ICECAPS
St. John’s

2-3

CRUNCH
Syracuse

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Hudon – McCarron – Terry
Matteau – de la Rose – Friberg
Farnham – Audette – Scherbak
Veilleux – MacMillan[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Hanley – Redmond
Brouillette – Lernout
Lowe – Didier
Juulsen[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Lindgren
Danis

Scratches: Ryan Johnston, Tom Parisi, Niki Petti, Anthony Camara, David Broll, Guillaume Asselin, Markus Eisenschmid, Jeremy Gregoire, Victor Mete, Noah Juulsen, Daniel Carr (undisclosed)

Injured Reserve: Martin Reway

Game Report

With the best-of-five series tied at 1-1, the St. John’s IceCaps arrived in Syracuse, NY ready to dominate the Crunch.  Michael McCarron returned to the lineup after being reassigned to St. John’s following the Montreal Canadiens’ elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Noah Juulsen also suited up and made his professional debut on this night as the extra defenseman.

The first period demonstrated exactly that, with the IceCaps leading the shot clock 8-1 about midway through the frame.  Both teams were disciplined in this period, with each only taking one penalty, but plenty of hitting and chirping could be found.

The pace was fast, and St. John’s seemed to control play many times, but Syracuse found their way into the net first when Joel Vermin lifted the puck past a sprawling Charlie Lindgren.  Two minutes later, Erik Condra scored his first goal of the postseason to give the Crunch a 2-0 lead over the IceCaps.

In the second period, things rapidly heated up and turned into more of the typically physical game fans are used to seeing between these two teams.  The penalty boxes also saw plenty of action as scrums continued well after whistles, gloves were thrown off, and sharp words exchanged.

St. John’s showed their resiliency once again, though, when Zach Redmond took advantage of McCarron’s screen on the power play to fire the puck past Mike McKenna and get his team on the board. The IceCaps took advantage of that momentum shift and scored again just 28 seconds later when Stefan Matteau got a breakaway opportunity and sniped one home to even the score at 2-2.

Syracuse answered those goals with one of their own, an unassisted goal by Byron Froese, to regain the lead. At the end of the period things came unraveled as tensions boiled over on both sides; sticks, gloves, and helmets littered the ice in the aftermath.

Despite best efforts by the IceCaps, they couldn’t mount a comeback in the third period.  Two more penalties put them at a numbers disadvantage in the frame, and they couldn’t get enough pressure on McKenna to force overtime.

Syracuse now leads the series 2-1, with Game 4 slated for Friday night. The IceCaps will need to dig deep and come away with a win in order to stave off elimination.

▲     Noah Juulsen, Mark MacMillan, Stefan Matteau

▼     Michael McCarron, Jacob de la Rose

1. Mike McKenna  SYR
2. Byron Froese  SYR
3. Erik Condra  SYR

Post-game interview with Sylvain Lefebvre

Post-game interview with Noah Juulsen

Post-game interview with Stefan Matteau

Quotes courtesy of AHL Report

Anticipation. Game 3.#IceCaps #Habs @RocketSports pic.twitter.com/7W3SNhAbTQ

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) April 26, 2017

Noah Juulsen looking good in an #IceCaps jersey. #Habs @RocketSports @AllHabs pic.twitter.com/s6Jk284m9f

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) April 26, 2017

The #IceCaps are happy to have Mike McCarron back in the lineup. #Habs @RocketSports @MacAttackUSA93 pic.twitter.com/wgG2ygPO4x

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) April 26, 2017

Follow @theAHLReport on Twitter