Admirals Weekend Recap
By Ted Warren
Devante Smith-Pelly scored his 1st goal of the season Saturday
Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-US PRESSWIRE
The Norfolk Admirals traveled to St. Johns, Newfoundland Canada to partake in a weekend series against the St. Johns Ice Caps. On Saturday the Ice Caps handed the Admirals their 1st loss of the regular season defeating Norfolk 3-2.
In Saturday’s game, Norfolk saw goals from Devante Smith-Pelly and Sami Vatanen. St. Johns received goals from Zack Redmond, Jason Jaffray and Eric O’Dell. St. Johns finished the game with 42 shots on Frederik Anderson while Mark Dekanich saw 30 shots for St. Johns. The Admirals were 1 for 5 on the powerplay. The Ice Caps repeated what the Admirals did on the man advantage only cashing in on 1 of their 5 chances. Luca Caputi made his Admirals debut on Saturday playing in his 1st game of the season. Frederik Andersen suffered his 1st loss of his pro career while Mark Dekanich received the win.
In Sunday’s game, Norfolk goaltender Igor Bobkov stood tall in net turning away 38 shots to secure the Admirals 2-0 victory. Just like in Saturday’s game, the match would remain scoreless until the middle period when newly acquired defenseman Ryan Parent put a shot on Ice Caps goalie Eddie Pasquale who made the initial save. However, Smith-Pelly found the rebound and slid the puck to Patrick Maroon in the slot who snuck the puck past Pasquale to give the Admirals a one goal lead. Norfolk doubled up on St. Johns when John Mitchell scored on a semi-breakaway as he was exiting the box. That was the last goal scored by either club. St. Johns outshot Norfolk in the 3rd by a wide margin of 3 to 18. Neither the Admirals nor the Ice Caps cashed in on a man advantage. Ryan Parent made his Admirals debut Sunday along with John Kurtz. Norfolk now sits atop the Eastern Division with Syracuse tied for the lead.
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