The Halifax Mooseheads escaped a late Saint John comeback to defeat the Sea Dogs 4-3 on Wednesday night.
The Mooseheads opened the scoring at 5:27 of the first period when Quinn Kennedy buried a pass from Connor MacPherson past the pad of Sea Dogs goaltender Rafael Courchesne.
Halifax added to its lead in the second period as Shawn Carrier notched his 18th of the season, redirecting a shot from Oleg Kulebiakin into the Saint John goal at 1:13. Kennedy scored his second of the night at 13:09, recovering the puck near the right-wing faceoff circle and beating Courchesne.
In the third, Carrier took advantage of a broken Sea Dogs stick, speeding down the ice and burying the puck on a breakaway for his second of the game. Saint John then scored three unanswered goals as Zach Morin, Elliot Dubé and William Yared all found the back of the Mooseheads’ net, but they ran out of time to tie the contest.
With the win, Halifax improves to 16-12-1-1 on the season.
Kennedy earned first star of the game with his pair of goals for the Mooseheads. MacPherson was awarded second star with two assists, while third star went to Morin with a goal and an assist for the Sea Dogs.
Halifax will be back in action Thursday, Dec. 18, when it hosts Saint John at Scotiabank Centre for the final game before the holiday break.
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., with live coverage on 95.7 NewsRadio. Garreth MacDonald hosts the pre-game show beginning at 6:30 p.m.