ICECAPS
St. John’s

2-1

COMETS
Utica

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Matteau – Audette – Scherbak
Farnham – de la Rose – Friberg
Veilleux – Eisenschmid – Gregoire
Broll – MacMillan – Racine[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Brouillette – Hanley
Parisi – Lernout
Samuelsson – Didier[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Lindgren
Lindgren

Scratches: Matthieu Gagnon, Brandon MacLean, Connor Crisp (undisclosed), Charles Hudon (undisclosed)

Injured Reserve: Martin Reway

Game Report

After a resilient overtime win in Utica on Wednesday night, the IceCaps looked to build on that momentum when they faced off against the Comets again on Friday night.  Much of the lineup for St. John’s looked exactly the same from the previous game, but the Comets changed a few pieces of their roster including putting Richard Bachman in between the pipes.

This game was much tighter than Wednesday’s game, with only two goals scored in regulation.  Charlie Lindgren played exceptionally well again, and Bachman didn’t allow much room for shots to get through.

Utica scored first, just under five minutes into the first period, but David Broll got the equalizer about five minutes later.  It was an odd goal, with the puck flying straight up in the air and bouncing off some bodies on the way down to deflect into the Utica net.

The next 51 minutes were a true back-and-forth battle, with neither team giving much away.  At times the IceCaps were the dominant force, keeping the Comets pinned in their own zone, and at other times it seemed there was a constant flurry of action in front of Lindgren.

This game also went into overtime and, despite a lot of pressure by Utica and a few good shot attempts, Daniel Audette fed a solid pass to Julien Brouillette who wristed the puck over Bachman’s shoulder for the win.

The IceCaps now have a well-deserved day off followed by a couple of days of practice before their next game in Albany on Wednesday when they face the Devils.

▲     Nikita Scherbak, Charlie Lindgren, Daniel Audette, Joel Hanley, David Broll

▼     Stefan Matteau

1. Charlie Lindgren  STJ
2. Julien Brouillette  STJ
3. Richard Bachman  UTI

Post-game interview with Sylvain Lefebvre

Post-game interview with David Broll

Post-game interview with Joel Hanley

Quotes courtesy of AHL Report

MacMillan with the 1st period goal for the #IceCaps from Broll and Veilleux. Photos by @FlyersRule for @RocketSports #GoIceCapsGo #Habs pic.twitter.com/7rCalEiHOA

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) December 31, 2016

No hesitation. Daniel Audette headed straight to the #IceCaps dressing room after taking the Scherbak shot to the face. #Habs

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) December 31, 2016

Clark Donatelli (Atlantic) joins Benoit Groulx (North) as the Eastern Conference's coaching staff for the 2017 #AHLAllStar Classic https://t.co/Rpzpjiwy0h

— AHL (@TheAHL) December 31, 2016

Follow @theAHLReport on Twitter