SYRACUSE, NY – Jason King scored with just one minute and 22 seconds remaining in the third period to lift the St. John’s IceCaps to a 3-2 win over the Syracuse Crunch Friday night. The victory gives St. John’s a 1-0 lead in their best-of-five AHL Eastern Conference quarterfinal with the Crunch.
Goaltender Eddie Pasquale also played a key role for the IceCaps, stopping 35 Syracuse shots to earn the win in net. Iiro Tarkki was solid in goal for the Crunch, making 26 saves in a losing effort.
IceCaps head coach Keith McCambridge had high praise for Pasquale’s efforts after the game, giving the young goalie credit for coming up big in his first playoff game as a professional hockey player.
“He was the difference in the first part of the game,” McCambridge told The Telegram, a daily newspaper in St. John’s.
Neither team was able to bulge the twine in the opening period, as the Crunch and IceCaps played a scoreless 20 minutes to start the game.
St. John’s opened the scoring at 3:05 of the second, when Derek Meech scored on a setup from Brock Trotter and Spencer Machacek. Syracuse tied the game with a power play goal from Kyle Palmieri at 10:22 of the middle frame. Mathieu Carle and Kyle Cumiskey had assists on the goal.
The Crunch took a 2-1 lead at 10:35 of the third period after a Mark Bell goal. Dan Sexton had the lone assist on the play. The IceCaps rallied quickly, tying the game with a marker from Aaron Gagnon at 12:22, with assists going to Ben Maxwell and Travis Ramsey.
With both teams pressing for a go-ahead goal late in the third, King played the role of hero for St. John’s by finding the back of the net at 18:38. Assists on the game-winning goal went to Maxwell and Meech.
Game two of the series takes place Saturday night in Syracuse.
Contact Darcy.MacRae@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.