ICECAPS
St. John’s

2-5

MARLIES
Toronto

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Lessio – Hudon – Holloway
Bournival – McCarron – Dumont
MacMillan – De La Rose – Gregoire
Bozon – Eisenschmid – Fournier [/one_half]

[one_half_last]Barberio – Dietz
Ellis – Didier
Hanley – Lernout[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Fucale
Pasquale

Scratches: Dalton Thrower, Angelo Miceli, Mac Bennett, Eric Neilson, Mac Bennett, Connor Crisp (undisclosed), Nikita Scherbak (undisclosed)
Injured reserve:  Ryan Johnston (back surgery)

Game Report

After more than a week away from the ice for a holiday break, the IceCaps got back to business on Boxing Day by kicking off another road trip in Toronto.

The first period started with Zach Fucale standing tall in net while the Marlies pressed early, 3-0 shots for Toronto and a lot of zone time for them.  Soon after, Sam Carrick laid a massive open ice hit on Tim Bozon. Stefan Fournier didn’t like the hit, dropped the gloves with Carrick, throwing a few really heavy rights and winning the fight. Fournier got the extra 2 minutes for roughing, but on the ensuing powerplay, the Marlies couldn’t capitalize as the IceCaps were doing a good job of getting in the shooting lanes.

The second period started with St. John’s heading to the powerplay nearly a minute in, but the Marlies had another strong penalty kill. Michael McCarron hit the outside of the post from a bad angle just after the penalty expired.  Later, Gabriel Dumont had a shorthanded breakaway but missed the net, as the IceCaps were continually unable to finish their chances. Just as the penalty was set to expire, Brendan Leipsic took a pass, streaking down the left wing and wired a shot past Fucale’s glove who went on to make a few really good saves at the end of the period to keep it 2-0.

Just over a minute into the 3^rd period, Lucas Lessio took a pass in the slot from Bud Holloway and tapped it in, his eighth goal of the season.  Right after the Marlies regained their two goal lead, Darren Dietz fired a shot from the top of the circle past Bibeau to make it a one goal game again.  The Marlies continued their offensive pressure, however, and managed to beat Fucale two more times before potting an empty netter to finish the game 5-2.  Final shots on goal were 37-26 for Toronto.

Jacob de la Rose and Marcus Eisenschmid both returned to the lineup in this game, coming off injuries.  The IceCaps get right back to it tomorrow with another game against the Marlies, this time at Ricoh Coliseum.

▲     Zach Fucale, Darren Dietz, Jacob de la Rose, Lucas Lessio

▼     Gabriel Dumont, Tim Bozon

1. Sam Carrick  TOR
2. Rinat Valiev  TOR
3. Brendan Leipsic  TOR

• “(Need to improve) the execution, reads, the better choice of plays. Sometimes tonight we forced plays a little too much.”
• “We skated yesterday. You know the first period I thought we came out pretty good, then the second period we seemed to be flat.”

Post-game interview with Sylvain Lefebvre

Post-game interview with Michael Bournival

Audio from interviews conducted by Chris Hatzitolios for IceCaps Hockey Report | Rocket Sports Media.

Quotes and audio courtesy of Rocket Sports Media

Stefan Fournier with the takedown! 👊 @AllHabs @IceCapsReport @IceCapsAHL 🔵⚪️🔴 #GoIceCapsGo pic.twitter.com/hEJFilbLdI

— Matt Smith 🇨🇦 (@Snakebite350) December 26, 2015

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— Matt Smith 🇨🇦 (@Snakebite350) December 26, 2015

Pregame panorama. #IceCaps vs #Marlies @IceCapsReport pic.twitter.com/soE63Oabdl

— Christopher (@CHatzitoliosMTL) December 26, 2015

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