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IceCaps game report

Recap – IceCaps vs Phantoms: McCarron Scores Game-Winner

Jeremy Gregoire (Photo by St. Johns IceCaps)
Friday October 30, 2015 
PPL Center, Allentown, PA.

ICECAPS
St. John’s

 St.JohnsIceCaps

3-2

 LehighValleyPhantoms

PHANTOMS
Lehigh Valley

Jeremy Gregoire (Photo by St. Johns IceCaps)

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Carr – McCarron – Thomas
Andrighetto – Hudon – Holloway
McNally – De la Rose – Dumont
Crisp – Gregoire – Neilson[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Barberio – Ellis
Bennett – Dietz
Didier – Thrower[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Fucale
Tokarski

Scratches: Brett Lernout, Joel Hanley, Ryan Johnston (hernia), Mark MacMillan, Nikita Scherbak (undisclosed), Tim Bozon (shoulder), Markus Eisenschmid
Injured reserve:

Game Report

Sylvain Lefebvre was true to his word. The IceCaps head coach promised that his club would be better on Friday and his troops delivered.

It was a much better start with the St. John’s IceCaps outshooting their hosts 12-10 in the scoreless first period. As happened on Wednesday, Sven Andrighetto opened the scoring rifling a wrister just 30 seconds into the second period.  Charles Hudon was the beneficiary of a great pass from Bud Holloway to score a power-play goal at 6:56 of the second giving the IceCaps a 2-0 lead.

It was the second assist of the game for Holloway.

Lehigh Valley’s Chris Conner scored the next two goals of the game to bring the Phantoms even with just under six minutes gone in the third period.

Mike McCarron scored the game-winner as he batted a rebound out of the air on the backhand. Even Phantoms goalie Anthony Stolarz was impressed telling The Morning Call, “For me, it’s just a slow shot coming in. Those are the hardest to control. I actually did a good job to get it off the ice, heading to the corner. McCarron made a nice play to whack it in the back door.”

The play was ruled onside by the lone linesman on the ice (the second linesman exited for undisclosed reasons in the third period) but the call was disputed by the Phantoms.

Compared to their game on Wednesday in this same building, St. John’s was stronger in all areas of the ice. A solid forecheck, an improved physical game and good goaltending each contributed to the win.

The only area lacking in this game was discipline. Lefebvre said that taking too many penalties has been an issue all season. The penalty-killers limited Lehigh Valley to one power-play goal on four opportunities.

It was the first game of the year for defenceman Josiah Didier and Dalton Thrower and forwards Brandon McNally and Eric Neilson. Thrower took exception when Fucale was driven into the back of the goal in the first period by Lehigh Valley forward Petr Straka.  Midway through the second, Neilson took on Phantoms heavyweight Derek Mathers.

This was a well-played hockey game on both sides. The IceCaps were relentless on the puck all over the ice. Their pace and work effort were the difference.

Next up for the IceCaps is the Hershey Bears on Saturday night.

▲     Sven Andrighetto, Bud Holloway, Mike McCarron, Zach Fucale, Mark Barberio, Darren Dietz, Christian Thomas

▼
 Statistics 
ICECAPS PHANTOMS
 26 Shots 25
1 for 2 Power Play 1 for 4
17 Penalty Minutes 13
 Scoring
 FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
 IceCaps (6-2-1-1) 0 2 1 – – 3
 Phantoms (3-5-o-o) 0 1 1 – – 2
Scorers Goalies
  • STJ:  Andrighetto (4), Hudon (3), McCarron (5)
  • LV:  Conner (3), Conner (4)
  • STJ: Fucale (W)  4-0-0
  • LV: Stolarz (L)  3-2-0
 AHL Three Stars
ahl14_200
  1. Mike McCarron  STJ
  2. Chris Conner  LV
  3. Bud Hollway  STJ
 Video summary
 Post-game interview
Coach Sylvain Lefebvre

