Sea Dogs take 2-0 lead in semifinal against Quebec after 4-1 victory

<p>SAINT JOHN, N.B. – The Saint John Sea Dogs erupted for three power-play goals in the second period en route to a 4-1 victory over the Lewiston Maineiacs Saturday night in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League semifinal action.</p> <p>Saint John owns a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which continues Tuesday and Wednesday in Lewiston.</p> <p>”Our first two periods were outstanding,’’ said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant. “We dominated and they took a lot of penalties. We didn’t give them odd-man rushes and we slowed their transition game down. Our forecheck was a lot better (than Game 1).’’</p> <p>Michael Kirkpatrick had a goal and an assist for the Dogs, who led 1-0 after the first period and 4-0 through 40 minutes.</p> <p>Stanislav Galiev, Kevin Gagne and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for Saint John, while Kirill Kabanov replied for Lewiston.</p> <p>Kirkpatrick gave Saint John a 1-0 lead at 2:16 of the first period, scoring from a sharp angle down low.</p> <p>The Dogs blew the game open after Lewiston’s Olivier Dame-Malka was called for checking from behind and a game misconduct at 7:57 of the second period. Malka, the QMJHL’s top-scoring defenceman in the playoffs, was sent off after ramming Huberdeau into the boards.</p> <p>The onslaught started with Stanislav Galiev’s power-play goal at 9:50. Kevin Gagne added another man-advantage marker 18 seconds later, beating Lewiston netminder Nicholas Champion with a sharp-angle shot .</p> <p>With 1:19 left in the major, Lewiston defenceman Dillon Fournier was called for delay of game. Huberdeau notched another power-play marker less than a minute later, banging home the rebound from Nathan Beaulieu’s end-to-end rush. Andrey Makarov relieved Champion after the fourth goal, preventing further damage.</p> <p>”It was huge,’’ Beaulieu said about the extended power play. “We wanted to get a couple for (Huberdeau).’’</p> <p>Elsewhere in the QMJHL playoffs, the Remparts evened their best-of-seven series against Gatineau with a 3-2 victory in Game 2.</p> <p>At Saint John, N.B., Kirill Kabanov scored during a delayed penalty at 9:54 of the third period for Lewiston’s lone highlight.</p> <p>”You can’t be in the penalty box against this team,’’ Maineiacs coach Jean-Francois Houle said. “We ran out of juice (after the major) and we had nothing left. We were flat and we just didn’t have the fire in our hearts that we had (in Game 1). You can’t be undisciplined against this team.’’</p> <p>Houle said his team came up short in other areas as well.</p> <p>”I didn’t think we competed hard and we didn’t win many stick battles. They were first on pucks and that was the difference.’’</p> <p>Sea Dogs goalie Mathieu Corbeil made 24 saves for his second straight series win. Corbeil relieved Jacob DeSerres in Game 1 with just under nine minutes left in regulation. Lewiston led 4-2 at that point before Saint John rallied for a 5-4 overtime victory.</p> <p>Saint John had 46 shots in Game 2, applying good pressure for the majority of the contest.</p> <p>”We put pucks to the net and we had good opportunities to score, especially on our power play,’’ Gallant said. “We have to continue to force and put pressure on them.’’</p> <p>Remparts 3, Olympiques 2</p> <p>At Quebec, Ryan Bourque scored the winning goal with under two minutes left to play as the Remparts evened their best-of-seven series against Gatineau at one game apiece.</p> <p>Joel Champagne scored a goal and added two assists to lead Quebec while Jonathan Audy-Marchessault also scored – his 11th of the playoffs.</p> <p>Nicolas Deslauriers and Igor Levitsky had the goals for the Olympiques.</p> <p>Game 3 is Tuesday in Gatineau, Que. </p>