First Niagara Center – IceCaps Hockey Report

Wednesday December 30, 2015 First Niagara Center, Buffalo, NY
ICECAPS St. John’s	2-3	AMERICANS Rochester
(Photo courtesy of Rochester Americans)
Lineup Forward lines and defense pairings: [one_half]Lessio – Hudon – Holloway Bournival – McCarron – Dumont MacMillan – De La Rose – Fournier McNally – Eisenschmid – Gregoire [/one_half] [one_half_last]Bennett – Dietz Ellis – Didier Hanley – Lernout[/one_half_last] Goaltenders: Tokarski Fucale Scratches: Eric Neilson, Connor Crisp (undisclosed), Nikita Scherbak (undisclosed) Injured reserve: Ryan Johnston (back surgery) Game Report As the road trip continued for the St. John’s IceCaps, they found themselves taking the ice in another NHL rink – this time in Buffalo at the First Niagara Center. The Rochester Americans got things started with a lot of energy, especially after the IceCaps gave them a few early power play opportunities. The Americans converted one of those man advantages in the first period and went into the intermission with a one-goal lead. The second period kicked off with a quick goal by Gabriel Dumont just 21 seconds in, but Rochester got it right back just over a minute later. Jacob de la Rose and Lucas Lessio were some of the strongest players on the puck tonight, checking well and skating hard. Dustin Tokarski was shaky at times, but settled in as the game wore on. Late in the period, Charles Hudon found the back of the net on a power play to even the score at 2-2. St. John’s came out in the third looking a little slow and disorganized, but neither team could get a puck past the opposing goaltender. The overtime period was fast and frenzied, with Tokarski making some key saves to keep the IceCaps in it. However once the shootout came around, Tokarski was unable to stop any of the three Amerks shooters. Mike McCarron left the game early in the third period after taking an apparent stick to the face and did not return to the bench. The IceCaps return to the ice on Thursday night when they take on the Senators in Binghamton, NY. ▲ Jacob de la Rose, Lucas Lessio ▼ Mac Bennett

Statistics
ICECAPS		AMERICANS
27	Shots	30
1 for 4	Power Play	1 for 5
12	Penalty Minutes	10

Scoring

FINAL	1	2	3	OT	SO	T
IceCaps (15-8-5-3)	0	2	0	0	0	2
Americans (15-14-1-1)	1	1	0	0	1	3

Scorers	Goalies
STJ: Dumont (8), Hudon (11) RCH: Leduc (4), Austin (2), Bailey (Game-deciding goal)	STJ: Tokarski (L) 2-3-4 RCH: Lieuwen (W) 8-6-0

AHL Three Stars
	Nathan Lieuwen RCH Gabriel Dumont STJ Justin Bailey RCH

Video highlights

Post-game interview

Coach Sylvain Lefebvre

Not available

Quotes and audio courtesy of Rocket Sports Media

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https://twitter.com/FlyersRule/status/682393442144616448

Holding call on #IceCaps as Holloway heads off. @MacAttackUSA93 heads down the tunnel for repairs, possible stick to face. @IceCapsReport

— Amy (@FlyersRule) December 31, 2015

Rochester nets all three attempts in the shootout and takes the win, 3-2, over the #IceCaps. Shots were 27-30 for #Amerks. @IceCapsReport

— Amy (@FlyersRule) December 31, 2015

Join me and the entire team at @IceCapsReport to wish @nikscherbak a very Happy Birthday today! #icecaps https://t.co/kcvhFQ89Wt

— Amy (@FlyersRule) December 30, 2015

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The Hamilton Bulldogs dropped their third straight game to the Rochester Americans at First Niagara Center in Buffalo, on Wednesday night. The following recap is via HamiltonBulldogs.com.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Five goals were scored in a six-minute span, but the Hamilton Bulldogs were on the wrong side of the second-period offensive spree as the ‘Dogs (2-3-2-0) fell to the Rochester Americans (5-2-0-0) 3-2 at First Niagara Center in Buffalo, N.Y. on Wednesday evening.

GAME SUMMARY

After a scoreless first period, the ‘Dogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second period.

First, forward T.J. Hensick fired a wrist shot off the post and in for his first as a Bulldog to get Hamilton on the board, with an assist from forward Gabriel Dumont. Less than two minutes later, forward Sven Andrighetto out-waited Rochester goaltender Andrey Makarov on a two-on-one break, then buried his fourth goal of the season, assisted by forward Christian Thomas.

Then Rochester fired back with three goals in less than four and a half minutes to go ahead 3-2 after 40 minutes.

Just 59 seconds after Andrighetto gave Hamilton a 2-0 lead, Amerks forward Mikhail Grigorenko beat Bulldogs goaltender Joey MacDonald from between the circles to get his team on the board, with an assist from forward Joel Armia. Three minutes later, Grigorenko dropped a pass back to Armia off the draw and he hammered a shot past MacDonald from the high slot to tie the game 2-2. Thirty-seven seconds later, at 12:06 of the second period, Rochester forward Luke Adam raced down the wing and put a wrister off the back crossbar to give his team the lead. His goal was assisted by forward Akim Aliu and defenceman Chad Ruhwedel.

The ‘Dogs pulled MacDonald with well over a minute remaining in the third period to push to tie, but the Amerks held on for the win.

MacDonald made 26 saves on 29 shots for the Bulldogs in the loss, while Makarov stopped 28 of 30 shots faced for the Americans in the win.

Hamilton went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Rochester was 0-for-5.

Dan Lawrie Insurance Premium Player of the Game: Gabriel Dumont

The Bulldogs return to action on Friday, Oct. 31 when they’ll visit the Charlotte Checkers at Time Warner Cable Arena at 12 p.m. The ‘Dogs next home game will be on Tuesday, Nov. 4 when they’ll host the Americans at FirstOntario Centre at 10:15 a.m.

2-3

Lineup

Game Report