TIGRES CLAW PAST SEA DOGS

SAINT JOHN – The Victoriaville Tigres scored four goals in the second period on their way to a 7-3 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs, Saturday at Harbour Station.

Maxime Comtois had two goals and an assist to lead the Victoriaville (37-20-4-2) offence while Vitali Abramov added a goal and three assists. Dominic Cormier, Chase Harwell, Simon Lafrance and Jimmy Huntington also scored.

Nathan Larose, Cole Reginato and Aiden MacIntosh replied for Saint John (13-37-9-2).

A scoring summary is available HERE.

The Sea Dogs opened the scoring nearly seven minutes into the game.

A rush into the offensive zone was broken up the Tigres, but the puck was played to Larose on the left side of the slot. The rookie blueliner whistled a quick wrist shot past the glove of goalie Tristan Cote-Cazenave.

Victoriaville found the equalizer with four minutes to go in the frame when Abramov fed a pass from the right side across the crease to Cormier, who redirected it inside the right post.

The visitors exploded in the second period, starting five minutes in.

Harwell drove down the left wing, cut to the front of the goal and had the puck roll off his stick, under goalie Alex D’Orio, to give Victoriaville a 2-1 lead.

Comtois, a world junior gold medalist for Canada, made it a 3-1 game nearly six minutes later when he took a pass on the left side of the slot and rifled a wrister past D’Orio.

Just 1:12 after that, Lafrance, standing to the left wing side of the crease, potted the rebound of a shot from the slot.

Abramov made it a four-goal period for the Tigres with under four minutes remaining, taking a cross-crease pass from Comtois and ripping it inside the left post.

Victoriaville continued their attack less than two minutes into the third when Comtois finished off a three-way passing play from the right side of the crease for his second goal of the game.

Huntington extended his team’s lead to 7-1 halfway through the period with a breakaway goal.

Saint John wrapped up the scoring with under four minutes left, tallying two goals 23 seconds apart.

First, Ben Reid took a wrist shot from the slot that slipped through Cote-Cazenave’s legs and into the crease. Reginato pounded the loose puck into the back of the net.

On the next shift, MacIntosh corralled a bouncing puck in front of the crease and chopped it past Cote-Cazenave’s blocker to create a 7-3 final score.

Cote-Cazenave made 24 saves for the win. D’Orio stopped 42 shots in a losing cause.

Abramov’s four points made him first star while Comtois’ two goals and an assist prompted a second-star selection. Harwell was named third star with one goal in front of 4,838 fans in attendance.

The Sea Dogs’ next game is Sunday, March 4th, at 2 p.m. against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at Harbour Station. Tickets are available at the Harbour Station Box Office and online.

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