Sea Dogs take 7-5 pre-season win over Islanders

The Charlottetown Islanders recovered from two, two-goal deficits but could not recover from a third as the Saint John Sea Dogs took a 7-5 pre-season decision over the Islanders Saturday night at Eastlink Centre.

Charlottetown wraps up their pre-season with a 2-4-0-0 record. The Sea Dogs finished their pre-season with a 4-1-0-1 record.

The Islanders came back from 3-1 and 5-3 deficits but couldn’t comeback from 7-5 down in the third period.

Islanders Captain Ryan MacKinnon said it was a tough loss.

“There’s not too many guys that are happy with the last 48 hours. It’s a process and we’re starting from scratch here and there’s definitely a consistency issue or the work ethic isn’t always there, but it’s a process and it’s a stepping stone we definitely have to make.”

The Islanders were coming off a 4-3 loss in Saint John last night.

A pre-season loss is no different than a regular season loss, said MacKinnon.

“In this dressing room every game is the same…we’re not taking any games lightly.”

Saint John took a 3-2 lead after the first period with goals from Matthew Highmore and power play markers from Adam Marsh and Luke Green. Keith Getson, short-handed, and Daniel Sprong responded for the Islanders. Filip Chlapik and Oliver Cooper drew assists.

The team came out flat in the first period, said MacKinnon.

“It’s tough. We have quite a few young guys and it’s hard to adjust from that second game in 48 hours but that’s not an excuse at this level, you have to be ready to play at any point and time and that’s another stepping stone we have to work on.”

Islanders rookie Mitchell Balmas tied the game at three with his third of the pre-season just 4:28 into the second period. Kameron Kielly drew the lone assists. The Sea Dogs re-gained the two-goal lead with power play goals from Nathan Noel at 11:57 and Highmore at 18:45.

On a five-minute power play that carried into the third period, MacKinnon scored his first goal of the pre-season 28 seconds into third period to put the Islanders down by a goal. On another power play, Alexandre Goulet tied the game at five with his second of the pre-season at 5:58.

The tie would last three minutes as Thomas Chabot gave Saint John a 6-5 lead at 8:48, before Samuel Dove-McFalls made it 7-5 with a short-handed marker at 13:03.

“It’s always tough when you start building momentum like that to take a step back,” said MacKinnon. “That’s the thing you have to learn is the most important shift is the shift after you score.”

Blade Mann-Dixon and Bobby Dugan shared the time in net for the Sea Dogs. Mann-Dixon started and played 29:05, making seven saves on 10 shots. Dugan played 30:55 and stopped 10-of-12.

Daryl MacCallum took the loss for Charlottetown making 23 saves.

The Islanders will kick off the 2014-15 season at home on Sept. 12 against the Sea Dogs. Game time is 7 p.m. AST.