Wednesday, December 7, 2016

GAME DAY 30: vs Wildcats

The first-place Saint John Sea Dogs (19-7-2-1, 1st Maritimes, 1st QMJHL) return home tonight to face the last-place Moncton Wildcats (11-18-0-0, 6th Maritimes, 18th QMJHL). Puck drop is at 7 p.m. at Harbour Station.

TV/Radio/Webcast: Rogers TV/96.1 NewSong FM/QMJHL Live

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 6-3 win in Gatineau on Sunday. Spencer Smallman, Thomas Chabot, Matthew Highmore, Kyle Ward, Samuel Dove-McFalls and Nathan Noel all scored for Saint John. Alex Bishop made 15 saves in the win. The Wildcats are coming off a 5-4 loss in Bathurst on Sunday. Liam Murphy, Cameron Askew, Simon Le Coultre and Manuel Wiederer all scored for Moncton. Dominik Tmej made 32 saves in the win.

2016-17 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 2-1-0-1 against the Wildcats this season while Moncton is 2-2-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Nov. 20 in Moncton where the Wildcats edged the Sea Dogs 3-2 in a shootout. Matthew Highmore and Jakub Zboril had regulation time goals for Saint John while Jeremy McKenna and Kelly Klima scored for Moncton. Julian Galloway allowed two goals on 14 shots before getting pulled. Matthew Waite stopped all 14 shots he faced. Alex D'Orio made 23 saves in the loss for the Sea Dogs.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Wildcats: None

Random stat: Saint John is 9-2-1-0 at home this season. The team's two home losses are the fewest in the league.

Three Things to Know
1. The Sea Dogs are coming off a four-game road trip through Quebec, a trip they went a solid 3-1 on. Saint John will close out the first half of the season with five straight home games.

2. Saint John continues to excel on special teams. The team enters play today with the QMJHL's top power play (28.6%) and penalty kill (84.4%).

3. The Sea Dogs have scored a league leading 10 shorthanded goals this season. The Wildcats have allowed eight shorties, which is tied for the league lead.

Notes: Mathieu Joseph leads the Sea Dogs in scoring with 42 points and goals with 23. Joseph is tied for the league lead in goals and is fifth in scoring... Matthew Highmore leads the team in assists with 26... Kelly Klima leads the Wildcats in scoring with 30 points...  Kelly Klima, Cameron Askew and Manuel Wiederer lead the team in goals with 13... Kelly and Kevin Klima each have a team high 17 assists... the Wildcats are 4-11-0-0 on the road this season... the Sea Dogs are 8-1-0-1 in their last 10 games... Wiederer is tied for the league lead in shorthanded points with five... the Wildcats have the worst power play in the league with a rating of 14.2%... the Wildcats' penalty kill is ranked 11th in the league with a rating of 76.1%... Joseph has points in 16 straight games... Highmore has assists in five straight games... Joseph has goals in four straight home games... Saint John has won three straight home games... Moncton has lost four straight road games.

Out of town:
Charlottetown at Shawinigan - 7:00 PM EST
Sherbrooke at Chicoutimi - 7:30 PM EST
Québec at Rimouski - 7:30 PM EST

Next game: The Sea Dogs host the Victoriaville Tigres tomorrow night at Harbour Station.

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