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The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

Mark Dekanich makes 23 saves for St. John's in a 5-0 win over Hamilton

By: The Canadian Press

Posted: 03/15/2013 7:31 PM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 03/15/2013 9:11 PM

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The IceCaps snapped an eight-game home losing streak in spectacular fashion Friday evening.

Instead of grinding out a win, the St. John's IceCaps rolled to an easy 5-0 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs in American Hockey League action, with Mark Dekanich making 23 saves for the shutout.

Aaron Gagnon and Eric O'Dell had a goal and an assist for St. John's (24-32-5), while Kael Mouillierat, Josh Lunden and Jason Jaffray added singles.

Dekanich said the win was crucial for the team and credited his teammates with the shut out.

"Obviously we needed that to build some confidence, which has been few and far between for us. It's been difficult playing here and there, I'm just trying to give us a chance to win. The boys played great in front of me tonight, they made it easy."

IceCaps coach Keith McCambridge said the team was happy to get the win in front of their home crowd.

“Relieved would be a good word. Tonight I thought we had everybody playing well. Our special teams were good, our goaltending was outstanding. Everybody was pulling in the same direction.”

St. John's took advantage of a leaky Robert Mayer early, scoring three goals on six shots, before Mayer was replaced by Dustin Tokarski at 8:22. Tokarski finished with 24 saves.

Gagnon continued his recent hot streak by scoring the opening goal short-handed at 1:36 when he went end-to-end.

Mouillierat scored a power-play goal at 6:16 with a routine wrist shot that bounced over Mayer's glove and found its way into the net.

O'Dell added his team-leading 19th goal at 8:22 to end Mayer's night after the IceCaps picked apart the Bulldogs (24-30-6) with a few precision passes on the rush before O'Dell hammered a shot upstairs.

Lunden scored his first goal of the season at 7:51 of the second, when he spun around on the doorstep and fired home a low wrist shot.

Jaffray then added a power-play goal at 14:27 on a booming slapshot from near the point.

Hamilton veteran Zack Stortini said the team knows they have to play better tomorrow.

"It's huge for us to bounce back tomorrow, we're definitely not happy with the result tonight. We're going to use that to feed ourselves for tomorrow night.”

St. John's went 2 for 6 on the power play and Hamilton was 0 for 3.

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