RECAP: Dogs Lose. Dogs Lose 6-2.

FINAL: Saint John 2, PEI 6

CHARLOTTETOWN – The Saint John Sea Dogs got off to a good start but could not contain the PEI Rocket in a 6-2 loss in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action on Saturday night at the Charlottetown Civic Centre.

The Sea Dogs opened the scoring but would never lead again in the game. They had a fairly good first period, out shooting the Rocket 14-13, but could not carry that over into the rest of the contest. Saint John, playing their third game in three days, had to be feeling some fatigue as the game dragged on.

Michael Abbott and Stephen Anderson scored the Sea Dogs’ only goals. Alex Fournier allowed five goals on 32 shots in the loss.

The Rocket had goals from Louick Marcotte, Victor Provencher, Matej Beran, Erik Robichaud, Yan Pavel Laplante, and Matt Bursey. Antoine Bibeau made 25 saves in the win.

Abbott opened the scoring at 2:54, blasting a slapper by Bibeau to give Saint John a 1-0 lead. The Rocket tied it up at 8:55 as Beran scored his 14^th of the year.

Shots in a fast paced opening frame were 14-13 in favour of Saint John.

Just 13 seconds into the second period, Saint John native Matt Bursey banged a rebound past Fournier to give PEI their first lead of the hockey match.

Fast forward to 11:03, Provencher connected on a power play to give the Rocket a 3-1 lead. Then on a power play of their own, Saint John cut the Rocket’s lead to 3-2 as Anderson scored at 18:57.

Despite being out shot 16-5 in the middle stanza, the Sea Dogs headed to dressing room down just one goal.

Yan Pavel Laplante restored PEI’s two-goal lead at 7:39, making it a 4-2 contest.

At 12:56, heavy weights Justin Dickinson and Patrick McGrath dropped the gloves but it wasn’t much of a fight. Dickinson sort of flipped over McGrath and the two tumbled to the ice, ending that confrontation.

The Sea Dogs took a risk and pulled Fournier with over two minutes remaining in the game. The risk didn’t pay off as Marcotte scored at 17:26 to make it 5-2. Robichaud added another goal 30 seconds later– this one with Fournier in the net – to make it a 6-2 final.

Jack Nevins scored as the final buzzer sounded but, after a review, the goal did not count.

Shots in the third were 9-8 PEI and 38-27 overall.

Saint John went 1-for-7 on the power play while PEI went 1-for-6.

NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on Stephen MacAulay and the Halifax Mooseheads on Wednesday night at Harbour Station.