ICECAPS
St. John’s

4-3

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
Didier – Samuelsson[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Lindgren
Danis

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

Injured Reserve: Martin Reway

Game Report

After kicking off the second leg of their holiday road trip with a win against the Toronto Marlies, the IceCaps headed back to Utica for the first of two consecutive games against the Comets.  The last time St. John’s was in Utica, they recorded a 4-0 shutout and looked to continue their winning ways against the division rival.

This game, however, was much more of a back-and-forth affair. The Comets got on the board first, just over three minutes into the first period, but a minute later Bobby Farnham went hard to the net and pushed the puck past Thatcher Demko.  Two minutes later Jordan Subban got his team back on top with a power play goal.

It took a bit of time, but the IceCaps finally tied things up for a second time late in the next frame.  Tom Parisi fired a rocket from the blue line to score his first pro goal, assisted by Daniel Audette and Nikita Scherbak (who was playing his first game back from injury).

But just like the first period, the Comets got the go-ahead goal again about a minute later.  Mark MacMillan didn’t allow that to stand for long, though, as he connected with a pass from David Broll and Farnham to even the score for the third time.

The story of the game truly came late in the third period, when the IceCaps accrued a pile of penalties – putting them on a dangerous five-on-three with a little over three minutes left in regulation.  The penalty killers (notably Josiah Didier, Philip Samuelsson, and Max Friberg) were exceptional in blocking shots and clearing the puck out of the zone.  Charlie Lindgren stood strong in the crease and the IceCaps forced the game to overtime.

In the extra frame, Scherbak drew a penalty and he connected with Audette on the ensuing power play to win the game.

The IceCaps and Comets get another opportunity for an exciting matchup when they play each other again on Friday night.

▲     Josiah Didier, Tom Parisi, Nikita Scherbak, Charlie Lindgren, Brett Lernout, Daniel Audette

▼     Stefan Matteau

1. Daniel Audette  STJ
2. Curtis Valk  UTI
3. Pascal Pelletier  UTI

Post-game interview with Sylvain Lefebvre

Post-game interview with Josiah Didier

Quotes courtesy of AHL Report

Bobby Farnham, the #IceCaps goal scorer in the first period with his 4th of the season. #GoIceCapsGo #Habs @RocketSports pic.twitter.com/mtI7rUGNsW

— Rocket Sports Media (@RocketSports) December 29, 2016

Many thanks! We're happy to provide in-depth coverage of the #IceCaps 🙂 https://t.co/Wih0kX8kCe

— Amy (@FlyersRule) December 29, 2016

A nifty redirect by @danaudette28 gives the @IceCapsAHL a 4-3 OT win #STJvsUTI pic.twitter.com/kgUtsd1538

— AHL (@TheAHL) December 29, 2016

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