Marlies lose first game in St. John’s Trip

This might be the last year of the St. John’s IceCaps. For real, this time; the Habs are moving their affiliate to Laval, Quebec and unlike the first time the Caps were moved (to Manitoba), nobody seems to be willing to fill in the spot. That means that these billion or so matchups between the two teams this season are a bit more justifiable; like an extended going away party.

It’s not a party when you lose, though, and that’s exactly what happened with the Toronto Marlies. Despite their best efforts and a high-dollar AHL fourth line, they ultimately fell 4-1 in the first of two weekend matchups.

There weren’t a lot of bright spots for this game. Charles Hudon found far too much open space in his effort to strike first against the Marlies, creeping behind Justin Holl and Andrew Nielsen to score his eighth of the year.

While Kasperi Kapanen did manage to get a response goal on a powerplay just a few minutes later, Toronto were limited to just two shots in the second period. While they wanted to improve on that in the third, Josh Leivo was given a pair of penalties (hooking and unsportsmanlike conduct) that put the team in a sticky situation. St. John’s capitalized on the opportunity, with goals from Michael McCarron and Sven Andrighetto putting the Marlies in a rough spot. Stefan added an empty-netter to put the game out of reach.

Overall, this wasn’t a very good effort for the Marlies, who lost their second regulation game of the year and fall to 6-2-0-1 on the season (still good for second overall). There were some bright spots, though; Brendan Leipsic led the team in shots and grabbed an assist, Kapanen notched another goal, and the William Wrenn experiment continued with the newcomer defenceman staying relatively silent across the board, save for an interference penalty. Toronto also outshot the IceCaps 27-19, though trailing likely helped that spread.

The two teams will converge again at Mile Once Centre tomorrow afternoon.