IceCaps – Senators: A Numbers Game (Oct. 20, 2015)

Here are some comments and observations from the St. John’s IceCaps vs Binghamton Senators game at the Mile One Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

1  A quick look at tonight’s line combos and D pairings along with injuries and scratches:

Andrighetto – Hudon – Holloway                     Barberio – Ellis

Carr – McCarron – Thomas                                Hanley – Dietz

De La Rose – Dumont – Scherbak                    Bennett – Lernout

Crisp – Eisenschmid – Gregoire

Starting Goalie: Tokarski

Scratches: Thrower, MacMillan and Neilson

Injuries: Didier, Johnston, McNally and Bozon (upper-body, out 1 month)

IceCaps in Montreal: None

IceCaps in Brampton: Pasquale, Fournier, Miceli and Brown 

Note: Angelo Miceli was sent to Brampton earlier this week and has yet to play for them.

2  The IceCaps power play went 1 for 3 tonight and gave up a shorthanded goal bringing their season total to 3 for 17 for a 17.6% success rate. PP unit 1: Hudon, Andrighetto, McCarron, Holloway and Barberio PP unit 2: Thomas, Carr, Scherbak, Ellis and Hanley.

3  The IceCaps penalty kill went 1 for 2 tonight to bring their season total to 21 for 22 for a 95.5% success rate. Ellis, Barberio, De La Rose and Dumont are the main PK unit.

4  The IceCaps were outshot by the Senators 37-28. Andrighetto led the Icecaps with 5 shots while Puempel led the Senators and all players with 6 shots (1st period 14-9 Senators, 2nd period 9-7 Icecaps, 3rd period  14-10 Senators, OT 2-0 Senators).

5  This was the 1st of 8 meetings between the two teams with St. John’s holding a 0-0-1-0 record scoring 4 while giving up 5.

6  The IceCaps season record now stands at 3-1-1-0 scoring 19 while giving up 16. Their road record now stands at 1-1-0-0 scoring 4 while giving up 7 while their home record is 2-0-1-0 scoring 15 while giving up 9.

7  In the last 10 games the IceCaps have a record of 3-1-1-0 scoring 19 while giving up 16.

8  After tonight’s game their record now stands at 3-1-1-0 scoring 19 while  giving up 16. Last year as the Bulldogs their record was 2-1-2-0 scoring 15 and giving up 14.

9  Quick points:

• a)  Icecaps gave up their first power play goal of the season after killing off 21 straight.
• b)  McCarron picked up an assist giving him 3 goals and 1 assist in his last 2 games,
• c)  Scherbak picked up an assist giving him points in 2 straight games.
• d)  This was the first time this season the Icecaps had less than 30 shots on goal. (28)
• e)  Holloway scored a goal giving him a 3 game point streak in which he has scored 2 goals and 4 assists. He currently leads the team with 7 points.
• f)  Thomas now has a 3 game point streak going picking up 3 goals and 3 assists over that span.
• g)  With tonight’s assist Andrighetto now has a 3 game point streak going scoring 2 goals and 2 assists over that span.
• h)  Hanley grabbed an assist giving him 1 goal and 2 assists in his last 2 games.
• i)  Dumont had 2 goals and a fight needing just an assist to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick.
• j)  Ellis was on the ice for 6 of the 9 goals scored tonight going -1 for the night.
• k) Former Bulldogs Zack Stortini

10  A look at the 3 stars of the game:

• 1st Star: Gabriel Dumont of St. John with 2 goals, 4 shots and an even rating.
• 2nd Star: Colin Greening of Binghamton with 1 goal, 1 assist, 5 shots and an even rating. He also had a fight to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick.
• 3rd Star: Fredrik Claesson of Binghamton with 1 goal, 2 shots and a -1 rating.
• Player of the Game: Nikita Scherbak with 1 assist and a -2 rating

Note: How does a guy with 3 assists get overlooked as a star of the game? (Mullen)

11 My 3 stars of the game would have been:

• 1st Star: Gabriel Dumont of St. John with 2 goals, 4 shots and an even rating.
• 2nd Star: Colin Greening of Binghamton with 1 goal, 1 assist, 5 shots and an even rating. He also had a fight to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick.
• 3rd Star: Patrick Mullen of Binghamton with 3 assists and a +2 rating.
• Player of the Game: Sven Andrighetto with 1 assist, 5 shots and an even rating.

12 IceCaps blow a two goal lead in the third period as the Senators score three unanswered goals to win it in overtime in front of 5515 fans at the Mile One Centre in St. John’s Newfoundland.

The first period would be a scoreless affair with the Icecaps being outshot 14-9.

Colin Greening would open the scoring at 1:41 of the second netting a shorthanded goal with help from Patrick Mullen to put the Senators up 1-0.

Bud Holloway would put one top shelf on the power play at 7:45 of the second to tie the game 1-1 with the lone assist going to Michael McCarron.

Less than a minute later Gabriel Dumont would put the IceCaps on top 2-1 with the lone helper going to Nikita Scherbak.

Gabriel Dumont would score his second of the night at 17:03 of the second to make it 3-1 Sven Andrighetto would get credited with the only assist on the play.

Eric O’Dell would score with less than a minute left in the second to make a 3-2 game with assists going to Tobias Lindberg and Ryan Dzingel.

Darren Dietz would put the IceCaps back up by two blasting a shot from the point that beats Chris Driedger at 1:45 of the third with helpers going to Joel Hanley and Christian Thomas.

Matt Puempel would score on the power play at 10:45 of the third cutting St. John’s lead in half assists would go to Patrick Mullen and Colin Greening.

Travis Ewanyk would score his first pro goal to tie the game 4-4 at 16:53 of the third with assists going to Patrick Mullen and Ben Harpur.

Fredrik Claesson would score the game winner for the Senators at 1:35 of the overtime period with the lone assist going to Nick Paul.

Dustin Tokarski stopped 32 of 37 shots in a losing cause while Chris Driedger would stop 24 of 28 to pick up the win. Final score: 5-4 Senators in OT.

Next game for the IceCaps is on Wednesday Oct. 21 in St. John’s where they take on the Binghamton Senators again.

 

13  A look at the periods:

1st Period:

• Senators outshot them 14-9 but 0-0 on the score card
• Senators were the better team in the period especially in the first half
• 5 of the 9 shots by St. John’s in the period came from defensemen
• Andrighetto had 3 of the 9 shots taken in the period

2nd Period:

• 9-7 IceCaps on the shot clock and 3-2 on the scoreboard
• Good period for St. John’s
• Holloway had 3 of the 9 Icecap shots in the period
• 3 fights in the period Crisp vs Greening, Gregoire vs McCormick and Dumont vs Dziuzynski no clear winner in any of them

3rd Period:

• Shots 14-10 Senators and also 2-1 Senators on the scoreboard
• Not a good period for the IceCaps they let the Senators get back in it
• The referees blew a call on the Senators PP that led to a goal, Dumont was clearly tripped but play continued

OT Period:

• Senators 2-0 on the shot clock and 1-0 on the score board
• IceCaps never got anything going in this frame

McCarron continues to impress.

Scherbak has some good moves but seems to be pressing trying to get that first goal.

The power play has now scored goals in back to back games going 3 for 8.

The penalty kill has been unbelievable, giving up only 1 goal on 22 attempts.

**Dietz goal has since been changed to Carr.

The Brampton Beast, Montreal’s ECHL didn’t play tonight.