ICECAPS
St. John’s

3-6

MARLIES
Toronto

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Carr – McCarron – Holloway
Andrighetto – Hudon – Scherbak
Bournival – Dumont – Friberg
Lessio – MacMillan – Eisenschmid [/one_half]

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

Goaltenders:

Pasquale
Fucale

Scratches: Mac Bennett, Jeremy Gregoire, John Scott, Connor Crisp (undisclosed)

Game Report

The IceCaps haven’t had a good run of things at home this week, losing all four games they’ve played at Mile One Centre since returning from their last road trip.  Tonight’s game needed to be successful, especially given the roster and line combo upheaval the IceCaps and their parent team, the Montreal Canadiens, had experienced during the previous 24 hours.

To recap the roster moves and trades, Jacob de la Rose was recalled to the Montreal Canadiens, Daniel Carr and Sven Andrighetto were reassigned to the IceCaps, Brandon McNally was reassigned to the Brampton Beast, the Canadiens traded Jarred Tinordi and Stefan Fournier to Arizona in exchange for John Scott and Victor Bartley, and Eric Neilson was released from his PTO.  Bartley stayed with Montreal, but Scott is due to report to the IceCaps on Sunday.  Nikita Scherbak came back from injury for this game, and Ryan Johnston made his pro debut coming off IR from back surgery.

Less than a minute into the game Eddie Pasquale gave up a goal on the the Marlies’ first shot on goal, by Brendan Leipsic.  It was soon followed by another one and St. John’s found themselves down 2-0.  The reunited first line of Carr, Michael McCarron, and Bud Holloway rediscovered their chemistry pretty quickly, though, and connected to give Holloway the first IceCaps goal of the night.  Less than 60 seconds later Charles Hudon fires a laser through Antoine Bibeau and the game was tied 2-2.

But before the end of the first period, Leipsic would find the back of the net again, as would Nikita Soshnikov.  Pasquale was pulled from net again, and the IceCaps looked to find an answer that simply wouldn’t surface.  Discipline proved to be a problem as the game wore on, with St. John’s taking six consecutive minor penalties through the first and second periods alone.

Leipsic would add insult to injury in the second period by earning himself a hat trick. Another Toronto goal after that proved to be an insurmountable comeback for the IceCaps even with a late game goal by Carr.  The IceCaps face the Marlies again on Sunday for a matinee game at Mile One.

▲     Daniel Carr, Sven Andrighetto, Bud Holloway, Michael McCarron

▼     Eddie Pasquale, Brett Lernout

1. Brendan Leipsic  TOR
2. TJ Brennan  TOR
3. Daniel Carr  STJ

• “(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

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

Quotes and audio courtesy of Rocket Sports Media

.@GeeGodin Lernout started the season as a raw rookie but has steadily improved over the season. Has been on top D pairing past few games.

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) January 17, 2016

Shots on goal 9-7 for the Marlies in the first period. Marlies lead 4-2. #IceCaps #GoIceCapsGo @FlyersRule

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) January 16, 2016

Good to see Scherbak and Johnston in tonight's lineup. Both were working very hard in skating drills when we saw them in Utica. #IceCaps

— AHL Report (@TheAHLReport) January 16, 2016

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