Eagles Solve Saint John
Written by Patrick McNeil
Games away from Centre 200 no longer seem to be an intimidating proposition for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. After relinquishing second place in the Maritime Division in a 4-3 loss to the Saint John Sea Dogs at Centre 200, the Eagles took back second place a 4-2 win at Harbour Station on Thursday evening. It’s the first time in four meetings this season the Screaming Eagles have defeated the Sea Dogs.
Neither team gave an inch in the opening period that saw plenty of action with hits, scoring chances, saves… but not goals. In the middle period the Eagles would open the game up. It didn’t look as though luck would go Cape Breton’s way as in the opening six minutes the visitors saw a goal waived off on video review due to an offside. But the Eagles opened the scoring for real three minutes later with Anthony Sorrentino beating Saint John goaltender Marc-Antoine Turcotte low along the ice.
Before period’s end, both Michael Joly and Joël Caron would both corral rebounds in front of the Sea Dogs goal to make the Screaming Eagles lead 3-0. Joly has now scored in six straight games. Caron, a 19 year old forward, was playing in his first game with the Eagles after being signed as a free agent earlier this month.
Much of the second period was dominated by Cape Breton and it looked as though that trend would continue in the third period as Pierre-Luc Dubois swooped around the crease to beat Turcotte and give the road team a 4-0 lead. Dubois was making his return to the Screaming Eagles after attending the training camp for the Canadian world junior hockey team.
Saint John would not go away quietly and would heavily outshoot Cape Breton in the final twenty minutes. Mathieu Jospeh extended his point streak to eight games with a power play goal at 8:32. The Eagles would again get in penalty trouble when Alex Gosselin took minors for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct.
Adam Marsh would convert on the first power play to cut the gap to 4-2. However, the Eagles would kill off the second minor penalty to Gosselin and a later penalty to Dillon Boucher to hold on for the victory.
Alexandre Bélanger once again shone between the pipes for the Eagles, making 31 saves on 33 shots. Turcotte allowed four goals on 32 shots.
The Eagles will play their final game before the Christmas break, and before the opening of the league’s trading period, on Friday night against the Maritime Division leading Moncton Wildcats. The puck will drop at 7 PM. You can hear all the action on the radio at 1270 AM CJCB or online at https://www.cjcbradio.com/
Three stars:
1. Pierre-Luc Dubois (Cape Breton) 1G, 6 shots
2. Mathieu Joseph (Saint John) 1G, 1A
3. Anthony Sorrentino (Cape Breton) 1G 1A
Scratches For Cape Breton: Colin MacSween (upper body injury), Clark Bishop (lower body injury), Maxim Lazarev (world junior training camp), Evgeny Svechnikov (world junior training camp), Jérémie Beaudin
Scratches For Saint John: Jakub Zboril (world junior training camp), Thomas Chabot (world junior training camp), Jason Bell (injury), Matt Green (injury), Samuel Dove-McFalls (injury), Julien Tessier (injury), Bokondji Imama (suspension)
Final Shots On Goal: 33-32 in favour of Saint John
Cape Breton Power Play: 0/2
Saint John Power Play: 2/7
