During their pre-season exhibition series battle for the Colemans Cup, the St. John’s IceCaps came out on the losing end of all three contests against the Toronto Marlies.
Duplicating that effort in the first weekend of regular-season play, the team hasn’t kicked off the 2016-17 season quite the way it would like.
They started the season on the road against three different opponents. Friday night’s season opener was aggressive and they battled hard, but fell to the Hartford Wolf Pack, 6-3.
The following evening, they upped the ante when they faced the Albany Devils, the teams spending a whooping 37 minutes apiece in the sin bin. Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting, they say.
The netminder of the ECHL’s Brampton Beast, Bryan Pitton, who’s on a 25-game tryout while Charlie Lindgren is up with the Montreal Canadiens, got the start in his first AHL game. Even he got in on the fun, getting called for an interference penalty just 3:37 into the opening frame.
Albany’s Andrew MacWilliam was also called for elbowing, making it four-on-four right out of the gate.
Gloves were dropped twice during the first period and once more during the second, with Michael McCarron, Jeremy Grégoire, and Bobby Farnham all serving five-minute sentences. It was David Broll who claimed the PIM title, with 16 on the sheet when the game was over.
The Devils got on the board first, just five minutes into the opening period. Then once more, short-handed, three minutes later. Down by two heading into the second, Terry was one of the few IceCaps to keep a cool head, and notched the club’s first goal of the night 54 seconds in, with a helper from Michael McCarron.
The Devils gave the IceCaps a great chance to tie things up after getting back-to-back penalties to make it a 5-on-3 situation. Once again, Terry found the back of the net, this time with Mark Barberio and Nikita Scherbak picking up the assists.
Just three minutes later, a combination of a turnover by Barberio and lack of rebound control by Pitton led to the Devils regaining the lead. In an attempt to stir things up, Broll got his walking papers and headed to the dressing room with actions warranted 14 minutes in penalties: two for roughing, two for unsportsmanlike conduct, and 10-minute misconduct.
The IceCaps were able be remain cool during the final period, and applied good pressure. They outshot the Devils 10-5, but couldn’t get back in the game. The Devils wrapped it up with an empty-netter for the 5-2 victory.
Sunday afternoon, the IceCaps faced the Providence Bruins for the first time as the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate. Sven Andrighetto joined the team on the road after clearing waivers on Saturday. Stefan Matteau was also in the lineup after completing his two-game suspension that was carried over from last season.
Zach Fucale got the nod for the IceCaps for the second time this weekend, and after being unable to control a rebound, the Bruins banged one past him to open the scoring just two minutes in. Daniel Audette came close to making it even but rang one off the post.
The IceCaps were being out-shot all through the first and second periods. After winning a faceoff early in the second, Colton Hargrove took a shot on goal and slid one through Fucale’s five hole, making it 2-0 Bruins.
Ryan Johnston grabbed his first professional goal at 13:47 of the second, with Joel Hanley and Scherbak lending a hand. Fucale wasn’t given much support, and almost scored on himself at one point after mishandling the puck.
As with the previous two games, the IceCaps began applying pressure just a little to late. Barberio came close to tying it up with just seconds left in the final frame, but hit the crossbar instead.
The refs lost complete control at the end of the game. This time it was McCarron who took the award for most penalty minutes. While trying to protect Hudon, he was baited into a fight by Justin Hickman, resulting in a fighting major, a game misconduct for having that fight after the final whistle, and a match penalty for a headbutt during the altercation. The events will be very likely be investigated by the league, with the potential for further discipline to the big centreman.
The IceCaps will have four days to regroup before continuing their road trip next weekend.
Perhaps they should give meditation a try in the meantime.
