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TORONTO –  On Thursday night, the Toronto Marlies returned to Ricoh Coliseum with a chance to sweep the Milwaukee Admirals in front of the home town faithful. With the Maple Leafs out of the post-season, the Marlies have begun to draw support from Leafs Nation. On Thursday night, the sea of blue jerseys could be seen in the stands at Ricoh Coliseum and the fans most definitely got their money’s worth.

After a scoreless first period where the Marlies were outshot 11-8, the second is where they would strike. With both teams exchanging penalties in the middle frame, Toronto was the beneficiary of a late boarding call on Admirals Francis Wathier. On the ensuing man advantage, Toronto struck. Stuart Percy and Jerry D’Amigo put on a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing display to find Greg McKegg wide open at the right side of the net, who had no problem firing home his 1st of the playoffs past Marek Mazanec for a 1-0 Toronto lead. Shots favoured the Admirals 11-8 in the period, but it definitely wasn’t for lack of chances by the Marlies.

In the third period, Toronto and Milwaukee would exchange great chances all period long. For two teams that only played each other twice this season, this series featured a very open style of play  The third period was an even period with lots of hits and scoring chances by both teams, but the Milwaukee Admirals were unable to beat Drew MacIntyre. Then, with less than a minute to go and holding a 1-0 lead, the Marlies got their icing on the cake. With Marek Mazanec on the Admirals bench for the extra attacker, T.J. Brennan would fire a puck from his side of centre ice into the empty cage for a 2-0 lead, which would be the eventual final.

 

GAME NOTES:

  • Carter Ashton returned from injury and had 3 shots on goal and 2 penalty minutes
  • Peter Holland and Spencer Abbott, who were game time decisions, did not dress
  • Andrew MacWilliam also returned from injury
  • T.J. Brennan led all players in the game with a total of 7 shots on net
  • Drew MacIntyre stopped all 29 shots he faced, he was the game’s 1st star
  • Greg McKegg had the game winner, was named the second star
  • Attendance was 5,691
  • Powerplay was 2/7 while the PK went 3/3

Image courtesy of Christian at TSGphoto.com

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