IceCaps – Americans: A Numbers Game (Mar. 23, 2016)

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:

• a) Pasquale has now lost 3 in a row giving up 12 goals on 106 shots for a SV% of .887.
• b) Hudon had a streak of 4 straight IceCap goals scored over 2 games.
• c) Ward picked up his 1st pro point an assist in just his 2nd pro game.
• d) Joyaux picks up his 1st point as an IceCap and pro in his 4th game played.
• e) MacMillan had an assist giving him points in 2 straight games.
• f) Gregoire needed an assist to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick.
• g) Ellis had a goal giving him 1 goal and 4 assists in 8 games since being sent down.
• h) Didier finished the game with +3 rating.
• i) The line of Dumont, Hudon and Scherbak had 3 goals, 2 assists, 9 shots and a +2 rating.
• j) The IceCaps have now been outscored 71-60 in the 3rd period.
• k) Hudon picked up 2 goals giving him 4 goals in his last 2 games.
• l) Former Hab Nevins had 0 points, 0 shots and a -1 rating.
• m) Scherbak picked up 2 assists giving him 3 points in his last 3 games.
• n) Holloway picked an assist giving him 1 goal and 4 assists over his last 6 games played.
• o) This was the 36th time the IceCaps scored 1st with their record dropping to 20-11-5-0.

10  A look at the 3 stars of the game:

• 1st Star: Chad Ruhwedel of Rochester with 1 goal, 2 shots and an even rating.
• 2nd Star: Dan Catenacci of Rochester with 2 goals, 2 shots and an even rating.
• 3rd Star: Matt Donovan of Rochester a with 1 goal, 2 assists, 1 shot and an even rating.
• Player of the Game: Mark MacMillan with 1 assist, 1 shot and an even rating.

11 My 3 stars of the game would have been:

• 1st Star: Matt Donovan of Rochester a with 1 goal, 2 assists, 1 shot and an even rating.
• 2nd Star: Charles Hudon of St. John’s with 2 goals, 4 shots and a +1 rating
• 3rd Star: Dan Catenacci of Rochester with 2 goals, 2 shots and an even rating.
• Player of the Game: Nikita Scherbak with 2 assists, 2 shots and a +1 rating.

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:

• Americans 4-3 on the shot clock but 1-0 IceCaps on the scoreboard in the 1st 10 minutes.
• IceCaps 4-2 on the shot clock and 0-0 on the scoreboard in the 2nd 10 minutes.
• Gregoire vs. Austin edge to Austin.
• Pretty even period.

2nd Period:

• IceCaps 4-3 on the shot clock and 1-0 on the scoreboard in the 1st 10 minutes.
• IceCaps 8-5 on the shot clock and 3-1 on the scoreboard in the 2nd 10 minutes.
• IceCaps were the better team in the period.

3rd Period:

• Americans 8-5 on the shot clock and 1-1 on the scoreboard for the 1st 10 minutes.
• Americans 12-1 on the shot clock and 4-0 on the scoreboard in the 2nd 10 minutes.
• This period was totally dominated by the Americans how do you blow a 4 goal lead?