QUEBEC CITY P.Q. — Saint John let their power play do the talking on Wednesday night with three of their five goals scored on five power plays opportunities winning 6-4 over the Moncton Wildcats. Mike Hoffman (2-2), Michael Kirkpatrick (2-1) and Nicholas Petersen (1-1) starred for the Sea Dogs.
But with the score 5-1 Saint John after two periods the Sea Dogs were not convincing as the Wildcats scored three goals trailing by one with 2:20 remaining in the third.
Randy Cameron with two and Gabriel Bourque scored Moncton goals in third period making it a one goal deficit. Hoffman got his second of the game in an empty net to ice the game.
Trailing 0- 2 in the President Cup final Saint John head coach Gerard Galland doesn’t believe the series is over yet.
“It’s not over by any means, but we have to make a statement,” said Galland in the Wednesday edition of Telegraph –Journal. “We have to bring our confidence up. We’re probably as low as we’ve been all year after those two games. We haven’t played our games and we have to pick it up.”
Gallant continued, “Other teams bounced back after having rough start. The most recent example in junior hockey is the Windsor Spitfires beating the Kitchener Rangers in seven games after losing the first three.”
Looking to get a better start in game three Gallant reunited veteran center Hoffman with Michael Kirkpatrick who usually plays center but began on the wing and Petersen as right wing. The veteran reunion seems to have had the desired effect as Saint John scored goals on the first two shots in the game.
A penalty to Wildcats’ defenseman David Savard led to the Sea Dogs second goal; a laser wrist shot by center Kirkpatrick found the hole under crossbar on Riopel’s blocker side 6:24 of the first period.
Moncton cut the Saint John lead in half at 14:46. A face off won by center Kelsey Tessier saw the puck sent to the blue line to Mark Barberio, his shot was redirected by Bourque for the Wildcats goal.
Saint John restored their two goal lead when Kirkpatrick tipped the puck behind Riopel 5:23 into the second period.
Hoffman’s hard wrist shot beat Riopel for the Sea Dogs fourth goal their second with a man advantage.
After allowing four goals on 19 shots Moncton head coach Danny Flynn called a time out and made goaltending change sending Shane Owen to replace his starting goalie.
A penalty to Wildcats center Tessier proved to be costly for Moncton with veteran Kirkpatrick welcoming new Wildcats netminder Owen scoring Saint John’s fifth goal, the third one the power play. Kirkpatrick scored only seven seconds into Tessier’s penalty at 14:39.
Consecutive penalties to Saint John defenseman Morin and left winger Mike Thomas gave a golden opportunity to Moncton to reduce Sea Dogs lead. The Wildcats took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play opportunity for 1:24 seconds to score when Randy Cameron beat Marco Cousineau with just 9:00 to go in the third period.
Thinking the game was already won the Sea Dogs saw the Wildcats score two goals with 2:20 remaining in the game. Bourque with his second of the game cut the lead at 16:11. For Bourque it was his 18th of the playoffs. Cameron, with his second of the game, cut the Moncton lead to one goal.
But it was too late for the Wildcats when Hoffman scored in an empty net with 6.2 seconds remaining.
The next game will be Friday May 6th in Moncton Coliseum.
Goaltenders:
Moncton: Nicola Riopel 19 shots 15 saves. Shane Owen 12shots 10 saves
Saint John Marco Cousineau 40 shots 36 saves
Power plays:
Moncton: 1-7
Saint John: 3-5
Three stars selections:
First: SNB Mike Hoffman
Second: MON Gabriel Bourque
Third: SNB Michael Kirkpatrick
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
