POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 4, Screaming Eagles 3

A collection of recaps from last night’s 4-3 Saint John Sea Dogs win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles…

Our recap. The Cape Breton Screaming Eagle’ comeback bid fell just short on Friday night at Centre 200.

The Cape Breton Post’s recap. “They’re never going to quit. They’re a competitive team that works really hard,” said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant. “I thought we played two really good periods and then fell asleep in the third. We didn’t play the way we did in the first two and it almost came back to bite us.”

CapeBretonEagles.com’s recap. Sea Dogs left winger Scott Oke led the charge for the defending Memorial Cup champions as he netted a pair of goals in the win for Saint John who improve to 27-6-2-1 on the season. Kevin Gagné and Zack Phillips also found the back of the net for the Sea Dogs.

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. The Sea Dogs are now 4-1 over the Screaming Eagles this year and continue their dominance over the Eagles in the last two seasons. Over that span, the Sea Dogs are now 11-2 in regular season action against Cape Breton.

SN Live Blog Replay. The first game of the Charlie Coyle era was a success.

MISSING IN ACTION: Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Tomas Jurco and Charlie Coyle along with defenseman Nathan Beaulieu did not play due to their participation in world junior training camps.

Forwards Stanislav Galiev (wrist), Ryan Tesink (knee), and Devon Oliver-Dares (head) all missed the contest because of injury.

RECALLED: Forward Danny Wicks was recalled for the game. He was a -1 and had no shots or points for Saint John. He has no points in six games with the Dogs this season.

In 22 games with the Maritime Junior Hockey League’s Weeks Crushers, Wicks has six goals and nine assists.

GOOD START: Although Saint John was outshot 11-6 in the first period, they carried a 2-0 lead after one. They scored on both of their opening shots thanks to goals from Scott Oke and Kevin Gagne. The Eagles had quite a few scoring chances in the opening frame but Mathieu Corbeil was up to the challenge, making some nice stops.

BAD FINISH:  The Sea Dogs entered the third period up 4-0 but nearly blew it. The Eagles stormed back, scoring three goals. Cape Breton scored twice in less than 30 seconds and added a shorthanded marker. Saint John would hang on for the win though.

“I thought we played two really good periods and then fell asleep in the third,” Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant told the Cape Breton Post. "We didn’t play the way we did in the first two and it almost came back to bite us.”

POWER PLAY: Saint John’s power play was rolling last night, scoring in both of their first two attempts. They couldn’t score on any of their final three attempts though - which featured a four-minute man advantage - and allowed a shorthanded marker.

PAIRS: It was a good game for Scott Oke. The forward scored twice, was a +1 and had five shots in his first star performance. Oke now has nine goals on the year.

Logan Shaw had two goals for Cape Breton. 

SAAB: The Eagles only had two power play opportunities in this one and both featured Ian Saab going to the box for high-sticking.

QUICK HITS: According to the Eagles’ website, "the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles used special RBK 1-piece sticks during the warm-up that were raffled off following the game in support of the YMCA Strong Kids program"… Oke and Danick Gauthier each had a team high five shots on goal… Jason Seed was a +2… Charles-Olivier Roussel and Stephen MacAulay were both a -2… Gauthier had four hits… Dany Potvin and William Carrier each had five shots for Cape Breton… Billy Hartley, making his QMJHL debut, was an Eagles best +2… Kyle Campbell had four hits.

HIGHLIGHTS: Here are the highlights.

NEXT GAME: Saint John’s first half comes to an end on Sunday afternoon when they visit the Moncton Wildcats at 4pm. 

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation