RECAP: Sea Dogs Lose 3-1

FINAL: Moncton 3, Saint John 1

SAINT JOHN – Garrett Johnston’s third period goal was the difference in the Moncton Wildcats’ 3-1 pre-season victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Thursday night at Harbour Station.

Eric Leger and Zack MacEwen also scored for the Wildcats while Sebastien Dupre made 24 saves in the win.

Saint John’s lone goal came from Sam Povorozniouk in the second period. Marc-Antoine Turcotte played the full game and made 33 stops in the loss.

The Sea Dogs looked a bit sloppy and unorganized for pieces of the game – especially in the first period - and the Wildcats were able to capitalize. Penalties also proved to be a problem at times. But hey… it’s still the pre-season!

Saint John fell to 3-2-0-0 with the loss while Moncton improved to 4-1-0-0.

Thanks to a few Wildcats power plays and some sloppy defensive play by the Sea Dogs, shots in the first period were 14-2 in favour of Moncton. Both of Saint John’s shots were long ones from outside the offensive zone.

If there was a positive from the first period for the Dogs, it was the play of Turcotte who made several solid stops, particularly a close range chance from Garland.

Despite the shot clock leaning heavily towards the Wildcats, it would be Saint John opening the scoring on their first power play of the game at 5:13. Samuel Dove-McFalls sent a perfect pass to Povorozniouk who ripped the puck upstairs to make it 1-0 Dogs.

At 12:19, Zachary Malatesta and Marcus Tesink were both called for roughing. Malatesta was also given an unsportsmanlike conduct, giving Saint John a full two-minute five-on-three power play plus two minutes of regular man advantage time. Although the Dogs had lots of time to work with and held lots of puck possession, they couldn’t generate many quality chances.

Shots in the second period were 12-9 in favour of Saint John.

Garland was given a two-minute penalty and 10-minute misconduct for being unsportsmanlike at the end of the second. But just 42 seconds into the third, it was the Wildcats scoring shorthanded as Leger beat Turcotte to tie things at 1-1.

Saint John went back to the man advantage at 5:23. On the power play, Matthew Highmore fired a shot through the crease and somehow stayed out.

Moncton took their first lead of the game at 13:25. Following a scramble in the crease area, the puck came out to Johnston who blasted a slap shot past a fallen Turcotte to make it 2-1 Wildcats.

With 1:47 remaining, Joe Veleno put in a rebound but the goal was immediately called off due to the net being off. The Dogs pulled Turcotte following a timeout, but an unfortunate penalty taken by Spencer Smallman evened things back up. MacEwen finished things off with an empty netter with four seconds remaining.

Shots ended 36-25 in favour of Moncton.

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Julien Tessier, Alexander Kealey and Dawson Theede along with defenseman Jason Bell. Recently announced call-ups Ben Reid and Pierre-Luc Lurette did not play either.

NOTES: Joe Veleno played on a line with Sam Povorozniouk and Daniel Del Paggio once again… Marc-Antoine Turcotte was the first Saint John goalie to play a full game this pre-season… Samuel Dove-McFalls and Zachary Malatesta fought in the third period… Povorozniouk’s goal was his third of the pre-season… this was the second of three straight games for the Sea Dogs against the Wildcats… this was also the second of nine home games the Sea Dogs will play on Thursday nights… $1,648 went to the 50/50 winner.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs’ pre-season comes to an end tomorrow night when they face the Wildcats at 7 p.m. in Bouctouche.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation