Rafuse nets hat trick as Titan trounce Sea Dogs on the road

SAINT JOHN, NB – The Acadie-Bathurst Titan were on the road Saturday night to visit the Saint John Sea Dogs. It was a one-sided affair from the start as the Titan put up six goals in the first period including five in a span of five minutes.

Seven minutes in Cole Rafuse opened the scoring with his first of the year, assisted by Evan MacKinnon and Logan Chisholm. Felix-Antoine Drolet netted his first of the season at 10:27 to extend the lead to 2-0 with assists going to Rafuse and Marc-Andre LeCouffe. Rafuse added two more at 12:16 and 12:36 to complete his hat trick and make it 4-0 Titan. LeCouffe picked up an assist on both goals while Daniil Vertiy and William Champagne got singles.

Michal Ivan pushed it to 5-0 with a powerplay goal at 14:07 with helpers going to Chisholm and Keenan MacIsaac. Rafuse’s fourth of the night made it 6-0 at 15:50 and that would be the score after one period. MacKinnon and Alexis Sansfacon notched the assists.

In his second game since returning from the New York Islanders camp Noah Dobson scored 4:32 into the second pushing the advantage to 7-0 on a powerplay. Brady Burns got Saint John on the board two minutes later but the bleeding would not stop. Goals from Marc-Andre LeCouffe at 8:45 and Domenic Malatesta at 13:56 put the visitors ahead 9-0 through 40 minutes. Dobson and Malatesta assisted on LeCouffe’s second of the season while Sansfacon picked up the lone helper on Malatesta’s marker.

Drolet’s second of the night late in the third period put a bow on a massive 10-1 victory for the Titan to bring their record to 2-2. Rafuse was named first star with six points while LeCouffe picked up second star and MacKinnon earned third star honours.