Heating up
Recent rallies probably wouldn’t have happened a month ago
If his New Years resolutions had anything to do with hockey, they seem to be working for St. John’s IceCaps’ defenceman Will O’Neill. There may be no hotter player in the American Hockey League than the IceCaps’ defenceman, who is averaging well more than a point per game in 2015 and has taken over the team scoring lead. Check out O’Neill’s numbers — and a lot more in the way of IceCaps stats.
It was a quote that came after the St. John’s IceCaps’ 5-4 shootout win over the Hartford Wolf Pack six days ago, but it certainly could be recycled for use in assessment of the IceCaps following their big 5-4 come-from-behind overtime victory against the Worcester Sharks at Mile One Centre Sunday.
It was suggested to St. John’s head coach Keith McCambridge that the sort of win his team managed against the Wolf Pack Wednesday — which featured a rally from two goals down in the last half of the third period — was one that the IceCaps would have been far less likely to produce earlier in the season.
“I’d have to agree with that,” said McCambridge. Three weeks ago ... definitely before Christmas, if we had been down in a game like that, there would have been possibly more heads hanging on the bench and there wouldn’t belief that we could get our game back and claw our way back into the game.
“Everything is starting to sink in a little bit more with them ... system-wise and getting what you need out of all your players, or your top three lines, gives us a chance of success here.”
——— After going 4-2 in a six-game homestand, the IceCaps are five points out of a playoff spot in the AHL’s Eastern Conference, with three teams between them and the Sharks, who hold eighth place and the final berth in the conference. All those teams, including Worcester, have games in hand on St. John’s.
Speaking of the Sharks, they didn’t get out of St. John’s on Monday because of storms that have slashed through eastern Canada and New England leading to cancelled lights left, right and centre.
——— Rookie Connor Hellebuyck made the start in goal for the IceCaps Sunday, but the got the hook after giving up four goals on 32 shots through 40 minutes. Jussi Olkinuora provided shutout netminding the rest of the way and benefitted from the IceCaps’ big comeback of five unanswered tallies, including Brenden’s KIchton’s second of the game in overtime.
That Hellebuyck started was interesting in light of his heavy workload over the last month and a half. McCambridge had admitted it would be a tough decision on whether to give the young goalie back-to-back starts against the Sharks in a series which included a Saturdaynight contest leading into a short turnaround before a Sunday-afternoon rematch, but that’s what happened. Including Sunday, Hellebuyck now has appeared in 20 straight games, starting 19 of them.
Hellebuyck did get a bit of a rest with his abbreviated minutes Sunday, but perhaps the most important thing — netminding-wise — that happened was the confidence gained by Olkinuora in earning his first AHL win in three appearance this season as well as the confidence his coach and teammates might have developed for him in light of his performance.
It’s especially key, since McCambridge has another workload-related call to make regarding Hellebuyck this weekend as the IceCaps begin a sixgame road trip with three games in less than three days — Friday and Saturday nights in Manchester and Sunday afternoon in Portland.