  • “We had more energy, that’s for sure, a better start too. “
  • “Even we’re up 2-0 and 2-1 after the second period, that’s where we gotta get it done. We made a nice play on the 2-on-1 but we fought, we battled and when we got the third goal we played really well. We kept the play in deep. We kept the puck towards the back of the net and we controlled the play and ground them out and taking energy out of them.”
  • “It was a great team effort tonight.”
  • “In the second period I thought we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit by taking bad penalties. But our PK has been good all year so far. We have to give those guys credit for the dirty job that they have to do.”
  • “I felt that 5-on-5 tonight we controlled the play pretty much the whole night.”
  • “We have to play our game and that was more our game that we played tonight.”
  • “That’s playing fast and using our speed and getting pucks behind their defencemen especially with the ‘D’ corps that they have. They have experience with (Andrew) MacDonald and (Davis) Drewiske and (Matt) Lashoff but we have to put the puck behind them.”
  • “It’s not easy to go back for defencemen now-a-days where you can’t hold up. You gotta skate. You gotta make it tough on them. With the skills up front we’re going to score goals. If you have them take penalties on you then our power-play is playing pretty well right now and scoring some goals.”
  • “[Jacob De la Rose] is good at both positions (centre and left wing.) I think he may feel a bit more comfortable at centre. But I think that, at centre right now, he’s using more of his legs and speed and reach. And he’s good on faceoffs. I liked his game tonight.”
  • “[Sven Andrighetto] has played well especially tonight and last game. I didn’t like his penalties in the second period. You know what it’s a learning process here. ‘If you take one, don’t take two’ and he knows that. He was having a great game. I told him ‘Don’t let that screw your game up.’ But he played well in the third period. He’s playing more aggressive and playing more involved physically. By that I mean he keeps the puck and he battles for the puck and that makes him a better hockey player.”
  • “Since the start of the season we’ve taken too many penalties. We have to cut that down for sure. Because we’re a team that should have the other team take penalties on us because of our speed and our skills. A lot of those penalties were taken with our ‘D’ zone coverage. If you take a penalty on the forecheck or taking hooking penalties 200 feet from your net, those are bad penalties and those are tough to kill.”
  • “Hershey is a good team. It’s not going to be an easy game, we know that. I that that winning the game tonight is a big booster for us. We just have to dig deep and find energy. We know we don’t have that long to travel but we need to regroup here and find the energy tomorrow.”

Post-game interview with Sylvain Lefebvre

Post-game interview with Sven Andrighetto

Audio from interviews conducted by Amy Johnson for IceCaps Hockey Report | Rocket Sports Media.

Quotes and audio courtesy of Rocket Sports Media
 Social Media: Follow @IceCapsReport on Twitter
https://twitter.com/IceCapsReport/status/660264101843566593

Follow @IceCapsReport on Twitter

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Categories
IceCaps game report

Recap – IceCaps vs Phantoms: Slow Start to Road Trip for Baby Habs

Sven Andrighetto Photo by St. Johns IceCaps)
Wednesday October 28, 2015 
PPL Center, Allentown, PA.

ICECAPS
St. John’s

 St.JohnsIceCaps

1-5

 LehighValleyPhantoms

PHANTOMS
Lehigh Valley

Sven Andrighetto Photo by St. Johns IceCaps)
Sven Andrighetto (Photo by St. Johns IceCaps)

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Carr – McCarron – Thomas
Andrighetto – Hudon – Holloway
De la Rose – Dumont – Eisenschmid
Crisp – MacMillan – Gregoire[/one_half]

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

Goaltenders:

Tokarski
Fucale

Scratches: Josiah Didier, Dalton Thrower, Ryan Johnston (hernia), Nikita Scherbak (undisclosed), Brandon McNally (undisclosed), Eric Neilson, Tim Bozon (shoulder)
Injured reserve:

Game Report

After a six game home stand, the IceCaps embarked on six game road tour of Pennsylvania. Up first were the Lehigh Valley Phantoms entering the game with a record of 2-4-0-0. The Phantoms were coming off a 3-1 loss to the Toronto Marlies, with the Flyers affiliate looking slow and out of sync in most aspects of their game.

In Wednesday night’s game the Phantoms came out strong and didn’t let up putting the IceCaps on their heels for the entire first period.  In a bout early in the period, Connor Crisp was taken down by a stiff right to the face from Derek Mathers. After 20 minutes the shots on goal were 14-3 for the home team.

