IceCaps Drop Second Straight to Penguins

Published on October 18, 2014 under American Hockey League (AHL)
St. John's IceCaps News Release


The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins played the role of spoiler for the second consecutive game as they topped the St. John's IceCaps 4-1 at Mile One Centre on Saturday night.

The Penguins' Nick Drazenovic notched the game-winner just over five minutes into the first period and Scott Wilson, Bryan Rust and Zack Torquato all added singles to give the Penguins their second win over the IceCaps in as many days. JC Lipon scored the lone IceCaps tally of the evening.

Lipon energized the crowd early in the contest as he dropped the gloves with the Penguins' Dominik Uher in the IceCaps' defensive zone to the right of goaltender Peter Budaj just 1:24 into the game, marking the second consecutive contest in which he dropped the gloves.

The Penguins were the first to find the back of the net as Scott Wilson picked up a pass from Philip Samuelsson near the top of the left wing circle, danced into the slot and deked past Budaj just 3:01 into the game.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton added to its lead just over two minutes later as Jayson Megna started an odd-man rush into the offensive zone down the left wing and sent a quick pass across the slot to a wide open Drazenovic, who made no mistake on the one-timer for his first goal of the year at 5:01.

The IceCaps started the second period the right way as Lipon took a pass from Jordan Hill just inside the left blue line and fired a seeing-eye shot that eluded Penguins starting goaltender Jeff Zatkoff high on the glove side at 4:09 to cut the deficit to one.

The IceCaps were unable to score again in the second period but were in control of the play for the majority of the frame and outshot the Penguins 11-4.

That didn't stop the Penguins from extending their lead to two in the first half of the third period. With 13 minutes remaining, Rust faked a wraparound to Budaj's left and cut back in front, poking the puck through a sea of bodies and into the net, with assists attributed to Tom Kuhnhackl and Matia Marcantuoni.

Torquato added an empty-netter with 1:57 remaining to seal the victory for the Penguins, leaving the IceCaps winless in their last three.

The IceCaps continue their six-game homestand on Tuesday and Wednesday as they face the Binghamton Senators for a two-game series, with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m. for both games. Catch all the action with broadcaster Brian Rogers at www.stjohnicecaps.com and 930AM, or watch live on Rogers TV and AHL Live. Pregame show gets underway at 7:00.

Notes: Not dressed for St. John's: Jason Jaffray, Brandon MacLean, Ben Walker, Nicolas Blanchard, Kris Fredheim, Julien Brouillette ... St. John's outshot Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 29-28... The IceCaps finished the game 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play... Lipon finished with a game-high and IceCaps season-high eight shots on goal... Molson Canadian Three Stars: 1. Nick Drazenovic 2. JC Lipon 3. Brian Dumoulin ... Mary Brown's Hardest Working Player: Patrice Cormier.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 18, 2014


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