POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 0, Rocket 4

A collection of recaps from last night’s 4-0 Saint John Sea Dogs loss to the PEI Rocket…

Our recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs headed to Anne’s Playground on Wednesday night to face off against the PEI Rocket. Fans would be relieved to hear that Stephen MacAulay and Kevin Gagne would be back playing on the team, returning to Saint John after showing their stuff at Bulldogs camp.

The Telegraph-Journal’s recap (paywall). In Wednesday’s contest, Louick Marcotte and Ben Duffy both scored a goal and an assist for the Rocket (6-2-0-0), while Josh Currie and Victor Provencher added singles.

The Guardian’s recap. Antoine Bibeau recorded his first career shutout in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Louick Marcotte scored the game-winner as the P.E.I. Rocket blanked the Saint John Sea Dogs 4-0 Wednesday.

News 88.9’s recap. Featuring Tim Roszell’s goal calls.

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs and Prince Edward Island Rocket met in Charlottetown with the PEI Rocket coming out on top by a score of 4-0 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Wednesday night.

PEIRocket.com’s recap. "I was excited. I just want to thank everybody on the team. They all came out today."

Live Blog replay.

MISSING IN ACTION: Forwards Mackenzie Brown (knee), Spencer Smallman (shoulder), Matthew Highmore (shoulder), and Andreas Tsogkas (healthy) along with defensemen Pierre Durepos (hip), David Weckworth (knees), and Benjamin Hade (healthy) did not play for Saint John.

LINES: Last night’s opening line combos, according to The Guardian’s Twitter.

Huberdeau-MacAulay-Tesink

Cooper-Anderson-Zilbert

Kelly-Cameron-Olivier-Dares

Mastrangelo-Cuomo-Izacky

Leblanc-Gagne

Repe-Duda

Kelly-Seed

WELCOME BACK: Forward Stephen MacAulay and defenseman Kevin Gagne were both back in the Saint John lineup after being cut by the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs earlier in the day. Neither had played since September 26.

MacAulay recorded one shot on goal and a -1 rating while Gagne had one shot and even rating.

REBOUNDING: Well, this wasn’t as bad as Saturday’s game but it wasn’t the way the Sea Dogs wanted to rebound from it, either. Saint John has now lost three straight – all to division opponents - and has been outscored 19-5 over that span.

STREAKING: While the Sea Dogs have lost three straight, the Rocket have now won three straight. PEI has wins against Shawinigan, Sherbrooke, and Saint John over the past five days, outscoring opponents 15-5. They host Bathurst on Friday night.

THIRD: This was anyone’s game up until the third period. Leading 1-0, PEI added three goals in the final frame to take it 4-0. They outshot Saint John 13-6.

BIBEAU: Antoine Bibeau is off to a solid start this season and it got even better on Wednesday as the netminder recorded his first career QMJHL shutout. Bibeau made 22 saves in last night’s win, improving him to an impressive 4-0-0. He also has a 0.962 save percentage and 1.03 goals against average.

HUBERDEAU: Jonathan Huberdeau’s six-game goal streak and seven-game point streak came to an end with last night's shutout loss. The Captain recorded four shots and was a -2 in the contest.

According to News 88.9’s Sea Dogs blog, “the goal streak tied his own team record for longest in team history – an honour he shares with ex-Sea Dogs Michael Kirkpatrick and Scott Howes.”

ROCKET: How about the PEI Rocket? The Rocket – who have been just miserable to watch for the most part since moving to PEI – are now 6-2-0-0 on the season and sit second in the Maritimes Division and sixth overall in the QMJHL. They’ve won three straight and have a +9 goal differential. It’s good to see, especially with the team rebranding next season and starting fresh. As we’ve said many times, there is no fan base in the league that deserves a winning season more than Rocket fans.

NOTES: Jonathan Huberdeau had a team high four shots for Saint John… Louick Marcotte and Josh Currie each had five shots for PEI… Matej Beran and Antoine Venne each had three hits… Jimmy Oligny was a +3… Sebastien Auger was Sebastien Auger once again, bailing out the Sea Dogs with some big saves on several occasions… boring game to watch… Saint John went 0/4 on the power play. Their road power play now sits at an ugly 4.3%, tied for worst in the league… the Sea Dogs fell back to .500 with the loss. They haven’t had a losing record this year since they lost their season opener.

HIGHLIGHTS: Courtesy of the PEI Rocket.

OUT OF TOWN

Val-d'Or 7 at Cape Breton 2

Moncton 1 at Halifax 5

Rouyn-Noranda 5 at Acadie-Bathurst 4

Drummondville 2 at Sherbrooke 6

Baie-Comeau 4 at Victoriaville 3

Congrats to Sherbrooke on their first win.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Friday night at Harbour Station.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation