(CP) — Eric O’Dell picked up right where he left off last season, scoring the game-tying goal in the St. John’s IceCaps’ opener against the Providence Bruins on Friday night.
O’Dell, who led the IceCaps in scoring in 2012-13, scored with 56 seconds remaining in the third period to send the game into overtime before Nick Johnson spoiled the comeback with his second goal of the night, lifting Providence to a 4-3 victory.
"I thought we outplayed these guys, we outshot them and we played really well," O’Dell said. "Unfortunately, that’s the game of hockey and we’ll come back tomorrow and get them. Their goalie had a solid game. Hopefully tomorrow we get a quick one in on him."
Despite the loss, O’Dell said he’s relieved he was able to get his first goal of the season out of the way quickly.
"Usually it takes me a bit to get that first goal (of the season) and get the monkey off my shoulders," he said. "It felt really good to get the first one."
Matt Fraser and Jared Knight had the other two goals for Providence, while Adam Lowry rounded out the scoring for the IceCaps.
The Bruins got on the board first as Fraser scored off a scramble in front, beating IceCaps goalie Eddie Pasquale high with 5:32 left in the first period.
Johnson added to the Bruins lead with his first goal of the game at 13:13 of the second period, capitalizing on an IceCaps turnover in front of the net.
Lowry put the home team on the board at 9:18 of the third to cut the lead to 2-1. But Knight responded three minutes later, beating Pasquale low on the power play to make it a 3-1 game for the visitors.
The IceCaps late rally started with J.C. Lipon, who scored with 1:49 remaining in the third. Lipon tipped a pass in from Jason Jaffray and Ben Chiarot to make it 3-2 before O’Dell tied it up.
With 2:56 remaining in overtime, Johnson took advantage of a breakaway to beat Pasquale for the game-winner.
IceCaps head coach Keith McCambridge said he was happy with the way his team played.
"I thought we had good quality scoring chances," he said. "We had two breakdowns, and it was in the back of our net to start, but I thought in the third period we started getting some pucks and bodies to the front of the net, creating a bit of traffic and we were rewarded for it."
Pasquale made 26 saves for St. John’s, while Niklas Svedberg, last year’s Baz Bastien Award winner as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender, stopped 40 for the Bruins.
The teams meet again Saturday in St. John’s.
