Sunday, January 16, 2011

POSTSCRIPT: Voltigeurs 3, Sea Dogs 2 (OT)

By Station Nation Staff

SEA DOGS – VOLTIGEURS GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score/OT: Drummondville 3, Saint John 2
Saint John Goals: Stanislav Galiev (20, 21)
Drummondville Goals: Ondrej Palat (27, 28) and Sean Couturier (18)
Winning Goaltender: Domenic Graham
Losing Goaltender: Mathieu Corbeil
News 88.9 Top Dog: Eric Gelinas

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Voltigeurs: 1/4, Sea Dogs: 0/6
Shots on Goal: Voltigeurs: 15+5+6+4=30, Sea Dogs: 11+11+10+0=32
Length: 2:27
Attendance: 5,319

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Forwards Scott Oke and Aidan Kelly were out of the lineup after both appearing in Friday night’s game. Defenseman Jason Seed was also out.

VOLTS DROP DOGS IN OT
The Saint John Sea Dogs suffered their first overtime loss of the season last night against the Drummondville Voltigeurs at Harbour Station. Ondrej Palat scored the winner in extra time as the visitors took a 3-2 win in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play.

Both teams were sloppy at times and the play was fairly even throughout the tilt. The Sea Dogs outshot the Voltigeurs 32-30 in the match.

Drummondville opened the scoring at 4:35 of the first period. On a power play, Sean Couturier won a faceoff in the offensive zone, giving Palat a chance to score in front. He made no mistake as a backhander beat Sea Dogs netminder Mathieu Corbeil to make it 1-0.

In the second, Stanislav Galiev tied the affair at 1:58 after he banged home a rebound that was produced from an Eric Gelinas point shot. 23 seconds later, Galiev was tugged on on his way to the net and was awarded a penalty shot. Galiev put a nasty little dangle on Volts netminder Domenic Graham to give Saint John a 2-1 lead.

Couturier tied the game at 2:20 of the third stanza after the Sea Dogs were unable to clear the puck out of their own zone, allowing the sniper to beat Corbeil with a wrist shot. Saint John had a glorious chance to retake the lead in frame when they had a lengthy five-on-three power play. But the Dogs couldn’t get much of anything going as the Voltigeurs shut them down.

It was all Drummondville in extra time. It looked as though the Voltigeurs had won the tilt when a shot appeared to beat a scrambling Corbeil. But a long review would show otherwise and play continued. Seconds later, a rebound went to the stick of Palat who had an open net to end the match and give the Volts the extra point.

Voltigeurs head coach Mario Duhamel was pleased with the way his team was able to shutdown Saint John’s offense for most of the game.

NO GOAL
Just prior to the Voltigeurs’ overtime goal, a point shot went wide and banked off the backboards behind the Saint John goal. The puck came out in front for Marc-Olivier Vachon who had a wide open cage to end the game, but Mathieu Corbeil bolted over to jam himself and the puck against the post/netting.

The Volts began to celebrate and half the team left the bench in an awkward moment of confusion. The play went under review and was eventually ruled no goal.

Voltigeurs head coach Mario Duhamel told L’Express (TRANSLATTED THROUGH GOOGLE) that it was a good goal with inconclusive evidence.

"The goal of Vachon was good, because the goalkeeper had returned to complete his goal. But it was impossible to see the puck on the video replay. Our players have jumped on the ice to celebrate the first goal, but they kept their focus on the following sequence, "said Duhamel.
Seconds later the visitors would strike to win the game.

BEAUREGARD VS RANDAZZO


After Alexandre Beauregard laid a big hit by the Voltigeurs bench, Andrew Randazzo dropped the gloves with Beauregard in a pretty good tilt.



GOOD WEEKEND FOR GALIEV
It was a great weekend for Stanislav Galiev. The Russian had been quiet for some time but began to pick his play up in Tuesday’s shootout win against Prince Edward Island. He scored two goals in Saint John’s 7-4 victory over the Voltigeurs Friday night including the game winner. He has been playing on a line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Zach Phillips, the Sea Dogs’ leading scorers, of late.

