Marlies lose to last-place Moose in overtime

The Toronto Marlies have only three losses since December 29th, and interestingly, two of them have come from teams at the bottom of their conference. After losing 6-5 in overtime to Binghamton last Saturday, the Marlies ran into the same issue in the West, falling by the same score to the 30th overall Manitoba Moose this afternoon.

Toronto fell behind very early in this game, as Chase De Leo put his team up just 47 seconds into the first period with his twelfth goal of the season. It was a decent enough shot, but one that Garret Sparks should have likely had. Neither he or the Marlies gave up instantaneously, though; a powerplay caused by a slash by eventual first-star JC Lipon led to William Nylander setting up Kasperi Kapanen for his eighth of the season to tie the game up. Just five minutes later, Richard Clune added tot the total with his sixth, deflecting Viktor Loov’s point shot to give the Marlies the lead.

Toronto looked to continue their momentum in the second after Connor Brown scored his fifth goal in sixth games, but the Moose responded with a quick tally to avoid being pulled away from. Moose captain John Albert tied the game up late in the period while Brown sat in the box, paving the way for a winner-take-all third period.

Well, except for the part where nobody took all in the third. De Leo repeated his first-period magic by opening the frame with his second of the night, but he was answered by Nikita Soshnikov, who scored his 17th moments before chirping to the point that he received an unsportsmanlike penalty. Lipon put the Moose up once again in what looked to be the game’s last goal, but William Nylander, unsatisfied with the idea of a regulation loss, came back with his first goal since returning from injury.

The goal carried the game into overtime, but things weren’t meant to be for the Marlies as Nic Petan beat Garret Sparks once last time to win the game for the home side.

Sparks has struggled a bit since coming back from injury. He’s allowed five regulation goals in three of five games, and in both of those appearances, gave up the overtime winner as well. That gives him a 0.893 save percentage down that stretch, something that he probably isn’t happy about. 

Meanwhile, the returnees up front have fared much better; William Nylander has a goal and five assists in his first three games after his concussion and appendicitis, while Connor Brown has 5 goals and 2 assists in six games.

The Marlies are still far ahead of the pack in the AHL standings race but fall to 0.796 with the loss. The Moose, on the other hand, get to celebrate not being last, jumping above the Iowa Wild to a 0.344 record. Toronto plays their next game against St. John’s next Saturday night.