After recording 17 shots against the Toronto Marlies on Sunday, the Bulldogs came out guns a blazing last night. They put a season high 46 shots on net last night against the IceCaps but ran into a hot goalie. Eddie Pasquale turned aside 45 shots en route to a 3-1 IceCaps win.
Cedrick Desjardins was expected to make his second start for the Dogs (according to Derek Wills twitter) but when the puck dropped it was Robert Mayer in the crease. No word yet if Desjardins aggravated his injury, but if he doesn’t play tomorrow rumors may start to swirl.
In the first period, the Bulldogs gave up the first goal of the game for the 12th straight time. Raymond Sawada tipped an Alexander Burmistrov shot past Mayer on the Power Play a mere 1:17 into the game.
The second period was more of the same for the Bulldogs. They gave up another Power Play goal at the 7:15 mark. Derek Meech converted an Alexander Burmistrov pass top corner for the eventual winner.
Burmistrov, who had two assists, played 150 NHL games before making his AHL debut this season due to the lockout. While many AHL rosters are boosted by locked out young stars, the Bulldogs are a team compiled mostly of rookies. This obviously has impacted their transition to the pro game, while it affects the Bulldogs standings negatively it should help the young guys like Tinordi, Beaulieu, Gallagher, Bournival etc in the long run, kind of like a test by fire.
Brendan Gallagher put the Bulldogs on the board early in the third. He snapped a shot off the post and past Pasquale for his team leading 6th of the season. Even though the Bulldogs recorded 19 shots in the third (same total the IceCaps had all game) that would be it for the scoring. Jason Gregoire added another goal for the IceCaps to clinch a 3-1 Saint John’s win.
