RECAP | Isles come home from Saint John losing 8-4 to Sea Dogs
By Kyle Cotton
Saint John, NB – The Charlottetown Islanders fall to the Saint John Sea Dogs 8-4 in their final game on the road this season Sunday afternoon.
Carter Bickle was chased in the second period by Saint John after allowing four goals on 11 shots. In relief, Aksels Ozols stopped nine out of 12 shots faced.
Isles outplay Sea Dogs, but trail 2-0 after first
It only took Saint John five minutes to open the scoring. After a puck battle behind the goal, the frozen biscuit came out to Nico Laforge. He shot the puck at a strange angle along the goal line to open the scoring for his first goal of the year.
Drew Elliott then gave Charlottetown their first power play of the game as he was called for roughing. The Sea Dogs killed off the penalty with the help of netminder Patrick Leaver as he turned aside Michael Horth and Cole Huckins.
Ondrej Maruna took a quick snap shot on Leaver but was turned aside. Horth took a seeing-eye shot from the point as well, but Leaver made the pad save.
Laforge and Will Shields took coincidental roughing minors to prompt four-on-four play.
Darien Reynolds of the Sea Dogs got the inside position on the defence and found himself one-on-one with Bickle, but Reynolds was denied.
Charlottetown continued to push as they had all the pressure. They eventually drew a power play.
Despite being a man-up, Saint John scored again. Brody Fournier got a puck through Bickle to double the Sea Dogs’ lead to 2-0.
Charlottetown led in shots 17-7 after the opening frame.
Sea Dogs offensive burst see’s Isles trailing big
Shields and Horth got the period going strong for the Islanders with strong chances on Leaver, but were denied.
Leaver stayed strong, denying Kevin Walker and Alexis Michaud.
Against the flow of play, Saint John got another two quick goals.
It started with a turnover in the neutral zone. Olivier Groulx managed to get the puck to a wide open Jacob Beaulieu who made no mistake on the shot to make it 3-0.
Then, just 11 seconds later, Drew Elliott scored his first of two goals as he found himself wide open in the slot. His 15th of the season made it 4-0 and chased Bickle from the game.
The offence didn’t stop there though. Tyler Peddle found himself on the score sheet not long after Ozols went in the net, adding to the already impressive goal totals for the period.
Simon Hughes then finally got one to get past Leaver. He was in the dirty areas of the ice close to the net, and he found a way to get the Isles on the board. His 18th of the season was assisted by Kyle Powers and Marcus Kearsey.
Saint John led 5-1 going into the second intermission despite being outshot 30-15 to that point.
Isles push back, but not enough in third
Peddle crashed into Ozols to open the third period, sparking conflict in front of the goal.
Horth rushed back into the Sea Dogs end and had two more chances that were turned aside by Leaver.
The Isles continued to come back on the scoreboard. Ross Campbell took a feed from below the goal line from Michaud and he shot it top shelf on Leaver to make it a three goal game. Huckins got within one point of 200 on his career with an assist on the goal.
Then, just under a minute later, Powers brought it back to within two. He pocketed a rebound off of a Hughes shot to make it 5-3. His seventh goal of the year gave Kearsey his second assist of the game.
Saint John stopped the bleeding. Peddle managed to score his second goal. The marker sparked a battle in front of Leaver. Huckins and Campbell were each served multiple penalties on the play, as well as Peddle and Fournier for the Sea Dogs.
Saint John ended up on the power play when it was all said and done and Matteo Mann took advantage. He out-deked Ozols to bury his sixth goal of the season to make it 7-3 in favour of the Sea Dogs.
Egan Beveridge took a high-sticking penalty to send the Isles to the power play.
They got one back while a man up. Anthony Flanagan tipped an Isaac Vos shot for his sixth goal of his rookie campaign. Michaud added his second helper of the afternoon as well.
Jim Hulton called Ozols to the bench early but it proved to be too late. Elliott pocketed his second goal of the contest into the empty net to seal the 8-4 win for the Sea Dogs.
Leaver was great in net for Saint John, stopping 41 of 45 shots faced. The Isles led in shots 45-24.
Charlottetown will return home for all three final regular season games this season. They will hit the ice next on Wednesday, March 20, as they host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan for the final time this season. Fans can purchase tickets here or by calling the Eastlink Centre box office at (902) 629-6625.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m.