Error-strewn performance costs Marlies
The Toronto Marlies winning streak came to a crashing halt in St. John’s against an IceCaps team that had lost five consecutive entering Sunday’s game.
The Marlies had no one to blame but themselves, as far too many individual errors coupled with ill-discipline led to their first defeat in eight games.
The fireworks of the six-goal first period on Saturday night were nowhere be found in Sunday’s opening frame.
Hat-trick hero Brendan Leipsic started his game brightly, working his way out of a tight spot to take three opponents out of the play. Leipsic dropped the puck to Frederik Gauthier, whose shot was well blocked.
Garret Sparks, starting his first Marlies game since November after an injury with the big club, made an easy enough first save at the two-minute mark.
Jeremy Morin drew the first powerplay of the game after cutting across goal and almost scoring past Zach Fucale. It was Morin again who came the closest on the man advantage, but his shot found the outside of the post.
The IceCaps, responding well after killing the penalty, had a partial breakaway chance but Viktor Loov used his long reach to deny Charles Hudon.
Toronto had a partial breakaway of their own as Zach Hyman engineered space down the right side, but Hyman chose to shoot early and Fucale denied him with a pad save.
St. John’s should have taken the lead at the eleven-minute mark. A horrendous giveaway by Leipsic enabled Bud Holloway to slide the puck across to Michael McCarron. The rookie may have been hooked by Matt Frattin, but he still forced Sparks into a fine save.
Toronto killed the following penalty with relative ease, and created a rush as the penalty expired, with a trailing T.J Brennan releasing a booming shot that was turned aside by Fucale.
The width of the goal line denied the Marlies from taking a lead into the intermission. A Marlie cycle led to a pair of shots from Nikita Soshnikov, the second of which was only partially saved as the puck dropped over Fucale’s shoulder before resting on the goal line. Sven Andrighetto was alert to the danger and prevented the puck from crossing the line.
Despite the Marlies‘ 8-1 lead in shots to start the period, it was 13-11 after 20 minutes despite Toronto owning the bulk of possession and the edge in powerplay opportunities.
The home team began the second period in the ascendancy, while Toronto suffered a killer injury blow. Stuart Percy made a terrific shot block, but the puck deflected into his face — a scary incident that had the defenceman down for a long while before was able to leave the ice under his own volition. Percy did not return to the game.
Josiah Didier and Lucas Lessio almost made the Marlies pay for miscommunication in their own zone, but Sparks robbed the latter on the doorstep.
The Marlies powerplay just wasn’t clicking in this game as they squandered their third man-advantage opportunity of the game in the second period, but they managed to open the scoring back at even strength.
Kasperi Kapanen showed speed down the left side, coming from down low up to the point and leaving defenders in his wake before finding Andrew Campbell on the right side. The Marlies captain blasted the puck on net, where Soshnikov was on hand to put home the second effort in front.
It could and should have been 2-0 shortly after, but Toronto somehow failed to score during a crazy scramble in front of Fucale.
The play quickly switched to the other end of the ice, where Andrighetto saw his shot stopped by Sparks. The IceCaps forward didn’t appear to make much of an effort to stop his surge toward the net, however, and crashed into Toronto’s goaltender with speed. It likely would have earned a goaltender interference call in the NHL, but no penalty was assessed on the play. Sparks seemed fine after composing himself.
Seconds later, James Martin took a needless interference penalty on McCarron, and St. John’s would tie up the game on the subsequent powerplay.
Despite denying Daniel Carr on two occasions, Sparks was unable to stop a one-timer from Morgan Ellis in the left circle. With no traffic to contend with, Sparks may have wanted that one back.
Toronto responded by retaking the lead just 58 seconds later. Brett Findlay drove the play into the IceCaps zone, ignoring Eric Faille to his right and dropping the puck back for Casey Bailey. An innocuous looking shot — an early release from Bailey — seemed to handcuff Fucale, and it was 2-1 Marlies.
