ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland and Labrador – The St. John’s IceCaps first home playoff game in franchise history was one to remember, as they skated to a 5-1 win over the Syracuse Crunch in front of 6,287 screaming fans at Mile One Centre on Wednesday night.
The win gives St. John’s a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five AHL Eastern Conference quarterfinal with the Crunch.
“It was amazing. Right off the start we could feel the enthusiasm coming from the fans,” said IceCaps defenseman Derek Meech. “It’s been a long time since they had playoff hockey in St. John’s and it’s exciting for everyone. It was a pleasure to play in that environment tonight.”
Scheifele played his first game as an IceCap on Wednesday. Photo by Jeff Cull
Meech was an offensive catalyst for the IceCaps, scoring one goal and assisting on another. He joked after the game that he felt kind of sheepish celebrating his first-period goal since it came off a weak backhand shot he clearly fanned on.
“I felt a little lucky on that one. I didn’t get a lot on the shot. You could probably read the label on the puck as it went in the net,” said Meech with a chuckle. “But if you put the puck on the net, good things happen. That was my mindset on that one.”
Five different IceCaps scored for the team in the win, with 11 different IceCaps registering at least one point. Even players who didn’t factor offensively found a way to contribute, whether it was a timely hit, a blocked shot or a successful battle for a loose puck.
“I thought we played our style of game very well. We had a few lapses, but we rebounded pretty quickly with a big hit or something to get the momentum back,” said Mark Scheifele, a 19-year-old forward who played his first game as an IceCap Wednesday after being assigned to the team by the Winnipeg Jets following the elimination of his junior club from the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.
and players alike celebrate John Alberts first-period goal on Wednesday night. Photo by Jeff Cull
St. John’s opened the scoring with a power play goal at 11:10 of the first period when Patrice Cormier banged home a rebound in front of the Crunch net. Syracuse’s Dan Sexton scored an unassisted goal just over a minute and a half later to tie the game, only to watch Meech put St. John’s up 2-1 when he beat Crunch goalie Iiro Tarkki between the legs with a feeble backhand shot at 17:21 of the opening frame.
Brock Trotter gave St. John’s a two-goal lead with a power play marker at 7:54 of the second, while third-period goals from John Albert and Ben Maxwell sealed the 5-1 victory for the IceCaps.
Despite the one-sided score, the Crunch actually outshot the IceCaps 41-38. This is an indication of how tough a game Syracuse played, according to Meech.
“It was a closer game than the score indicated. They have a very good team and they battle us really hard. We had to fight for every inch out there,” Meech said.
Brett Festerling, Jason DeSantis, Jason King, Raymond Sawada, Spencer Machacek and Meech had one assist each for the IceCaps, while Arturs Kulda had a pair of helpers for St. John’s.
IceCaps goalie Eddie Pasquale stopped 40 shots to earn the win, while Tarkki made 33 saves in the Crunch net.
Game four of the series will be played Friday in St. John’s.
Contact the writer at Darcy.MacRae@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at Jeff.Cull@prohockeynews.com
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