a slap pass to Cael MacDonald in the slot whose ensuing shot was stopped but Reinhart jammed home the rebound to make it 1-0. The Mooseheads answered back two minutes later as Doucet went end to end and roofed the puck past Shingarov to tie it 1-1. The Sea Dogs almost regained the lead three minutes after as MacDonald intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, powered past a Halifax defender and tried to outwait James, but the Mooseheads netminder made a great left pad save. Just 32 seconds later, the Mooseheads took the lead as Dylan MacKinnon fed Attilio Biasca just below the faceoff dot and Biasca found Doucet all alone at the Sea Dogs backdoor for his second of the period to put Halifax up 2-1. 1:43 after Vidicek won a race to a puck behind the Sea Dogs net and found Boucher in the slot whose first shot was stopped but he cleaned up his own rebound to make it 3-1 Mooseheads after 20 minutes. Shots after the first were 14-11 for the Sea Dogs. Just over three minutes into the second Burbidge and Reinhart found themselves on another 2-on-1 break, this time Burbidge kept it for a shot but James still made the save. A few minutes later Doucet got in behind the Sea Dogs defense for a chance all alone to pot the hat trick, but Shingarov stayed with him and shut the door. Just before the midway point of the second, James tried to handle a dump in from the Sea Dogs only for Burbidge to knock the puck away from him and right to a trailing Benoit who made no mistake with a wide open net to cut the lead to 3-2. Vince Élie almost pulled the Sea Dogs even with just over five and a half to play, splitting the Mooseheads defense to break in alone on James, but he could not find the back of the net. Élie did draw a penalty on the chance, but Saint John was unable to capitalize and remained trailing by one heading into second intermission. Shots after the second were 27-22 for the Sea Dogs. The Sea Dogs took an early powerplay to start the third and paid for it as Dumais fed the puck down low to Doucet who put a short cross-crease pass over to Vidicek who put the puck past Shingarov, doubling the Mooseheads lead to 4-2. Just moments after Pavel Simek broke in all alone on James, couldn’t put it past him, but whipped the rebound back in front to Alex Drover who beat James with a move but hit the side of the wide-open net. Several minutes later Doucet and Lawrence worked a couple of give-and-go passes that ended with Doucet coming close to his third goal again but Shingarov was equal to the task and made the save. With just over four minutes to play, Biasca got sprung on a breakaway only for Shingarov to deny him with a great pad save. Biasca found himself alone once more just two minutes later, but again Shingarov stepped up and shut the door. Just seconds after, off the next faceoff, Biasca found Boucher wide open in the slot who ripped the puck on net but Shingarov flashed the leather for his best of his 32 saves. However, the Sea Dogs could not find any more offense and with nine seconds left Doucet completed the hat trick with an empty netter to make it a 5-2 final. Final shots were 37-31 for the Mooseheads. Alpine 3 Stars 1 Alexandre Doucet (3G 1A) 2 Markus Vidicek (1G 1A) 3 Nah Reinhart (1G 1A) The Sea Dogs finish their five-game road stretch Saturday, March 4th, against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Puck drop is at 3PM AST and you can listen to the game on Sea Dogs Radio presented by TD at CFBC 930 AM or watch at watch.chl.ca. The Sea Dogs only have five more home games left this season so be sure to redeem your flex vouchers while they are still valid at the TD Station box office! |
