Marlies begin road trip with dominant win over Manitoba

Photo cropped from original, credit: Flickr / Manitoba Moose

The Toronto Marlies are taking an extended break from Ricoh Coliseum for the last time this season, touring Winnipeg and St. John’s for two weeks before beginning a two-month stretch where the team doesn’t go more than a weekend without a home game. Tonight, they kicked things off against the Manitoba Moose and walked away with a relatively stress-free 6-2 victory.

Toronto got themselves on the scoresheet relatively quickly, taking advantage of penalties to Chase De Leo and Patrice Cormier which put them on a 5-on-3. Their top unit cycled like there was no tomorrow, and eventually, Brendan Leipsic found TJ Brennan, who in a situation like this positioned himself over on the right wing for a one-timer to give the Marlies the lead. It was the only goal in an otherwise quiet period, where the two teams combined for just fourteen shots.

The second period was a different story, though. Mark Arcobello potted his nineteenth of the year four minutes in, which was a prequel to a wave the team would ride midway through the frame. within the span of three minutes, Nikita Soshnikov picked up his 16th of the season, Arcobello doubled up with his 20th of the year, and Kasperi Kapanen tapped in an easy setup from William Nylander to put the team up 5-0. By the time the fourth goal came, Eric Comrie was already put out of his misery, though Jussi Olkinuora clearly didn’t fare much better under the circumstances.

Antoine Bibeau’s shutout bid was snapped in the early moments of the third period. As you can see above, he overcommitted to his prior save, putting himself right in the lane of his own defender, taking them both out of the play to give Nic Petan all the opportunity he needed to score. Jiri Fronk added another goal late in the third, but it wasn’t one that was going to start a rally by any means. Zach Hyman added an empty netter to ensure his team the victory.

Those who were worried that Nylander’s concussion may have set his ability back will be pleased to know that the 19-year-old Calgary-born Sweden has three assists in his first two games back, which shoots him back into the top ten in the AHL’s scoring race. As well, Brennan’s goal strengthens his position at the top of the race, while Arcobello moves into a tie for third. Nylander and Arcobello have the fewest games played of anybody in the top ten.

As for the team, the win puts them back above 0.800 on the season, improving their record to 37-8-3. They also became the first team to score at least 190 goals this year (193); only Texas (180) has scored more than 150. Their next game is on Saturday against the very same Moose in the very same MTS Centre; puck drop is at 3:00 PM.