RECAP: It's Over. Dogs Lose 7-2.

FINAL: Saint John 2, Halifax 7

HALIFAX – A five-goal first period led the Halifax Mooseheads to a 7-2 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday night.

The Mooseheads came flying out of the gate, scoring three times before the game was seven minutes old. They would add two more to take a 7-0 lead after two. Halifax took their foot off the gas a bit in the third but still managed a fairly easy 7-2 win over the Sea Dogs in front of a packed Halifax Metro Centre.

There really isn’t a whole lot to say about this game. The Mooseheads are significantly better than the Sea Dogs right now and it showed. Things were a bit nasty throughout, there were several fights, etc.

The win was Halifax’s 12^th straight. Meanwhile, Saint John’s sixth straight loss officially eliminated them from playoff contention. It’s the first time since the 2006-07 season that the Sea Dogs will not be appearing the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s post-season.

Jonathan Drouin and Philippe Gadoury each scored twice for the Moose while singles came from Brendan Duke, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Brandon Vuic. Zach Fucale made 11 saves through two while Kevin Darveau made 10 saves in the third.

Jurij Repe and Nicolas Hebert each scored late in the third when the game was already out of reach. Sebastien Auger played the entire game and allowed seven goals on 42 shots.

Vuic, of all people, opened the scoring at 5:21 of the first as he fired a wrist shot from the slot that beat Auger. Then at 6:25 Gadoury cut through the crease and banged in his own rebound to make it 2-0. That was followed by Drouin scoring 30 seconds later on a deke to make it 3-0.

There was finally a fight at 11:55 as Lukas Walter and Vuic dropped the gloves. Walter picked up the instigator stuff. On the power play, Gadoury netted his second of the game at 13:34 to make it 4-0.

The Moose made it 5-0 at 16:59 thanks to Bandon Duke.

Shots in the opening frame were 17-5 in favour of the Moose.

Saint John had a five-on-three power play to start the second but couldn’t get anything going. Then at 2:41, Ehlers made it 6-0 as he beat Auger upstairs.

A few minutes later, Thomas Chabot had a rare breakaway but was denied by Fucale.

Kelly Bent dropped the gloves against Connor Moynihan at 6:53 and picked up an aggressor game misconduct. The Moose got a five-minute power play out of that but could not score. Their best chance was an Ehlers break that was stopped by Auger.

Halifax had a five-on-three later on in the period. At 15:54, Drouin used Andrew Ryan as a screen and beat Auger with a shot from the slot to make it 7-0.

Shots in the second stanza were 19-6 in favour of the Moose.

Darveau took over for Fucale in the Halifax net to start the third for whatever reason.

The Sea Dogs were able to catch the Mooseheads napping a bit late in the third. On a power play at 15:06, Repe jammed in the puck to get Saint John on the board.

Hebert added another at 15:55 to make it a 7-2 game. But that would be all Saint John could produce.

There was quite a bit of rough stuff after the horn sounded and it was all highlighted by Auger and Darveau being broken up by an official before a fight could start (pictured).

Shots in the third were 12-6 Sea Dogs.

Saint John went 1-for-7 on the power play while Halifax went 2-for-7.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play their final game of the season tomorrow night in Charlottetown.