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Two of the Toronto Marlies biggest shortcomings this season reared their heads in a 4-1 loss to Lehigh Valley on Tuesday night — namely, poor third-period performances and a penchant for taking penalties.

The visiting Phantoms have been excellent on their travels so far this season, winning seven of ten away from home heading into the game. They brought their canny road game into the Ricoh on Tuesday, neutralising Toronto’s speed and taking advantage of a couple of powerplay opportunities.

First Period

Antoine Bibeau was tested early as Lehigh had the step on Toronto inside the opening 60 seconds.

Andreas Johnsson had the Marlies‘ two best chances in the opening ten minutes, but he couldn’t beat rookie goaltender Alex Lyon. In between chances, Trevor Moore took the first of seven Marlies penalties. Toronto survived the first kill before a second penalty five minutes later — this time a hook by Colin Smith — led to the visitors opening the scoring.

After Bibeau made a terrific first save to deny Chris Connor in front, the puck sat loose in the crease and neither Kasperi Kapanen or Rinat Valiev could react quickly enough to prevent Connor from giving his team the lead on the second effort.

It took until the final five minutes of the period for Toronto to finally test Lyon again. Milan Michalek found Valiev pinching into the play but Lyon swallowed up his attempt from the hashmarks. Brendan Leipsic was able to pick up an errant pass but lost the handle after making a move around two defenders, unable to muster much of an effort on goal.

Finally matching Lehigh’s work rate, Toronto kept the puck alive in the offensive zone after some fine work by Kerby Rychel. A lane opened for Ty Stanton to fire on net, but Lyon was permitted a traffic-free experience in front of goal and held on to ensure preserve the Phantoms lead through 20 minutes.

Second Period

The pace quickened in the middle frame and Toronto was lucky not to find themselves down 2-0 early. Bibeau came rushing out of his net to deny a breakaway and gifted possession to Mark Zengerle, who was unable to take advantage.

The Marlies best spell of the game saw them tie it up 7:30 into the period. Kerby Rychel should have shot instead of passing after a set up by Kasperi Kapanen, but the latter found himself in some space on the right and used his speed to crash the net. While he was unable to solve Lyon, Kapanen drew a penalty and Toronto capitalized on their first powerplay opportunity after Leipsic’s slap-pass from right circle was redirected in front by Johnsson.

There was seemingly no momentum gained from the Marlies tying the game; instead, what followed was a significant pushback from the Phantoms. Greg Carey was denied twice by Bibeau on two rush chances. The Phantoms drew a penalty on another rush but were unable to take advantage on this occasion.

The parade to the penalty box wasn’t over for the Marlies. Under siege in their own end, Andrew Nielsen fired the puck out of play. While that penalty was forgivable enough, the one that followed 20 seconds later was not as Brooks Laich’s flagrant high stick in the neutral zone put his team down by two men.

Bibeau needed to be sharp tracking the puck as it was moved around the zone with pace, making four saves with his team shorthanded. Allied with some excellent penalty killing work from Kapanen and Andrew Campbell, Toronto came through the penalties unscathed.

The final seconds of Laich’s misdemeanour were wiped out by a Lehigh penalty, but Toronto could not deliver at a critical juncture of the game on the subsequent powerplay. Tobias Lindberg had the best opportunity with five seconds left in the period but missed chances continued to be the story of the game for the Marlies.

Third Period

After Bibeau came up big again on a penalty kill early in the final frame, Lehigh pounced on a Toronto turnover at even strength and controlled possession inside the Marlies zone. A shot from the left boards by Samuel Morin was tipped home by Danick Martel, with Zengerle providing a screen in front of Bibeau.

Toronto received a powerplay of their own 15 seconds later but largely failed to test Lyon.

With the Marlies failing to sustain anything more a few seconds of offensive zone time, the visitors came close to adding to their advantage with nine minutes left on the clock. Colin McDonald and Taylor Leier both had excellent chances turned aside by Bibeau, who was receiving little in the way of assistance from those in front of him.

Toronto recorded nine shots on net in the third period with most coming later on in the proceedings. Leipsic had the best of the chances after he benefited from a broken play, but he failed to beat Lyon, who stayed patient and didn’t bite early.

Colin Greening then tested the Phantoms goaltender, who got his best piece of luck on the ensuing faceoff. A rare Marlie screen in front of Lyon had him totally blind on the incoming shot from Justin Holl, but Holl’s attempt missed high.

A powerplay for the home team should have been the perfect opportunity to build some momentum but they failed to set up the zone even once before conceding the dagger goal back at even strength. A miscommunication between Byron Froese and Campbell left the puck unattended for Jordan Weal, who scored on the second attempt past a hung-out-to-dry Antoine Bibeau.

Sheldon Keefe pulled his netminder for the extra attacker before yet another Toronto penalty halted any chance of a late push. McDonald poured salt into the Marlies wound with an empty net powerplay marker to seal a deserved 4-1 victory for the Phantoms.


Post Game Notes

– Toronto failed to put up a double figure shot count in any of the three periods and were out-shot 14-9 in the final frame. They’ve now been outscored by a ratio of 2:1 over the 18 third periods to date.

– Andreas Johnsson scored for the first time in 15 games. It was his fourth marker of the season, all of which have come by way of the powerplay.

– An assist for the AHL points leader, Brendan Leipsic, extends his current point streak to three games.

– Defenceman Ty Stanton dressed for the first time this season, replacing Viktor Loov in the lineup.

– This was the last time these two teams will meet during the regular season. Lehigh won both games by a cumulative score of 11-3.


Game Highlights


Sheldon Keefe Post Game


Phantoms 4 vs. Marlies 1 – Game Sheet

SKATERGAPIMShots+/-
Campbell, Andrew0000-1
Valiev, Rinat0004-1
Holl, Justin00000
Nielsen, Andrew0142-2
Wrenn, William00400
Smith, Colin00210
Froese, Byron0002-1
Johnsson, Andreas10040
Michalek, Milan00020
Leipsic, Brendan0104-1
Laich, Brooks00200
Kapanen, Kasperi0001-1
Stanton, Ty00010
Rychel, Kerby0000-1
Lindberg, Tobias00030
Greening, Colin0002-1
Timashov, Dmytro00000
Moore, Trevor0020-1