ICECAPS
St. John’s

4-0

CRUNCH
Syracuse

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Hudon – Scherbak – Holloway
de la Rose – McCarron – Dumont
Bozon – MacMillan – Friberg
Bakker – Miceli – Ranger[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Bartley – Ellis
Hanley – Lernout
Johnston – Dietz[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Fucale
Pasquale

Scratches: Mac Bennett, Brendan McNally, Dalton Thrower, John Scott, Jeremy Gregoire, Josiah Didier, Michael Bournival (undisclosed), Markus Eisenschmid (undisclosed)
Injured reserve:  Connor Crisp (undisclosed)

Game Report

The IceCaps needed a win. They came into tonight’s game having lost their last five consecutive matchups, and only having won three of their last 14 games.  Something needed to change before desperation set in.

It didn’t bode well when St. John’s took a high sticking penalty just 30 seconds into the opening frame. Syracuse, fortunately, didn’t convert their power play opportunity.  Nikita Scherbak potted his fourth of the season to open the scoring, a power play tally assisted by Gabriel Dumont and Bud Holloway.

Zach Fucale had a strong game throughout the night, making a couple of highlight reel saves to keep the Crunch at bay.  In the second period, Michael McCarron snapped his 17-game goalless streak with a power play goal of his own, assisted by Morgan Ellis and Holloway.

Discipline was key for the IceCaps, as they maintained their composure and only took three penalties total.  Despite the fact that it took almost 17 minutes for the IceCaps to get a shot on goal in the third period, Ellis would make it count and blasted one in from the faceoff circle. Dumont potted an empty-netter to shut the door completely at the end of regulation.  It marked Fucale’s first professional shutout.

The IceCaps face the Crunch once again on Tuesday night at Mile One Centre.

▲     Bud Holloway, Zach Fucale, Nikita Scherbak, Morgan Ellis, Michael McCarron

▼

1. Zach Fucale   STJ
2. Gabriel Dumont   STJ
3. Bud Holloway   STJ

Here's a look at the Ellis goal, which gave the IceCaps a 3-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/Eq6F5xnRxs

— Jeremy Houghtaling (@JGHoughtaling) February 10, 2016

#IceCaps are on a 5-game losing skid, & have only won 3 of their last 14 games. Will the lines get back to "normal" tonight? @IceCapsReport

— Amy Johnson (@FlyersRule) February 9, 2016

#Habs hockey and #IceCaps hockey on tap tonight! Follow @AllHabs for the former, and me & @IceCapsReport for the latter! #gohabsgo #allhabs

— Amy Johnson (@FlyersRule) February 9, 2016

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