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The month of February has officially been a grind for the Toronto Marlies.

Heading into their 13th game in just 22 games, Toronto’s injury list has grown to nine players. Byron Froese, Milan Michalek, Brendan Leipsic, Marc-Andre Cliche, Kasperi Kapanen, Tobias Lindberg, Brett Findlay, Rich Clune and Rinat Valiev were all unavailable on Saturday.

A Marlies lineup already tired and banged up due to the intense schedule was also without Frederik Gauthier, who is currently up with the Maple Leafs. Not helping matters was an injury to Garret Sparks, who become the team’s 10th injury after leaving the game in the first period of this Saturday night tilt in Hershey.

First Period

Facing a Bears teams desperate for points in an ultra-competitive Atlantic Division, the Marlies began with some strong play at both ends of the ice.

Travis Dermott forced Joe Cannata into making a shoulder save a minute in before Justin Holl’s attempt flashed across the blue paint 60 seconds later.

The fourth line — made up of three players who have been plying their trade in Orlando, for the most part, this season — did not appear out of place during this game. Mason Marchment, Tony Cameranesi and Shane Conacher combined with some precision passing, but Cannata snuffed out the chance with a high glove save.

Toronto’s positive start was undone by a penalty, with Andrew Campbell guilty of a high stick that was assessed as hooking. The penalty kill stood firm but an individual mistake by Brooks Laich as Campbell left the box gifted Hershey the opening goal. From low on the left boards, Laich turned the puck over to Christian Thomas right in the slot, where Thomas made a fantastic move to fake out Sparks before finding the net with Hershey’s first shot of the game at the nine-minute mark.

Garret Sparks appeared to have tweaked his groin stretching out on his save attempt and headed off the ice down the tunnel. Antoine Bibeau came into the game and had to be alert right away to prevent the Bears from extending their lead. Defenseman Tom Gilbert should have done better than to fire high and wide when presented with space in the right circle.

The Marlies‘ best chance to tie the game in the opening period came on their first powerplay nine minutes into the game. Cannata made two great saves and the puck stayed the wrong side of the goal line despite a flurry of rebound opportunities.

Zach Sill was sprung on a breakaway exiting the box, and while unable to beat Bibeau, the former Leaf drew a penalty on the play. Thomas — a constant thorn in the Marlies side — saw two excellent opportunities denied by glove and shoulder saves from Bibeau.

Toronto put their goaltender under more pressure in the final 30 seconds with two turnovers, but they dodged both bullets and trailed by just one through 20 minutes.

Second Period

The middle frame provided plenty of action, with the road team finally able to generate some consistent offense. The teams swapped an early chance apiece, with Seth Griffith and Jakub Vrana both turned aside.

It took just 2:25 for Toronto to get on the board thanks to a good individual effort. Colin Smith took a pass from Brooks Laich in stride before bursting between two opponents and across the blue line. Without support on hand, Smith let fly from the right circle, beating Cannata with a shot through the gap between the goalie’s body and right arm.

It took a mere 13 seconds for the visitors to jump into the lead. William Wrenn with a pinpoint stretch past sent Marchment on a breakaway. If the rookie forward had any nerves it didn’t show as he easily beat Cannata blocker side for his first AHL goal.

The Bears responded by creating two partial breakaways for Christian Djoos and Chandler Stephensen, who were both turned aside by Bibeau.

Toronto built on those stops by extending their advantage at the midway mark. Taking a drop pass from Holl, Andreas Johnsson drove to the middle of the ice and released a great shot from the high slot that winged its way through a screen in front of Cannata.

The Marlies 3-1 lead proved short-lived after penalty trouble came back to haunt them. Tony Cameranesi followed Frank Corrado into the box, presenting Hershey with 20 seconds of a two-man advantage. A faceoff win allowed the Marlies to dump the puck down the ice as Corrado exited the box, but the Bears cashed in at 5 on 4 when a shot from Djoos was tipped home by Chris Borque.

Replays seemed to indicate the Hershey forward had scored with his skate with a hint of a kicking motion, but that isn’t reviewable in the AHL and any argument was always going to be fruitless.

Three minutes after pulling within a goal, Hershey tied up the game. After Toronto lost a series of battles while overloaded on the left side, Darren Dietz had acres of space in the slot and made no mistake.

The Marlies had a chance to tie game up before the end of the period after Dmytro Timashov intercepted a pass in the offensive zone and dropped the puck back for Laich. The veteran forward did force Cannata into a save, but it was one of his easier stops during a rough second period for the recalled goaltender.

Third Period

The Bears dominated possession to start the period but were kept to the perimeter for the most part, with Bibeau not called upon to make any saves of note.

A wraparound attempt from Colin Greening almost broke the deadlock after the rebound fell in the crease, but neither Seth Griffith or Trevor Moore were able to corral the loose puck.

The game started to open up at this point, with goal scorer Borque leading a 2-on-1 break. Bibeau flashed the leather to deny him a 217th AHL career tally.

A parade to the penalty box began at the nine-minute mark with Toronto first to the penalty kill. It was one of their better efforts when down a man, with Bibeau forced into just one save.

The Marlies were robbed of a fourth goal on their second man advantage of the game with six minutes left in the game. Cannata made two incredible stops, including one to rob Rychel, who appeared to have a tap in at the goaltender’s left post.

After Toronto went to the penalty kill with five minutes to play, Travis Boyd crashed an effort against the post before Liam O’Brien netted with 20 seconds left on the man advantage.

The Marlies struggled to create much in the final five minutes as tired minds and bodies were guilty of some poor decision-making. Bibeau was pulled with 1:40 to play, and though the majority of that time was spent inside the Hershey zone, the Bears held on for a hard-fought two points.

The Marlies will rue taking far too many stick penalties as well as some individual errors, but they will at least have some well-earned respite in the schedule — a much-needed opportunity to rest weary legs.


Post Game Notes

– Toronto outshot Hershey 25-23 despite taking six penalties. Special teams were the difference: Hershey’s power play went 2 for 6 while Toronto went 0 for 2 with the extra man.

– The Marlies finished February with a 9-3-1-0 record. Toronto won’t play again until after the NHL trade deadline.

– Garret Sparks appeared to tweak his groin (has had groin issues in the past) but that is pure speculation on my part. Sheldon Keefe said, “it doesn’t appear to be that bad. I think he just tweaked something and said he didn’t feel comfortable.”

– Mason Marchment’s first goal was also his first career AHL point.

– Andreas Johnsson notched his 17th of the season and third in two games.

– Sergey Kalinin recorded his first point with a secondary assist on Johnsson’s goal.

– Antoine Bibeau made 19 saves in relief, keeping Toronto in the game with some outstanding saves.


Post-Game: Sheldon Keefe


Game Sheet – Hershey 4 vs. Toronto 3

SkaterGAPIMShots+/-
Campbell, Andrew01210
Holl, Justin01002
Nielsen, Andrew01031
Wrenn, William01021
Dermott, Travis0021-1
Smith, Colin10031
Johnsson, Andreas10210
Conacher, Shane00001
Kalinin, Sergey01001
Marchment, Mason10211
Laich, Brooks01030
Corrado, Frank0022-2
Rychel, Kerby00011
Greening, Colin0000-1
Griffith, Seth0003-1
Timashov, Dmytro00011
Cameranesi, Tony00211
Moore, Trevor0002-1