ICECAPS
St. John’s

6-3

COMETS
Utica

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Andrighetto – Terry – Carr
Hudon – Audette – Scherbak
Matteau – McCarron – Farnham
Broll – Eisenschmid – Crisp[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Barberio – Hanley
Lernout – Samuelsson
Johnston – Racine[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Lindgren
Danis

Scratches: Josiah Didier, Tom Parisi, Mark MacMillan, Jeremy Gregoire, Max Friberg (undisclosed), Jacob de la Rose (upper body injury)

Injured Reserve: Martin Reway

Game Report

For the second time in two nights the IceCaps played host to the Utica Comets. The first period was very defensive. Both teams played cautiously, doing their best to avoid giving up the first goal. However, it was Charles Hudon who opened the scoring on a partial break. He was sprung by a beautiful stretch pass from Philip Samuelsson and made no mistake, wiring it past Richard Bachman.

Later in the first period Joseph LaBate tied the game for Utica. He was the beneficiary of a nice pass out front from behind the net by Michael Chaput. It wouldn’t stay tied for long though as Nikita Scherbak extended his point streak to five games, scoring his sixth goal of the season, by taking advantage of sloppy neutral zone turnover by the Comets. St. John’s headed to the second period with a 2-1 lead.

However, the second period was a different story. Though Hudon would score his second of the night on a feed from Scherbak, it came after extended pressure from the Comets. Despite allowing the early goal, Utica kept the pressure on the IceCaps and Alexandre Grenier scored on the power play with a one-time blast to make it 3-2. Charlie Lindgren managed to get a piece of the blast but it was not enough.

Later in the period, Brett Lernout took an untimely delay of game penalty, leading to another power play goal to tie the game. This time it was Chaput with a wrister to the left of Lindgren. Much like the Grenier blast, Lindgren got a piece of it but it wasn’t quite enough to keep it out. The teams headed into the dressing rooms tied at 3-3, but Utica had a heavy advantage in shots on goal, outshooting the IceCaps 23-13 after 40 minutes.

As the third period began, it looked to be more of the same. Utica came out strong and carried the momentum they had gained in the second into the final period. Though they had a lot of offensive zone time at the start of the period, it was Bobby Farnham who scored off a juicy rebound to restore the IceCaps lead. Just over a minute later Daniel Carr scored his second goal in as many nights off a feed from Sven Andrighetto and gave the IceCaps some insurance, making it 5-3.

Stefan Matteau would add an empty-netter in the dying seconds to make it 6-3. Lindgren was once again solid tonight with 30 saves on 33 shots and St. John’s managed to get both points on the night.

The IceCaps have two days off before they welcome their rival, the Toronto Marlies, twice over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday.

(Game Report submitted by Joe Whalen, Staff Writer)

▲     Charlie Lindgren, Charles Hudon, Nikita Scherbak, Markus Eisenschmid, Connor Crisp

▼     Jonathan Racine,

1. Charles Hudon  STJ
2. Michael Chaput  UTI
3. Nikita Scherbak  STJ

Post-game interview with Sylvain Lefebvre

Audio from interviews courtesy of Joseph Whelan for AHL Report | Rocket Sports Media.

Quotes courtesy of AHL Report

Hudon and Scherbak showing some great chemistry. They were really buzzing last night and it's no different tonight. #IceCaps @TheAHLReport

— Joseph Whalen (@JoeWhalen19) November 2, 2016

Charlie Lindgren gets the start in goal tonight vs Utica Comets. Lindgren has a record of 4-0-0… https://t.co/pL61dP2Vt3

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) November 2, 2016

.@KidHud_10 capitalizes on a breakaway to get the scoring started for the @IceCapsAHL pic.twitter.com/Y1rvtZf68T

— AHL (@TheAHL) November 2, 2016

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