Saturday night in Syracuse, NY., veteran goalie Yann Danis made 32 saves and rookie Daniel Audette scored 1:24 into overtime as St. John’s defeated the Syracuse Crunch 2-1.
The game came the night after rookie netminder Charlie Lindgren made 25 saves in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Binghamton Senators.
On Saturday, with a third of their opening-night line-up on recall to the parent Montreal Canadiens, and another key player— Charles Hudon — sidelined by injury, the IceCaps, with a patchwork group, got key contributions from three players who weren’t on the St. John’s roster at the start of the season.
Anthony Camara, one of four players added to the team through professional tryout contracts (PTO) earlier this week, scored the game’s opening goal; defenceman Julien Brouilette, who inked an AHL deal with St. John’s Friday after joining the team on a PTO in November, had assists on both the IceCaps goals; and Danis, signed by St. John’s in the second week of the season, delivered a first-star performance as his team ended what officially is a 10-game road trip.
The IceCaps (18-14-4) played three away contests before dispersing for the Christmas break, then regrouped to play seven more. The team went 5-2-3 overall in the 10 games and 4-2-1 in the last seven.
With Chris Terry, Michael McCarron, Sven Andrighetto, Nikita Scherbak, Bobby Farnham, Mark Barberio and Ryan Johnston all in Montreal, and Hudon having been sidelined since Dec. 14, the IceCaps are counting on players who had supporting roles at the start of the season to step into the spotlight and deliver.
Audette is certainly one who has. The rookie centre has seven goals and 18 points in 37 games, but five of those goals and half his points have come in the last nine games.
Mike Halmo scored the goal for Syracuse and Kristers Gudlevskis made 17 saves for the Crunch (18-9-6), who lead the AHL’s North Division.
The IceCaps, who sit third in the division and are a single point back of the Albany Devils, return today to St. John’s to begin preparations for an eight-game homestand that begins with games against the Hartford Wolf Pack on the weekend.
Note
Brouiliette was not the only IceCaps player who got an upgraded contract this weekend. Forward Markus Eisenschmid, who had been operating on an AHL deal, got a two-year, two-way entry-level NHL contract from the Canadiens …
