RECAP: Sea Dogs spoil Wildcats opener with comeback win
MONCTON, N.B. – The Saint John Sea Dogs scored four consecutive goals in the second period to erase a 3-1 deficit against the Moncton Wildcats on Saturday night at the Avenir Centre. Six different Sea Dogs scored, with Natan Éthier leading the way with two, as Saint John beat the defending champions 7-5.
Alex Donovan, Alexis Joseph, Olivier Groulx, Dylan Rozzi, and Zach Morin all scored for the Sea Dogs on Saturday night.
Moncton goal scorers were Preston Lounsbury, Eerik Wallenius, Kuzma Voronin, Niko Tournas, and Carl-Otto Magnusson.
GAME SUMMARY
Preston Lounsbury opened the scoring for the Wildcats at 4:52 winning a battle behind the net before beating Rafaël Courchesne low. Eerik Wallenius made it 2-0 just 30 seconds later with a wristshot from the point.
The Dogs responded when Olivers Murnieks centered the puck to Natan Éthier who one-timed it past Rudy Guimond at 8:37. Just over a minute later, Kuzma Voronin chipped it over Courchesne’s shoulder from in tight. Saint John led 13-10 on the shot clock after one but trailed 3-1.
The comeback started early in the second on the power play when Alex Donovan went five-hole on a feed from Alexis Joseph. Joseph tied it 3-3 at 5:38, burying a return pass from Donovan.
Three minutes later, Olivier Groulx tipped in Everett Baldwin’s point shot for his first of the year on the man advantage. At 15:44, Zach Morin found Murnieks who dropped it to Éthier; he deked Guimond and scored his second to make it 5-3 after two. Shots favoured Saint John 30-16.
Moncton pulled even 5-5 early in the third with goals at 1:09 and 2:44. At 9:41, Angelo Fullerton picked off a Cats breakout pass, turned it into a two-on-one and set up Dylan Rozzi who blew it by Guimond for a 6-5 lead. Morin added insurance into an empty net with 24 seconds left to seal the 7-5 win. Final shots favoured Saint John 38-30.
STATISTICS
SOG: SNB – 38 | MON – 30
PP: SNB – 1/3 | MON – 0/4
Faceoffs: SNB – 26 | MON – 28
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