SUBWAY GAME RECAP: Sea Dogs Drop Final Regular Season Game 7-4 to Titan
The Saint John Sea Dogs (24-38-5-1) end their regular season on a sour note with a 7-4 loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (20-40-5-3) on Saturday night.
Cole Larkin led the Titan with a pair of goals, Donovan Arsenault and Dominik Godin each had a goal and an assist and Ben Allison tallied three assists.
Alexis Cournoyer led the Sea Dogs with a goal and two assists while Alex Drover had a goal and an assist.
Joshua Fleming made 37 saves to get the win for Bathurst while Ventsislav Shingarov made 25 stops for Saint John.
Despite a tough loss, the Sea Dogs have officially clinched a playoff spot! Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
Before the game, the Sea Dogs presented their three 20-year-old players, Drover, Brady Burns, and charlie DesRoches, with their jerseys before their final regular season games.
The Titan struck first just 40 seconds in as Arsenault fed a backhand pass to Larkin in the slot who put it five-hole on Shingarov for an early 1-0 Bathurst lead.
The Sea Dogs nearly got the goal back on their first chance as Burns fed a cross-crease pass to Peter Reynolds that Reynolds just whiffed on with an open net in front of him.
Vince Élie almost converted on a powerplay chance shortly after, deflecting a shot from Cournoyer just over the net.
Luka Benoit set up Cole Burbidge for a shot on a 2-on-2 just moments later, but Fleming was up to the task with a glove save.
Just before the halfway point of the first Drover snapped a shot from the faceoff dot past the blocker of Fleming to put the Sea Dogs on the board and tie the game 1-1.
Two minutes later the Titan came back with an odd-man rush that resulted in a dangerous shot from Noah Ryan but Shingarov made a great right-pad stop to keep things even.
Shortly after, Allison connected with Arsenault off a partial 2-on-1 to put the Titan back in front 2-1.
Shots after the first were 13-12 for the Titan.
Just under two minutes into the second Burbidge toe-dragged the puck out of a crowd in front and fired a bullet that beat Fleming but not the left post.
Less than a minute later Matthew McRae fired a shot from the high slot that found its way through traffic and past Shingarov to extend their lead to 3-1.
Just over a minute later, Joseph Henneberry took a five-minute major for checking to the head, sending the Sea Dogs on an extended power play.
Just under two minutes into the man advantage, Burbidge would tee up Reynolds perfectly for a one-timer to cut the lead to 3-2.
The Sea Dogs kept the pressure on with another three minutes of the man advantage to work with and converted a second time just 1:12 later to tie the game at 3-3.
Two and a half minutes later, the Titan quelled Saint John’s momentum as Allison found Larkin in the slot on a 3-on-2 who buried his second of the game to once again give the edge to Bathurst 4-3.
With two and a half minutes left in the second, and the Sea Dogs on another power play, Burns connected with Reynolds for another one-timer but Fleming dove across and got just enough of the shot to keep it out.
Shots after the second were 28-19 for the Sea Dogs.
Just 1:04 into the third Robert Orr snuck the puck underneath Shingarov to restore the Titan’s two-goal lead at 5-3.
The Sea Dogs answered with just over nine minutes left to play as Eriks Mateiko hit Cournoyer with a pass on the Titan’s doorstep who made no mistake, cutting the lead to 5-4.
2:06 later Ty Higgins skated the puck all the way down the right wing and beat Shingarov with a sharp-angle shot to put Bathurst up 6-4.
Dominik Godin scored an empty-netter with 1:23 left to make it a 7-4 final.
Final shots were 41-32 for the Sea Dogs.
Alpine 3 Stars
1 Alex Drover (1G 1A)
2 Brady Burns
3 Charlie DesRoches
