Ryan Graves scored his first goal of the season and it proved to be the game winner Saturday night as the PEI Rocket took down the St. John Sea Dogs by a score of 2-1 at Harbour Station in St. John.
The Rocket, still without Tomas Pavelka and Matej Beran (World Juniors), Alexis Pépin and Nathan Yetman (World U-17) and Matt Bursey (suspension) came out flying in the first period at one time outshooting the Sea Dogs 11-0. The onslaught finally paid off when Jimmy Oligny connected with his 10th of the season coming on the powerplay.
The Sea Dogs who earlier in the day had traded 20 year old Stephen MacAulay to Halifax came back strong in the 2nd period knotting the game at 1 with Jakub Izacky's 11th of the year.
Graves' marker at 9:33 of the third held up as Antoine Bibeau shut the door the rest of the way.
Josh Currie and Victor Provencher assisted on both Rocket goals. Currie now leads the QMJHL in scoring with 65 points, 2 better than linemate Ben Duffy.
The Rocket improve to 22-15-2 while Saint John fell to 18-21.
The Rocket are home tomorrow, 3 PM, at the Charlottetown Civic Centre to take on the #1 ranked Halifax Mooseheads and newly acquired Stephen MacAulay. The Rocket are hoping to have Pépin and Yetman available.
