SUBWAY GAME RECAP: Sea Dogs Fall 4-3 to League-Leading Mooseheads
The Saint John Sea Dogs (22-37-4-1) surged late with two goals in the final ten minutes but fell short to the Halifax Mooseheads (47-10-4-3) 4-3 on Friday night.
Attilio Biasca, Evan Boucher, and Alexandre Doucet each had a goal and an assist to lead the Mooseheads to victory.
Vince Élie, Peter Reynolds, and Danny Akkouche had the goals for the Sea Dogs.
Brady James made 29 saves to get the win in net for Halifax while Ventsislav Shingarov made 36 saves in the Saint John goal.
44 seconds in Reynolds skated in on a partial break for the Sea Dogs only to be stopped by James who made a great left-pad save.
Just under three minutes later Jordan Dumais found the puck amidst a scramble in front for a point-blank shot that Shingarov swallowed up and allowed no rebound.
Shortly after Braeden MacPhee got set up for a one-timer in the slot, but Shingarov came up big again with a great kick save.
With 7:56 left in the first the Mooseheads opened the scoring, catching the Sea Dogs in transition for a 2-on-1 and Doucet teed up Dumais for a one-timer past Shingarov to make it 1-0.
The Sea Dogs almost pulled even with just under five minutes to play in the period as Cole Burbidge deflected a point shot that James stopped, but a huge rebound came out to Alexis Cournoyer, but he couldn’t get enough of the puck to chip it into the net.
However, with 11 seconds to go, Eriks Mateiko laid the puck to Élie off the rush who picked the top corner on James to tie the game 1-1 heading into first intermission.
Shots after the first were 16-8 for the Mooseheads
3:21 into the second the Mooseheads retook the lead as Boucher put a quick shot on net off the faceoff that Shingarov kicked out only for Biasca to pounce on the rebound to make it 2-1.
Just 9 seconds later, Biasca returned the favour, picking the pocket of a Sea Dogs defender and feeding Boucher all alone in front who put it five-hole on Shingarov to make it 3-1 Halifax.
Just over a minute later the Sea Dogs came close to responding as Luka Benoit put a hard shot on off the rush and the rebound went right to Brady Burns who couldn’t get a good enough shot off to put it past James.
Several minutes later the Mooseheads almost struck again as Zachary L’Heureux corralled the puck at the side of the Saint John goal with Shingarov down and out, but the Sea Dogs netminder managed to get just enough of the ensuing shot to keep it out.
The Sea Dogs came back with a chance of their own two minutes after as Élie found Burbidge in the high slot but his ensuing shot was also denied by another pad save from James.
With two and a half minutes left in the second Reynolds was sprung on a breakaway, only for his move to put the puck just wide of the net.
Saint John kept pressing to end the frame with a pair of dangerous 2-on-1s that resulted in high-danger shots from Benoit and Joseph Ianniello, but both stayed out and the Sea Dogs continued to trail by two after 40 minutes.
Shots after the second were 31-19 for Halifax.
With 11:38 to play in the third, with Saint John on the power play, former Sea Dog Josh Lawrence chipped the puck past a Sea Dogs defender to spring Doucet for a short-handed breakaway that he made no mistake on to make it 4-1 Mooseheads.
The Sea Dogs pushed back in the back half of the third and with 6:23 left Burns made a great skate up the left wing and into the Mooseheads zone, stopped up on the half-boards, and hit Reynolds with a cross-ice pass that he one-timed past James to cut the lead to 4-2.
26 seconds later, the Sea Dogs won an intense faceoff in the Mooseheads zone, worked the puck all the way around to the point to Nicolas Bilodeau who set up his defense partner Akkouche who ripped a slapshot over the right shoulder of James to pull the Sea Dogs to 4-3.
That’s as close as Saint John would come though as Halifax held on for the 4-3 win.
Final shots were 40-32 for Halifax.
Alpine 3 Stars
1 Attilio Biasca (1G 1A)
2 Evan Boucher (1G 1A)
3 Vince Élie (1G)
The Sea Dogs are back in action at TD Station on Sunday, March 19th, against the visiting Charlottetown Islanders. Puck drop is at 7PM AST and you can get your tickets at the TD Station Box Office and online!
Don’t forget to redeem your flex vouchers! There are only two home games left to do so!
