RECAP: Dogs shutout by CHL-leading Wildcats
MONCTON, NB – The Saint John Sea Dogs had a tough outing Saturday night, getting shut out by the red-hot Moncton Wildcats. Alex Mercier led the charge with a hat trick and two assists in an 8-0 win. Despite the loss, the Sea Dogs remain in the fight for the final playoff spot.
Julius Sumpf, Maxime Côté, Juraj Pekarcik, Gabe Smith, and Caleb Desnoyers also found the back of the net for Moncton.
GAME SUMMARY
Julius Sumpf opened the scoring for the Wildcats 14:25 into the first period, finishing a feed from Juraj Pekarcik. Just 45 seconds later, Maxime Côté stickhandled around Eric Young and scored on the backhand to extend the lead to 2-0.
With 1:33 left in the period, Moncton struck on the power play when Pekarcik fired a one-timer top corner off a setup from Markus Vidicek, sending the Wildcats into the intermission up 3-0.
At 12:33 of the second period, Gabe Smith buried Etienne Morin’s rebound just as a Wildcats power play expired. With four minutes left in the frame, Pekarcik set up Mercier for his first of the game, closing the period with a 5-0 Moncton lead.
The Sea Dogs made a goaltending change to start the third, with Justin Robinson replacing Young. Two minutes into the period, Caleb Desnoyers capitalized on a rebound from Pekarcik that sat in the crease, making it 6-0.
Mercier netted his second of the night on a setup from Preston Lounsbury and Natan Grenier at 5:14. He completed his hat trick by tipping in Adam Fortier-Gendron’s shot with 12 minutes left to play, sealing the 8-0 victory for Moncton.
STATISTICS
SOG: SNB – 17 | MON – 48
PP: SNB – 0/2 | MON – 1/3
Faceoffs: SNB – 21 | MON – 37
GOALTENDING BATTLE
Saint John: Eric Young (23 saves on 28 shots), Justin Robinson (17 saves on 20 shots)
Moncton: Mathis Rousseau (17 saves / 17 shots)
3 STARS
1st: MON – Alex Mercier – 3G, 2A
2nd: MON – Juraj Pekarcik – 1G, 3A
3rd: MON – Caleb Desnoyers – 1G, 2A
UP NEXT
The Sea Dogs play their final road game of the regular season Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm against the Charlottetown Islanders at the Eastlink Centre.
For the latest Sea Dogs news, visit SJSeaDogs.com, or follow the team on Facebook (Facebook.com/sjseadogs), Twitter (@SJSeaDogs), and Instagram (@SJSeaDogs).
