Marlies break through wall in third, defeat IceCaps

Photo Credit: Christian Bonin/TSGPhoto.com

The Toronto Marlies weren’t willing to let history repeat itself yesterday. While Yann Danis was able to steal a couple of points away from the blue and white on Saturday, a stellar third-period effort from the home team ensured that Charles Lindgren wouldn’t be able to do the same thing, ending in a 3-0 victory to close off the weekend.

While the results weren’t immediately there, Toronto wasn’t shy about putting on the pressure in opening forty. Over the course of the first two periods, the Marlies outshot their opponents 23-14, often having their pucks come within inches of the goal line only to be met by Lindgren’s limbs. It was no doubt a frustrating stretch, made worse by a lack of conversion on two powerplays, but it set up for a dramatic third period.

In that period, the Marlies took control. Three and a half minutes into the final frame, a pass from Brooks Laich found its way onto the stick of rookie defenceman Andrew Nielsen, who ripped a shot through traffic that trickled through Lindgren to open the scoring. Ten minutes later, with Mark Barberio in the box, Nielsen did it again, though this time Bryon Froese redirected his shot across the goal line.

From there, Toronto had their fair share of opportunity to add to the total, but Lindgren regained his form and shut the door for the rest of his time in the goal. Thankfully for the Marlies, Garret Sparks was doing much of the same in his first appearance in two weeks, even if he only had 19 shots to turn away, it was just as important that he stopped all of them.

Brendan Leipsic capped the game off with an empty netter, and while there was a bit of overflowing tension shown between Rich Clune and Bobby Farnham, along with Kerby Rychel and Jeremy Gregoire in the seconds following that final tally, the buzzer eventually found its way to zero.

With the victory, the Marlies improved to 9-4-0-1 on the season and restored their goal differential to +10. This leaves them at 6th overall in the league standings, though they remain leaders of the North Division. Toronto’s next game is tomorrow evening in Albany against the Devils.