If Martin’s penalty was needless, Soshnikov’s was totally unnecessary and a little reckless. Unable to connect with a pass from Kapanen deep inside the St. John’s zone, the Russian forward seemed to slash his opponents stick in frustration more than anything else.
A rare black mark against Soshnikov, it would backfire on his team as Carr tipped in a long shot from Holloway to tie the game at 2-2.
A high-sticking penalty from Arcobello a minute later was more clumsy than anything, but again it was a bad penalty to take for the Malies. Toronto managed to kill this one off and were left a little bemused as to why they weren’t given a powerplay late in the period. Michael Bournival made a move around Loov in heading to the net before losing the handle on the puck and sending Garret Sparks crashing into the net for the second time in this game. Again, no call was made.
The final 20 minutes of regulation was a shamble from the Marlies point of view.
Earning a powerplay early on, they contrived to allow the home team to score shorthanded.
A bad change saw Markus Eisenschmid gain possession down the left boards, where he had the step on Brennan before driving to the net. Cutting across the goal, Sparks went down early and the rookie showed composure to flick the puck up and over the goaltender for his first AHL goal.
Exactly 100 seconds later, the IceCaps doubled their lead. A giveaway allowed an odd man rush that ended with the puck on the stick of Ellis. The defenseman has a wicked shot, but Sparks would have been disappointed to allow an effort from that distance go past him.
Toronto’s netminder redeemed himself shortly afterwards by denying Gabriel Dumont, who had been allowed far too much real estate for someone of his talent.
The Marlies were able to claw their way back into the game on a Jeremy Morin goal. Fucale was only able to get a small piece of Morin’s shot, with the puck just edging over the goalline.
It was a case of one step forward and two step backs as the IceCaps restored their two goal advantage 65 seconds later.
Sparks and Rinat Valiev had some miscommunication about who was to play the puck behind the net. Valiev came out in front of the goal with possession and proceeded to gift the puck to Lessio, who promptly scored his tenth of the season.
An unlikely comeback was nearly in the cards late in the game as Sheldon Keefe went for broke by pulling Sparks relatively early. After a spell of prolonged pressure in the IceCaps zone, Brennan and Valiev played pitch and catch before the former beat Fucale with a wrist shot.
Down by one with still two minutes to play, Sparks spent the majority of the time on the bench before Dumont sealed the win for the IceCaps with an empty netter.
Post Game Notes
– After his longest pointless stretch of the season (just two games), Mark Arcobello recorded two assists to take his points tally to thirty.
– T.J Brennan potted his 15th goal of the season, ten shy of his career best set in 2013-14.
He leads the team in that department, while Nikita Soshnikov is now tied for second with 14.
– Garret Sparks made some fabulous saves but also looked rusty at times — to be expected after a long injury layoff.
– St. John’s went 2-for-4 on the powerplay. The Marlies penalty kill wasn’t at its best, but the discipline, given the nature of the penalties, was arguably more disappointing. The Marlies powerplay also failed to convert on five occasions. Despite all the other problems during the game, the special teams proved the single biggest difference.
Game Highlights
Marlies Player Stats — St. John’s 6 vs. Toronto 4
| Player | Position | G | A | +/- | SH | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campbell, Andrew | D | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Brennan, T.J. | D | 1 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 0 |
| Faille, Eric | F | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Morin, Jeremy | LW | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Percy, Stuart | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hyman, Zach | RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Leipsic, Brendan | LW | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 0 |
| Rupert, Ryan | C | 0 | 0 | -2 | 4 | 0 |
| Gauthier, Frederik | C | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Martin, James | D | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 |
| Arcobello, Mark | C | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Findlay, Brett | LW | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Bailey, Casey | RW | 1 | 0 | -1 | 3 | 0 |
| Frattin, Matt | RW | 0 | 0 | -2 | 1 | 2 |
| Kapanen, Kasperi | RW | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Loov, Viktor | D | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Valiev, Rinat | D | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Soshnikov, Nikita | LW | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
