Marlies fall in quiet game against Albany

After splitting their two games this weekend against St. John’s, many were curious to see how the Toronto Marlies would themselves into another pair games, in this case on the road, this week.  Toronto had dominated their previous five periods of hockey, after all, but didn’t do much to bring that momentum into tonight’s 3-1 loss to the Albany Devils.

Toronto actually had the first sign of life in this game, as Byron Froese put home an unassisted tally midway through the first period. It was a frame where they had two powerplays, but couldn’t convert, and ended up actually taking just six shots despite those advantages. 

But it slipped away, and considerably so. In the second, the Devils struck back by outshooting the Blue and White by an overwhelming 13-7, and one of those shots ended up being the equalizer. While Milan Michalek was sitting out the final seconds of a high-sticking double minor, Vojtech Mozik made the Marlies pay with his second goal of the year.

While Toronto started to put more pucks into an awaiting Kenny Appleby in the third period, they had no luck actually beating him. On the other hand, Antoine Bibeau was defeated twice more, once by Blake Coleman on a wraparound and Kevin Rooney off a bounce that came with a drive to the net.

With the loss, the Marlies fall out of the North Division lead, now trailing Syracuse with a 9-5-0-1 record. Thankfully for them, they can get that lead back on Friday when they take on those very same Crunch at 7:00 PM.