Dogs still sizzling
Published Monday October 13th, 2008
SAINT JOHN - With a dozen games behind them and two big divisional games before them, the Saint John Sea Dogs are back to the .500 mark.
The Dogs have the day off today as they prepare for a visit to the Prince Edward Island Rocket Wednesday and a home game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan Friday.
Thanks to a 4-0 win over the Montreal Junior Saturday, the Dogs are fourth in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's six-team Atlantic Division at 6-6. They trail the Titan by just one point for third.
Just like their last meeting against the Junior, the Dogs ran into a hot goalie.
Only this time, they didn't just run into him, they ran right through him.
The Dogs delighted the crowd of 4,235 at Harbour Station by dominating the Junior and overcoming a 33-save effort from Fredericton native Jake Allen for their fourth straight win.
Defenceman David Stich continued his unprecedented scoring streak, opening and closing the scoring for his first-ever two-goal game. He has points in five straight games and a career-high five goals in just eight games played.
Michael Kirkpatrick remained hot as well, scoring his team-leading seventh goal on a power play in the first period. Steven Anthony added his second in the middle stanza with the Dogs down a man. Kirkpatrick and Anthony also chipped in one assist each and Robert Mayer stopped all 20 shots for his first shutout of the season. Chris DiDomenico had an assist to run his point-scoring streak to six.
"It's the best game we've played this year," said Sea Dogs coach Jacques Beaulieu. "For 60 minutes we played hard, defensively we were good and we kept them down to 20 shots."
On Sept. 26 in Montreal, Saint John jumped out to a 13-0 lead in shots, but Allen held the Junior in long enough for them to score opportunistic goals on the way to a 6-3 win.
The Dogs didn't allow that to happen Saturday.
"I feel bad for him. He kept us in there as much as he could, but we didn't help at all," said 20-year-old Montreal forward Nick Layton of Wheaton Settlement.
Kirkpatrick broke through at 15:12 of the first. Simon Despres fired a pass from the right point down low to DiDomenico. DiDomenico immediately sent it out front to Kirkpatrick, who tapped it home before Allen could react to the tic-tac-toe play.
Stich and Anthony added goals in the first four minutes of the second, and the Junior never recovered.
DiDomenico's pass out front to Anthony was broken up and stuck on back of the net, but Ryan Sparling dug it out, and squirted it out to the point, where Stich blasted it home just 52 seconds into the frame.
Less than three minutes later, Anthony hopped out of the penalty box and broke up a play at the left point. Montreal defenceman Pat O'Keefe tried to haul him down in the neutral zone, but Anthony fought through it, O'Keefe lost his stick and Anthony somehow found enough of the puck to slip it past Allen.
Stich tacked on his second on a power play in the final minute to round out the scoring.
"It's my best season already," said Stich, who is tied with Chicoutimi's Dominic Jalbert for the league lead in goals by a defencemen. "I feel pretty good. We won 4-0, it's a big two points for us and I scored two goals. It's a big night for me and for everybody on the team."
Saint John outshot the Junior in all three periods, and Montreal was credited with just five dangerous shots.
"We were lacking intensity, lost a lot of battles and couldn't capitalize on our chances," said Layton. "They outworked us and they got rewarded for it."
"We played unbelievable defensively, not just the D, the forwards too. They caused Montreal some turnovers and I really didn't have a dangerous shot on me," said Mayer. "It's a zero, but it's absolutely a team effort. I didn't have to do much. All the shots came from the outside, they made it easy for me. I don't think there's one highlight-reel save I had to make.
"It's good for the whole team. We proved to everybody we've got the best D in the league."
GAME NOTES: The Dogs were 2-for-9 on the power play and 7-for-7 on the penalty kill. It's the fourth straight game they've scored two goals with the man advantage, and second night in a row of perfect penalty killing. ...Anthony's goal was his first career short-handed marker. "¦New 20-year-old forward Kyle Paige assisted on Stich's second goal for his first point of the year. "¦Montreal forward Angelo Esposito, who snubbed the Dogs in the 2005 QMJHL draft, was booed every time he touched the puck. "¦Rookie forward Andrew Howes was in the starting lineup at right defence, but stood beside the bench and switched with Simon Despres as soon as the puck was dropped. Beaulieu's explanation? They circled the wrong number on the game sheet, meaning No. 46, Howes, was officially required to start instead of No. 47, Despres.
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