Marlies Lose 4-1 To Rockford

The Toronto Marlies have been an impressive team of late. After falling out of the North Division lead, their ten game homestead gave the team time to re-evaluate and build chemistry, and did so in spectacular fashion, winning seven of them. The momentum continued as the team left town, leading to eight straight games without a regulation loss. However, all good things must come to an end at some point, and that was the case tonight, as the blue and white fell 4-1 to the Rockford IceHogs.

The Marlies were first to strike. Twelve minutes in, Spencer Abbott scored his tenth goal of the year. Paul Ranger and Jerry D’Amigo were quick to go to the penalty box afterwards, but despite being on a 5 on 3 penalty kill, the score remained the same. In fact, the score ended up staying the same for the entirety of the period,

The second period, on the other hand, was a much different story. Just thirty seconds after Simon Gysbers took a seat in the box, Jeremy Morin tied the game up for Rockford with his 2th goal of the year. While penalties to Zigomanis and Yeo didn’t lead to any further damage, Morin scored his second of the night while the Marlies were on their first powerplay with four minutes to go.

Toronto needed an early goal to tie the game up and try to win, and they got the opposite, Steve Montador, who you may remember from every team in the universe, scored his second goal of his season as an insurance marker, An empty netter by Brad Mills with twenty seconds remaining sealed the deal.

Drew MacIntyre allowed 3 goals on 29 shots. Not the greatest of performances, but not a horrible one either. Made a few big saves to keep the team in it.

Tim Connolly returned to the lineup, and had an assist to go with three shots.

Morgan Rielly had his worst statistical game yet; no points, and a -2 (along with being on for the empty netter). That said, he continues to shoot, taking three, tied for a team lead.

The regulation loss is the team’s first since March 9th.

The Marlies play their next game against the Rochester Americans on Friday night. It’s their last before returning home on Saturday.