Lineup
Forward lines and defense pairings:
[one_half]McNally – Dumont – Friberg
Hudon – Scherbak – Holloway
Yogan – MacMillan – Gregoire
Bozon – Ward – Ranger[/one_half]
[one_half_last]Didier – Lernout
Joyaux – Ellis
Scott – Johnston[/one_half_last]
Goaltenders:
Fucale
Pasquale
Scratches: Shane Bakker, Mac Bennett, Angelo Miceli, Travis Brown, Markus Eisenschmid (undisclosed)
Injured Reserve: Connor Crisp (undisclosed), Michael Bournival (concussion)
Game Report
After riding a high from last night’s hard-fought team win, the IceCaps then rode a bus across the border to Toronto, Ontario and arrived in the early morning hours at their hotel only to wake up early and hit the ice for an afternoon matinee. They faced a rested, refreshed Marlies team at the Air Canada Centre and their fatigue showed.
Brett Lernout actually got things started on a positive note with his second goal of the season, assisted by Nikita Scherbak and Charles Hudon. And then St. John’s reverted to slow, sloppy, tired play and unsteady goaltending and found themselves down 3-1 by the end of the first period.
Adding insult to injury, the IceCaps then began taking penalty after penalty in the second frame. Thankfully the penalty killers stood strong yet again and denied the Marlies on every man advantage. Bud Holloway got his team one goal closer to a comeback by banking in a wide open rebound. He was assisted by Gabriel Dumont and Brandon McNally.
Hudon then scored his 26th goal of the season about halfway through the third period to bring St. John’s to within one goal of the Marlies. But Brendan Leipsic deflated any hope the IceCaps had with a late-period goal against Zach Fucale to seal a victory for Toronto.
The IceCaps have some rest and practice to look forward to over the next couple of days before they visit Ricoh Coliseum on Tuesday for their last tilt against the Marlies for this season.
▲ Brett Lernout, Charles Hudon, Nikita Scherbak, Bud Holloway, Max Friberg, Josiah Didier
▼ Zach Fucale, John Scott, Ryan Johnston |