Thanks to a Sven Andrighetto power-play goal and some fine goaltending from Dustin Tokarski, the IceCaps were fortunate to be tied 1-1 after the first frame.

While the shots were far more even in the second (10-8 for the Phantoms) three Lehigh Valley goals would sink the IceCaps. St. John’s was passive in this game and found themselves having difficulty negotiating the neutral zone. Turnovers were also an issue throughout the game.

It was the highest goal output for the Phantoms all season. The IceCaps simply couldn’t get their speed game out of the box. One wonders if the visitors underestimated their hosts.

Former Hab Aaron Palushaj had two assists for the Phantoms playing on the top line with Tim Brent and Taylor Leier. Another alumn from the Canadiens organization, Davis Drewiske had one shot on goal for Lehigh Valley.

It was the first game for Mark MacMillan recently called up from the Brampton Beast. MacMillan was filling in for an injured Nikita Scherbak.

According to coach Lefebvre, the IceCaps will be better prepared on Friday when they return to the PPL Center.

▲     Sven Andrighetto

▼
 Statistics 
ICECAPS PHANTOMS
 18 Shots 28
1 for 3 Power Play 1 for 4
13 Penalty Minutes 11
 Scoring
 FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
 IceCaps (5-2-1-1) 1 0 0 – – 1
 Phantoms (3-4-o-o) 1 3 1 – – 5
Scorers Goalies
  • STJ:  Andrighetto (3)
  • LV:  Cousins (2), Cousins (3), Goumas (1), Gostibehere (1), Leier (3)
  • STJ: Tokarski (L)  2-2-2
  • LV: Stolarz (W)  3-1-0
 AHL Three Stars
ahl14_200
  1. Nick Cousins  LV
  2. Taylor Leier  LV
  3. Shayne Gostibehere  LV
 Nick Cousins
 Video Highlights 
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 Post-game interview
Coach Sylvain Lefebvre

  • “The scoreboard tells you about the game and how it went. I thought that the first period we just weren’t there. We’re just coming off six games in nine nights in St. John’s. We were travelling (on Tuesday.) So, not to make excuses, but it looks like our team was flat in the first period and they had some jump. I know that we’re going to be better on Friday.“
  • “I don’t think that they’re a team that… in the standings, it doesn’t really reflect what kind of team that they have. Their defense stabilizes their play and the goaltending. They have two or three lines that, they have speed so they…”
  • “We didn’t know them at all, they didn’t know us at all either but we wanted to make a better first impression. But I know we’re going to be better on Friday.”
  • “Well obviously (the goal on Friday is) to bring more energy. We need to come out… our starts have been really good in St. John’s so now we need to do the same thing on the road. If we do that we’re going to be fine.”
  • “What I’ve been impressed with is the balance that we’ve had throughout the lineup and also in our transitional game. We want to play a fast game and we have some forwards that can make some plays. We want to give them the puck and be able to do their work.”
  • “Tonight we couldn’t get through the neutral zone and get pucks in. We had too many turnovers and we looked not very sharp mentally and it cost us.”
  • “We’re a team that is good with the puck. We try to have it and not give it away but sometimes… I got to give [the Phantoms] credit tonight. They played really well and they were in our face. We didn’t have much time and space to work with. Adding to that, we weren’t very sharp mentally and physically. It doesn’t make for a good recipe.”
  • “[Our goaltending] has been good. It hasn’t been the problem.”
  • “[Nikita Scherbak was out of the lineup due to] injury. He’s going to be (out) maybe a week or so.”
  • Audio from an interview with IceCaps coach Sylvain Lefebvre conducted by Amy Johnson for IceCaps Hockey Report following the game.

Phantoms coach Scott Gordon

  • “Even though they got the goal, you have to recognize what the situation was in the game at that point. We were going pretty good. You can’t control that puck going in the net, in a sense, but it’s how you respond to it, and we responded well.” (speaking to The Morning Call)

Quotes and audio courtesy of Rocket Sports Media
 Social Media: Follow @IceCapsReport on Twitter
https://twitter.com/FlyersRule/status/659530709334425600

Follow @IceCapsReport on Twitter

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