Last night, Galiev kept the same pace by scoring two straight goals. The latter came on a penalty shot just 23 seconds after his first marker.

His penalty shot looked something like this:



Galiev now has 21 goals and 18 assists in 39 games. Before netting a pair on Friday, the Washington Capitals prospect hadn’t scored since December 12.

TOUGH VOLTS
Last night’s game closed out the Sea Dogs – Voltigeurs season series. Saint John finishes with a record of 1-0-1-1. The Sea Dogs outscored the Volts 15-14 over the three games.

Two of the three meetings went to extra time. The two meeting each other in the post-season could make for an entertaining series.

STREAK ENDS, STREAK CONTINUES
With the loss, Saint John’s six gaming streak comes to an end. Is it just us, or does it seem like the Sea Dogs always have a tough time reaching the seven game mark? Their shootout loss against Chicoutimi earlier this season also came after six consecutive victories.

The Sea Dogs are still unbeaten in regulation on home ice this season with a record of 21-0-1-1.

QUICK HITS
Three QMJHL games were decided in overtime yesterday… goaltender Mathieu Corbeil got his second start as a Sea Dog in goal, making 27 saves in the loss. Both of his starts have gone to extra time… Saint John’s power play did not look good last night and went 0/6… with an announced crowd of 5,319 on hand, the game was the third largest attended at Harbour Station this season… in the battle of Sean Couturier vs Jonathan Huberdeau, Couturier had a goal, an assist, and a +2 rating while Huberdeau had no points and was a -1… Stanislav Galiev led the Sea Dogs in shots with six... Ondrej Palat led the Voltigeurs in shots with an impressive amount of nine. All nine were considered dangerous… Sea Dogs play-by-play man Tim Roszell celebrated a birthday yesterday… the Sea Dogs do not play at Harbour Station again until January 29… there was a pre-game ceremony to present a $16,000 cheque going to the Charlotte County flood relief efforts… to relive the match and technical difficulties, check out the SN Live Blog Replay… for pictures from the game, check our Marc Henwood’s albums HERE and HERE.

HIGHLIGHTS
Courtesy of SeaDogsTV:



OUT OF TOWN
From The Canadian Press:

Elsewhere in the QMJHL it was: Gatineau 5 Halifax 2; Baie-Comeau 5 Rimouski 2; Victoriaville 7 Lewiston 5; Acadie-Bathurst 3 P.E.I. 2 (OT); Moncton 2 Chicoutimi 1 and Rouyn-Noranda 4 Val-d'Or 3 (OT).
Rocket goaltender Evan Mosher, who stopped 65 shots in a 3-2 shootout loss against Saint John on Tuesday, faced 57 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss against Bathurst last night. He has faced 124 shots in the last two games.

ARSENAULT UPDATE
Referee Thane Arsenault was hit in the face with a puck during Friday’s match at Harbour Station. He completed the first period but did not return for the second or third.

“And for those in Saint John wondering about the referee (arsenault) last night that got the shot,” tweeted QMJHL referee Jeff Hopkins yesterday. “A few stitches and a concussion.”

To continue with our theme of where Hopkins eats before the game, he tweeted that he ate at East Side Mario’s before performing his duties at Harbour Station last night.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs begin a three-in-three Quebec road swing on Friday night at 8:30 pm in Baie-Comeau.

WEDNESDAY
Defenseman Nathan Beaulieu and forwards Tomas Jurco, Zach Phillips, and Jonathan Huberdeau will all play in the Wednesday’s Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The game can be seen across the country on Rogers Sportsnet.

BUS TRIP
A Sea Dogs fan bus is hoping to make a trip to Halifax on February 5 to see the Dogs face the Mooseheads. More information can be found HERE.

Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Marc Henwood/Station Nation

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