Hockey: Saint John, ranked sixth in nation, needs late goal to beat division's last-place team

B12

Scott Briggs
Telegraph-Journal

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SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs were one minute and 23 seconds away from an awkward overtime period.

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Peter Walsh/Telegraph-Journal

Spencer Metcalfe of the Halifax Mooseheads upends Saint John Sea Dogs forward Zack Phillips during a 3-2 Sea Dogs victory at Harbour Station Wednesday night.

Peter Walsh/Telegraph-Journal

Saint John Sea Dogs forwards Steven Anthony, left, and Michael Kirkpatrick battle with Brent Andrews, middle, and Carl Gelinas of the Halifax Mooseheads during second-period action Wednesday night at Harbour Station. Saint John defeated the Mooseheads 3-2. The Sea Dogs are at home to take on the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies Saturday at 7 p.m.

That was the amount of time left on the clock when Nicholas Pard potted the game-winning goal in Wednesday night's 3-2 win over the lowly Halifax Mooseheads in front of 3,426 fans at Harbour Station.

The Sea Dogs (17-4-1-0) are the top team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the sixth-ranked club in the Canadian Hockey League's Top 10 rankings. Halifax (1-18-0-1) is last overall in the QMJHL, but that didn't deter their strong work ethic.

"Tonight wasn't our best game,'' Pard said. "We thought about the standings before getting on the ice and we weren't there 100 per cent.''

Pard pointed to Saint John's 4-0 win in Halifax on Oct. 24. Despite the margin of difference in that contest, Saint John goalie Marc-Antoine Gelinas had to come up big several times against the determined Mooseheads. The overager stopped 17 of 19 shots Wednesday night. Halifax goalie Mathieu Corbeil made 23 saves.

"Every time we play them, they always work hard,'' Pard said. "They don't have the most talent, but they always give us a good game.''

The decisive marker came when Olivier Ouellet took the puck around the Halifax net and made a centering pass as Michael Kirkpatrick and Pard crashed the cage. Kirkpatrick picked up the other assist on the game-winner.

"I just crashed the net and the puck came right on my blade,'' Pard said. "(Ouellet) went behind the net and I decided to crash the net and the rebound came to me, and I just had to push it in. It was a big relief to get that goal.''

Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant was relieved as well. But he wasn't necessarily happy after his team's ninth straight win.

"It's pretty disappointing,'' Gallant said. "It (a letdown) happens after you come back from a long road trip like we had.

"The guys are pretty tired and they looked it. We really had a tough game and we didn't play well. The guys were not quite focused and they probably thought it would be a little easier at home, but it never is.''

Nick Petersen gave Saint John a 1-0 lead at 11:19 of the first period, depositing the rebound from Mike Hoffman's long-range wrister from just inside the Halifax blue-line. The Sea Dogs had a two-man advantage for 1:21 later in the opening session, but could not capitalize.

Saint John was called for too many men at 8:41 of the second period, setting the stage for Carl Gelinas' power-play goal at 10:36. Former Sea Dog Pascal Amyot had the puck at the point and slid it to Gelinas, who one-timed the disc from the top of the right face-off circle. The score remained 1-1 through 40 minutes.

Saint John regained the lead when Stanislav Galiev tipped in Nathan Beaulieu's point shot at 1:04 of the third period. Sea Dogs captain Mike Thomas took two for kneeing at 12:07, setting the stage for Gerrad Grant's power-play tally just over a minute later.

"It's really hard,'' Amyot said. "We were going into the third (period) and it was a 1-1 game. We were pretty pumped because we knew we actually had a chance to win the game.''

Saint John returns to action with home games Saturday night and Sunday against Rouyn-Noranda.

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TOP 10: The Sea Dogs are ranked sixth in this week's Canadian Hockey League's Top 10 Rankings. This is the fourth time this season that the Sea Dogs have been nationally ranked and the highest the team has placed on the CHL's Top Ten in the five-year history of the franchise. Following are the complete rankings: 1. Drummondville Voltigeurs (15-2-0-1); 2. Kitchener Rangers (12-1-1-2); 3. Calgary Hitmen (13-5-0-0); 4. Windsor Spitfires (13-3-0-3); 5. Tri-City Americans (14-3-0-0); 6. Saint John Sea Dogs (17-4-1-0); 7. Saskatoon Blades (14-3-0-2); 8. Quebec Remparts (14-3-2-1); 9. Barrie Colts (12-4-0-1); 10. Gatineau Olympiques (13-5-0-0).

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WEEKLY AWARDS: Victoriaville forward Tomas Kubalik is the QMJHL's offensive player of the week. In four games, Kubalik collected four goals and 11 points. Quebec goalie Peter Delmas is the league's defensive player of the week after posting two wins, a 1.97 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage.