The first and second place teams in the Eastern Conference did battle in what was essentially a meaningless game.
Both teams dressed players who are likely not to feature in the playoffs, but Toronto did have one target to aim for: A victory would take the Marlies to 110 points for the season, breaking a franchise record with three games left to play.
The opening period of play didn’t have much in the way of flow to it, broken up by four powerplay opportunities which produced no goals.
Toronto’s best chance came four minutes in after Cory Conacher found Rich Clue with a perfect stretch pass. Clune hit Zach Hyman in front, but the right winger’s shot didn’t have enough juice to beat Scott Wedgwood.
The Devils responded with a pair of efforts through Nick Lappin, both turned aside by Antoine Bibeau.
The first man advantage for Toronto featured a couple of good efforts but no final product. The follow-up powerplay was killed without Wedgwood having to face a shot.
On Albany’s first try with the extra man, Ben Thompson contrived to hit the post with half an empty net to fire into.
On Toronto’s next powerplay, danger man Mike Sislo almost created a shorthanded rush for himself but Justin Holl made a terrific play to get back and deny the leading scorer. The Marlies conjured up one chance as Conacher centered for Clune, but Wedgwood was able to slide left to right to make the save.
The home side outshot the Marlies by a ratio of 2:1 in the middle frame, but found themselves down 2-0 after 40 minutes.
The turning point of the game came on a powerplay seven minutes in, when Sislo’s shorthanded breakaway was denied by an outstanding save from Bibeau.
Eric Faille and Brendan Leipsic then combined for the opening goal at the other end. Leipsic drove across the Albany blue line and found Faille with a nifty backhand pass that took three opponents out of the play. Faille lifted a backhand shot past Wedgwood, which hit the crossbar and dropped straight down before spinning over the line.
Following the goal, Stuart Percy was sent to the box for four minutes. Toronto’s penalty kill rose to the occasion, with Bibeau only having to make a pair of saves to complete the job.
Almost immediately, the Marlies had to kill off another penalty as the officials had their hands full during the second period.
The Devils looked deflated and the home crowd were ominously quiet as a misfit Marlies team manfully stuck to their task.
Toronto was rewarded with a second powerplay goal with time running down. Moments after Wedgwood robbed Matt Frattin, Toronto won the faceoff and got the puck back to Andrew Nielsen at the point. The young defenseman wasted little time in blasting an effort toward net that was deflected in by Clune for a 2-0 lead.
The Marlies were looking to tighten up defensively in the third period. Naturally, as Albany pushed hard, the shot count became skewed in the Devils’ favour. The opening ten minutes were relatively solid for Toronto as they kept Albany to the outside.
The Marlies’ best chance to extend their lead came at the midway mark, when Eric Faille was denied from the slot after another drive to the net.
The barrage from the Devils began in earnest with eight minutes remaining, when Bibeau needed to be sharp to turn aside Thompson and Sislo with successive stops.
With shots fired from every angle and plenty of traffic in front, Bibeau remained composed in turning aside efforts aside to safety or killing plays when possible.
Wedgewood left the net for the extra attacker with a little under three minutes to play, but it made no difference as the young Marlies kept their shape well.
The two points and another piece of franchise history were clinched with an empty net marker from Zach Hyman. After Hyman chased down a loose puck and won the foot race, he saw his initial shot blocked by Sislo. Winning the battle behind the net for possession, Hyman came out with the puck and snuck it home for the insurance marker.
All that was left was to see whether Bibeau could stand tall for the remaining two minutes of play. There was no letdown in front of the Toronto goaltender as the Marlies held on for a 3-0 win, owing credit to Bibeau, their special teams and an impressive determination level given the relative meaninglessness of the game.
Post Game Notes
– Antoine Bibeau turned aside 35 shots for his third shutout of the season, all of which have come in the span of the last twelve games — a promising sign that he’s heating up at the right time of year. This was Bibeau’s 27th win of the season, good for seventh in the AHL despite appearing in just 38 games.
– A goal and an assist for Rich Clune takes his points tally this season to 24. That’s a new AHL-career high for the forward, who led the team alongside Shane Conacher and Zach Hyman on the top line.
– A first professional point for Andrew Nielsen, who had the primary assist on Rich Clune’s goal.
– Zach Hyman’s empty net goal was his 15th marker of the season.
– An assist for Colin Smith extends his point streak to four games. That’s 22 points in 20 games since the trade.
– Toronto set a new franchise record for points in a season with 110. The previous high was 109 set in an 80 game season (2007-08).
– The Toronto Marlies are now 7-0-0-1 in their last eight games. An impressive run given the ever-changing roster during that span.
Game Highlights
Marlies Player Stats — Toronto 3 vs. Albany 0
| PLAYERS | Position | G | A | +/- | SH | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nielsen, Andrew | D | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Faille, Eric | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Percy, Stuart | D | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Hyman, Zach | RW | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Clune, Richard | LW | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Leipsic, Brendan | LW | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Conacher, Shane | RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Witala, Chase | LW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kolomatis, David | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Smith, Colin | C | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Kurtz, John | LW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Frattin, Matt | RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Holl, Justin | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Doherty, Taylor | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Wong, Tyler | RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Marchment, Mason | LW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Cameranesi, Tony | F | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Corrin, Willie | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
