Here are some comments and observations from the St. John’s IceCaps vs the Rochester Americans game at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York.
1 A quick look at tonight’s line combos and D pairings along with injuries and scratches:
Friberg – Dumont – Holloway Didier – Lernout
Hudon – Ward –Scherbak Joyaux – Ellis
McNally – MacMillan – Gregoire Scott – Johnston
Bozon – Yogan – Ranger
Starting Goalie: Pasquale
Scratches: Miceli, Bakker, Brown and Bennett
Injuries: Crisp (out for season), Eisenschmid and Bournival (out for season)
IceCaps in Montreal: Barberio, Andrighetto, McCarron, Lessio, de la Rose, Bartley, Dietz, Hanley and Carr
IceCaps in Brampton: Thrower
Notes: Hanley was called up to Montreal after last nights game.
2 The IceCaps power play went 0 for 3 tonight to bring their season total to 47 for 255 for a 18.4% success rate. The power play entered the game in 9th place scoring 47 goals on 252 attempts for a 18.7% success rate along with giving up 4 shorthanded goals. On the road the power play entered the game in 17th place scoring 19 times on 128 attempts for a 14.8% success rate.
3 St. John’s penalty kill went 4 for 5 tonight to bring their season total to 234 for 274 for a 85.4% success rate. The penalty kill entered the game in 7th place giving just 39 goals on 269 attempts for a 85.5% success rate while scoring 3 shorthanded goal. On the road the penalty kill entered the game in 7th place giving up 19 goals on 130 attempts for a success rate of 85.4%.
4 The IceCaps were outshot by the Americans 34-25. Hudon led the Icecaps with 4 shots while Schneider led the Americans and all players with 5 shots. (1st period 7-6 Icecaps, 2nd period 12-8 IceCaps, 3rd period 20-6 Americans )
5 This was the 7th of 8 meetings between the two teams with St. John’s holding a 2-2-1-2 record scoring 27 while giving up 32.
6 The IceCaps season record now stands at 28-28-8-3 scoring 186 while giving up 211. Their road record is 13-18-2-2 scoring 86 while giving up 111 while their home record now stands at 15-10-6-1 scoring 99 while giving up 101.
7 In the last 10 games the IceCaps have a record of 4-5-1-0 scoring 27 while giving up 32. They entered the game in 6th place in their division, 12th place in the conference and 23rd place in the league and are .227 percentage points behind 1st place Toronto. Note: Winning percentage now determines the standings in the AHL instead of points due to the unbalanced schedule being played by the western teams.
8 After tonight’s game their record now stands at 28-28-8-3 scoring 186 while giving up 211. Last year as the Bulldogs their record was 31-26-9-0 scoring 179 and giving up 176.
9 Quick points:
10 A look at the 3 stars of the game:
11 My 3 stars of the game would have been:
12 The IceCaps give up 5 third period goals blowing a 5-1 lead to drop a 6-5 decision to the Rochester Americans in front of 3783 fans at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York.
Charles Hudon opens the scoring at 2:15 of the first period getting his team leading 23rd of the season from Nikita Scherbak and Cory Ward.
Charles Hudon gets his second of the game at 4:19 of the middle frame putting the IceCaps up 2-0 with assists going to Nikita Scherbak and Josiah Didier.
Jeremy Gregoire makes it a 3-0 game at 14:24 of the second with helpers going to Mark MacMillan and Christopher Joyaux.
Gabriel Dumont picks up a loose puck and buries it to put the IceCaps up 4-0 with assists going to Max Friberg and Bud Holloway.
With less than a minute to go in the period Dan Catenacci beats Eddie Pasquale with a backhander to make it a 4-1 game with assists going to Jerry D’Amigo and Matt Donovan.
Morgan Ellis with a rocket scores his 13th of the year unassisted at 4:31 of third to make it a 5-1 game.
Matt Donovan scores on the power play at 8:54 of the third to make it 5-2 with helpers to Colby Robak and Justin Bailey.
Jean Dupuy slides one by Eddie Pasquale at 10:02 of the third to cut the lead to two.
Just over three minutes later Jerry D’Amigo scores cutting the lead to one with helpers to Colby Robak and Collin Bowman.
Dan Catenacci ties the game at 15:17 of the third with assists to Matt Ellis and Matt Donovan.
With just four seconds left on the clock Chad Ruhwedel scores the game winner making it 6-5 Americans with helpers to Eric O’Dell and Justin Bailey.
Eddie Pasquale would stop 28 of 34 shots in a losing cause while Linus Ullmark would stop just 13 of 17 shots before being pulled and replaced by Andrey Makarov who would stop 7 of 8 to pick up the win. Final score: 6-5 Americans.
Next game for the IceCaps is on Friday Mar. 25 at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York where they take on the Rochester Americans.
13 A look at the periods:
1st Period:
2nd Period:
3rd Period:
The end of the season press conference has come and gone. Marc Bergevin and Geoff Molson came to address the usual group of individuals from the media and while a fresh note or two was played at this proverbial concert, this presser has –in essence– only made things worse. Marc and Geoff preach a […]