ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland and Labrador – One look at Garth Murray said it
IceCaps forward Garth Murray fights off a Norfolk defender during game three of the series on Monday night. Photo by Jeff Cull
Moments after the IceCaps dropped a heart-breaking 1-0 overtime loss to the Admirals, Murray looked equal parts angry, frustrated, disappointed and bewildered. With his team now trailing the best-of-seven series 3-0, Murray summed up the way the entire IceCaps team felt after game three.
“It doesn’t feel very good,” said Murray. “When you don’t score a goal in a playoff game, it’s hard to win. Eddie (Pasquale) had a lot of big saves and held us in there right until the end. But we didn’t score any goals and we’re not going to get where we want to go if we do that. It’s a pretty crappy feeling right now.”
The IceCaps face the daunting task of having to win four straight games against a talented and deep Admirals lineup that at one point this season had won 29 consecutive games. Murray insists the team can’t get caught up in the fact they need to win four in a row, but instead has to concentrate on first winning game four in St. John’s on Tuesday night.
“It’s not the best feeling in the world, but at the same time we’re professionals in here and we know we have to focus on what we’re doing in game four. It comes down to one shift at a time, one period at a time … that’s the mindset we need to have,” said Murray.
Admirals%27 goalie Dustin Tokarski made 25 saves on Monday night%2C including this stop on Eric O%27Dell. Photo by Jeff Cull
The biggest glitch in the IceCaps game right now is a complete lack of offence. St. John’s has scored only two goals in the first three games of the series, despite getting a healthy number of shots on Admirals’ goalie Dustin Tokarski. However, although the IceCaps’ shot totals are respectable, they are not forcing Tokarski to make many challenging saves.
In fact, more often than not Tokarski only has to stop one shot from St. John’s before the rebound is cleared by a teammate and the scoring threat is eliminated.
“We’re not capitalizing on our chances right now,” said IceCaps winger Jason King. “We’re not generating as much as we usually do, and when we get pucks on the net we’re just throwing them at his feet. We had plenty of shots tonight, but we didn’t have a lot of quality chances. We have to test him more. There’s no question he’s a good goalie.”
King added the team’s offensive woes are truly unfortunate given the way Pasquale had played between the pipes for St. John’s. Although he was yanked after giving up four goals in game one, Pasquale has played solid the past two games and on Monday mad a number of big saves, including a pair of game-savers in the dying minutes of the third period. King said the team owes it to Pasquale to offer him more offensive support.
“We haven’t given him the opportunity to get the wins that he deserves,” said King. “We have to score some goals to help him out.”
The only goal of Monday’s game came just 1:37 into overtime. With St. John’s applying pressure in the Admirals’ zone, the puck came back to IceCaps defenseman Arturs Kulda at the blue line. Kulda then fired a slap shot directly into the shin pads of Norfolk’s Pierre-Cedric Labrie, who was in good position to block the shot well before Kulda decided to shoot.
The puck bounced off Labrie’s leg and into the neutral zone, with the
IceCaps winger Jason King answers questions from reporters following his team%27s game three loss. Photo by Jeff Cull
“I was just trying to put my body in front of the puck. I thought he would have hooked me or something,” Labrie told the Virginian-Pilot. “As soon as I got close enough, I didn’t hesitate. I said to myself, ‘I’m going to shoot this.’ I’ve missed so many times on breakaways this year that I decided I’m shooting.”
Tokarski made 25 saves to earn the shutout in goal in for the Admirals, while Pasquale stopped 27 shots in the IceCaps’ net.
Contact Darcy.MacRae@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at Jeff.Cull@prohockeynews.com
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