RECAP: Groulx shines as Sea Dogs ground Eagles
SAINT JOHN – The Saint John Sea Dogs staged an eventful come-from-behind victory Friday evening at TD Station. A late third-period goal tied the game before Egan Beveridge sealed the win in overtime with a pinpoint shot, giving the Sea Dogs a thrilling 5-4 triumph over the Cape Breton Eagles. Saint John remains undefeated this season in extra time.
Olivier Groulx netted two goals and earned the well-deserved first star of the game honours. The other Saint John goal scorers were Zach Morin, Florian Schenk, and Egan Beveridge.
Cape Breton’s goals came from Émile Ricard, Tomas Lavoie, Cam Squires, and Cole Burbidge.
GAME SUMMARY
The first period featured stellar goaltending by Charles-Édward Gravel, who made several key saves to keep the Eagles at bay. Both teams remained scoreless through the opening frame, with Cape Breton outshooting the Sea Dogs 9-6.
The Sea Dogs struck in the second when Nicolas Bilodeau fed the puck to Zach Morin, who buried his own rebound past Brandon Lavoie at 1:17. Shortly after, at 6:08, a shot from Cruz Scanzano bounced off Lavoie’s pad, setting up Olivier Groulx for an easy tap-in to make it 2-0 Saint John.
Cape Breton answered back at 8:08 when Joseph Henneberry set up Émile Ricard, who fired one past Gravel to cut the deficit to 2-1. A few minutes later, Brayden Schmitt found Tomas Lavoie for a one-timer that beat Gravel, tying the game 2-2. Cape Breton took the lead at 12:56 when Cam Squires batted a deflected pass from Henneberry out of mid-air to make it 3-2.
Cape Breton extended their lead to 4-2 six minutes into the third on the powerplay when Cole Burbidge sniped a shot glove side. At the nine-minute mark, Saint John’s Florian Schenk pounced on a rebound from Dylan Rozzi’s shot, bringing the Sea Dogs within one at 4-3.
In the dying minutes of regulation, the Sea Dogs capitalized on a powerplay. Nicolas Bilodeau kept the puck in the offensive zone, setting up Groulx, who picked the top corner to tie the game 4-4 and force overtime.
With just one minute remaining in overtime, Rozzi carried the puck end-to-end before dropping it back to Beveridge, who rifled a shot top shelf to secure the 5-4 win for the Sea Dogs.
STATISTICS
SOG: SNB – 35 | CAP – 37
PP: SNB – 1/3 | CAP – 2/3
Faceoffs: SNB – 24 | CAP – 38
GOALTENDING BATTLE
Saint John: Charles-Edward Gravel (33 saves / 37 shots)
Cape Breton: Brandon Lavoie (30 saves / 35 shots)
3 STARS
1st: SNB – Olivier Groulx – 2G
2nd: SNB – Egan Beveridge – 1G
3rd: CAP – Emile Ricard – 1G
UP NEXT
The Sea Dogs hit the ice Saturday afternoon at TD Station for the annual Teddy Bear Toss game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 3:00 pm.
For the latest Sea Dogs news, visit SJSeaDogs.com, or follow the team on Facebook (Facebook.com/sjseadogs), Twitter (@SJSeaDogs), and Instagram (@SJSeaDogs).