SUBWAY GAME RECAP: Drover Shines in Sea Dogs Win Over Eagles
The Saint John Sea Dogs (22-36-2-1) rode a trio of power-play goals to sweep back-to-back games against the Cape Breton Eagles (24-32-3-1) with a 5-2 win on Tuesday night.
Alex Drover led the Sea Dogs with a hat trick while Charlie DesRoches had a goal and two assists and Brady Burns added a goal and an assist.
Ventsislav Shingarov made 36 saves to backstop Saint John in net while Oliver Satny made 37 saves for the Eagles.
Just under two minutes in, Olivier Houde tried to put a loose puck behind the net between his legs and in but Shingarov got his pad against the post and kept it out.
Two and a half minutes later, with the Sea Dogs on the penalty kill, Burns intercepted a pass for a breakaway chance only to have Satny close his pads in time and make the save.
Moments later Burns got the puck again and fed Jacob Beaulieu out of the penalty box for a breakaway of his own, but he too would be denied by Satny.
The Sea Dogs got on the board with just under five minutes left in the first as Drover put home the rebound from a DesRoches point shot for a power play goal to make it 1-0.
Cape Breton headed to the power play shortly after and appeared to tie the game when a puck deflected off the skate of Olivier Houde and past Shingarov.
However, the play was reviewed and it was determined Houde put the puck in with a kicking motion, so it remained 1-0 Saint John after 20 minutes.
Shots after the first were 13-9 for the Sea Dogs.
2:16 into the second Drover stole the puck at his own blue line and took it all the way into the Eagles zone where he snapped a shot under the glove of Satny for his second goal of the night and a 2-0 Sea Dogs lead.
Despite the second being filled with fast-paced, back-and-forth play, the Eagles didn’t get a high-danger chance until just over five minutes left when Cam Squires set up Angelo Fullerton on a 2-on-0 only for Shingarov to dive across with a great right pad save.
The Sea Dogs then added to their lead on another power play with just 20 seconds left as Burns ripped a shot through traffic and under Satny’s blocker to make it 3-0 after 40 minutes.
Shots after the second were 28-21 for Saint John.
Just over a minute into the third Cole Burbidge found the puck amidst a crowd in front of the Eagles net for a close shot that Satny read perfectly and punched away with his blocker.
Just seconds after, Burns skated into the Cape Breton zone and laid the puck off to Drover who fired a wrist shot that just trickled through Satny and across the goal line to complete Drover’s hat-trick and extend the Sea Dogs lead to 4-0.
The Eagles finally responded under two minutes later as Squires forced a turnover to spring himself on a breakaway where his first shot was stopped but he jammed in his own rebound to cut the lead to 4-1.
That was as close as the Eagles came though, as DesRoches skated the puck up from his own end on a penalty kill, maneuvered past a pair of Eagles to enter the zone and ripped a slapshot under the blocker of Satny for a short-handed goal, putting the game out of reach at 5-1.
Ivan Ivan added a late goal for the Eagles with 3:35 left to make it a 5-2 final.
Final shots were 42-38 for the Sea Dogs.
Alpine 3 Stars
1 Alex Drover (3G)
2 Charlie DesRoches (1G 2A)
3 Cam Squires (1G)
The Sea Dogs head back out on the road on Friday, March 10th, when they visit the Moncton Wildcats. Puck drop is at 7PM AST and you can get your tickets at the TD Station Box Office and online.
The Sea Dogs only have three 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!
