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Sheldon Keefe’s quote after the loss to Rochester perfectly summed up the past week for the Toronto Marlies: “Anything that we got, we had to earn. Anything they got, they got it handed to them.”

Despite playing well in stretches while competing against some of the better teams in the league, Toronto lost three straight games by a single goal. They shot themselves in the foot in each game and gifted opportunities to the opposition through some egregious individual errors.

Toronto’s powerplay, which has bailed them out on so many occasions this season, failed to register on 13 chances. The penalty kill continues to improve statistically, but the two powerplay goals allowed in Syracuse were the difference between winning and losing.

The Marlies are now sitting at the bottom of the North Division, and their 0.446 points percentage places them 28th in the league standings.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2 at Toronto Marlies 1

Toronto played the league-leading WBS Penguins tight but ultimately fell to a narrow defeat last Wednesday.

The Penguins started better, but there was no score through the opening 20 minutes thanks to Garret Sparks and some favourable luck as WBS hit the iron on three occasions.

There was nothing fortunate about the way the opening goal was scored — Tony Cameranesi beat Tristan Jarry top shelf with a wicked wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle. The Marlies could have been further ahead after two periods if Andreas Johnsson had taken his opportunity on a partial breakaway.

After an excellent penalty kill early in the final frame, Toronto contrived to gift their visitors a tying goal. Travis Dermott’s giveaway through the middle of his own zone found Jake Guentzel, who was unchallenged as he scored his 20th goal of the season.

Scoring opportunities were at a premium in the third and it looked as if the game was heading toward overtime. That was until a cheap turnover from Colin Greening and an ill-advised check from Viktor Loov presented WBS with a 2-on-1 rush. Tom Sestito made no mistake, firing home from the slot with three minutes remaining.

Toronto’s best chance to score came in the dying seconds, but neither Colin Smith or Tobias Lindberg could apply the finishing touch.

Syracuse Crunch 5 vs. Toronto Marlies 4

Toronto road struggles continued in an ill-tempered affair against the North Division leaders. Heavily outplayed in the first period, the Marlies were fortunate to find themselves trailing by only one goal.

The home team were up 2-0 just 12 seconds into the middle frame and should have pulled further ahead at the three-minute mark. From out of nowhere, Toronto struck twice to tie up the game inside a four-minute span. Byron Froese opened the Marlies account before a fine individual effort from Tony Cameranesi leveled the score. With a little over six minutes to play, Brendan Leipsic completed the comeback with a go-ahead marker.

The second period was littered with nasty hits and cheap shots, with Syracuse the main antagonists as they took advantage of a three-man officiating crew who looked out of their depth. Jake Dotchin, at the center of it all, threw two punches at Andrew Nielsen, with the rookie unable to respond after getting held by Tanner Richard.

Assessed a roughing call, Dotchin’s first action following his exit from the box was to target Kasperi Kapanen with a late and low hit that ended the winger’s involvement in the game. Some more dubious officiating handed the Crunch a two-man advantage which they took advantage of through Matt Taormina.

The home team surged ahead to a two-goal advantage inside seven minutes of the third period. A bad line change cost Toronto on the first before Syracuse netted a second powerplay goal.

A second strike from Tony Cameranesi brought the Marlies within one, but they struggled to manufacture a late push, managing just seven shots in the third period as they slipped to yet another defeat.

Rochester Americans 3 vs. Toronto Marlies 2

This was a game that the Toronto Marlies should have won in convincing style. Wastefulness in front of goal, a stuttering powerplay and a penchant for turnovers saw the Marlies give away two points to their North Division rivals.

Toronto utterly dominated the opening 15 minutes and netted first through a fine individual goal from Colin Greening. Unable to build on their lead, Toronto gifted the visitors some chances toward the end of the period, but Antoine Bibeau stood tall.

On their first foray of the middle frame, Rochester tied the came courtesy of some poor defensive play, with Casey Nelson firing through traffic. If not for Bibeau, the game may have been out of sight as countless turnovers presented the Amerks with a host of opportunities. A bad own-zone giveaway from Trevor Moore was the culprit when Justin Bailey capitalized with a top drawer finish; Bibeau had no chance.

Early in the third period, the Amerks could have quickly put the game out of reach. A turnover from Andrew Nielsen led to a breakaway for Cal O’Reilly, followed up by a powerplay for the visitors. Bibeau stood tall, however, and Toronto still only trailed by one.

The Marlies finally found their feet at the eight-minute mark, creating some opportunities — Brendan Leipsic, Andreas Johnsson, Brett Findlay, Andrew Campbell and Greening (looking for his second of the game) all came close but Ullmark shut the door.

The game appeared dead and buried went Rochester struck a third with five minutes remaining. William Wrenn’s turnover on an attempted breakout led to Jean Dupuy scoring his first of the season. 60 seconds later, Toronto generated some last-minute hope. With Bibeau pulled for the extra attacker, Leipsic scored at the backdoor and almost repeated the trick on his next shift but he was unable to handle a bullet of a pass from Travis Dermott.


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Brendan Leipsic recorded four points over the three games, including his 25th assist of the season.

Tony Cameranesi led the way with three goals and could easily have had a hat trick against Syracuse. He’s consistently been one of Toronto’s better forwards since his recall from Orlando.

Frank Corrado has now finished his conditioning stint with Marlies, after playing seven games in two weeks. He began strongly but became less impressive by the end of the loan. That might have been due to the combination of leading all defensemen in ice-time and the frantic schedule featuring so many games in a short space of time after a long layoff from game action. With the Morgan Rielly injury, Corrado will step into the Leafs‘ lineup for his second NHL appearance of the season Thursday night vs. the Rangers.

– The two points for Byron Froese this past week included his 15th goal of the season.

Garret Sparks put in a decent performance against Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and certainly wasn’t at fault for either of the two goals scored in the third period. He would have played in Saturday’s game had he not been called up to the Leafs. He’s been re-assigned to the Marlies for a long week of practice and an upcoming three-in-three weekend.

Antoine Bibeau’s brutal run of results continues, having just won a single game from his last eleven starts. He was hung out to dry in both outings this weekend.

Travis Dermott is still finding his way after injury. He was given extra responsibility during the final minutes of the Rochester game and almost assisted in tying it up late. Two assists this past week were his first points of 2017, but he’s still searching for his first professional goal.

Kasperi Kapanen is out indefinitely according to Sheldon Keefe. Unconfirmed reports over the weekend suggested that it’s an ankle injury of some kind.

Tobias Lindberg has joined Kapanen on the sidelines, having suffered an upper body injury. No word on the exact nature or extent of his problem.

– Toronto has recalled Eric Faille as cover in the forward position. Faille is the third recall from Orlando on the current Marlies roster.

– Also recalled was defenseman Willie Corrin, who had been re-assigned by Toronto from Orlando to Brampton on December 4. Rinat Valiev, Viktor Loov and Ty Stanton were all absent over the weekend while Frank Corrado has rejoined the Leafs.