The Toronto Marlies have had some difficulty at home against the St. John’s IceCaps this season, losing three of five games to their division rivals at the Ricoh Coliseum entering Tuesday’s meeting.
The IceCaps made the Marlies work for the two points on offer in the last school day game of the 2016-17 season.
First Period
The opening period offered little quality play from either team, with a load of special teams time breaking up the flow of the game. The officials handed out six penalties total, with the penalty killers for both teams coming out on top.
Most of the action in front of goal came inside the final eight minutes, beginning with a blocker save by Garret Sparks on Max Friberg. The Marlies responded with two efforts from the returning Tony Cameranesi, the first of which was well-blocked in front.
The opening goal came with three minutes remaining after Rinat Valiev’s intended shot was blocked by the left foot of Friberg. In all alone, the IceCaps forward opened Sparks up before finishing backhand between the pads.
Second Period
Toronto killed a penalty carried over into the middle frame but found themselves down by a pair just 51 seconds in.
A 3-on-2 break for the IceCaps culminated in a shot from Nikita Scherbak that clipped the top of Sparks’ shoulder as he came out to challenge. The puck flipped up into the air and in behind the goaltender, where Charles Hudon reacted quicker than the two Marlies on hand.
Kerby Rychel was denied in tight at the four-minute mark after Toronto’s best spell of the game up to this point. The IceCaps were still very much in the ascendancy, however, and the Marlies were fortunate not to fall further behind after giving up another odd-man rush.
Bobby Farnham’s shot clipped the top of the crossbar with Sparks beaten before Toronto went to the penalty kill again due to a too-many-men infraction.
It proved a blessing in disguise after Marlies got on the board with a shorthanded marker just before the midway mark. Brendan Leipsic’s perfectly-weighted pass sent Frederik Gauthier in alone, and the big man showed he has a few tricks in his locker with a beautiful backhand finish past Yann Danis.
With eight minutes left in the period, the Marlies went to their fourth power play of the game after Stefan Matteau’s slash drew the ire of Colin Greening. The two wasted little time settling the score, with the gloves flying and the fists following suit.
While the Marlies power play again failed to spark, a tying goal wasn’t far away. After a chip into the zone, Seth Griffith — he may have silky hands, but his graft is underrated — won a battle on the left wall and found Cal O’Reilly, who drove into the slot area. The centerman’s backhand attempt was blocked, but St. John’s attempted clearance fell straight into the path of Justin Holl, who beat Danis with a big shot to level the score.
The tide had now turned somewhat, with Toronto on top for the final few minutes of the second period. O’Reilly was turned aside after an excellent set-up by Griffith, while Rychel failed to hit the target on the same play. Andrew Nielsen then tested Danis with a bullet of a shot after a drop pass from Leipsic, but the veteran netminder juggled the puck and held on to deny a rebound opportunity for the two Marlies forwards waiting in front.
Third Period
The momentum carried over into the third period and Toronto was in front after just 23 seconds of action.
A wonderful tic-tac-toe play featuring Moore, Nielsen and Leipsic ended with the latter unable to miss on a half-empty net for his 16th of the season.
The result was still no foregone conclusion after Andrew Nielsen was sent to the box at the two-minute mark, but Jacob De La Rose couldn’t elevate the puck enough to beat the pads of Sparks on St. John’s best chance of the power play.
The IceCaps created one more opportunity to climb back into the game at even strength when Yannick Veilleux found himself with space in the heart of the slot, but Sparks kicked out his left pad to keep Toronto’s narrow advantage intact.
A shift six minutes in should have produced a fourth Marlies goal, but Brett Findlay squandered the opportunity. That shift provided some momentum for the Marlies, who looked more like the team who had just won six straight games.
The killer blow from the IceCaps perspective came with a little over nine minutes remaining. Valiev rushed the puck across the blue line, working his way to the bottom of the left circle before reversing a pass into the slot for Griffith. The initial effort was blocked but the rebound fell kindly for Rychel, who netted his 18th of the season.
A combination of strong defensive play and their best forechecking of the game allowed Toronto to close out St. John’s with little difficulty the rest of the way. The icing on the cake came via an empty-net goal for Rychel as Toronto scored their fifth unanswered.
The final score line flattered the Marlies, who still found a way despite only bringing their A-game in the final 20.
Post-Game Notes:
– With their seventh straight victory, Toronto has now hit the 40-win mark. The Marlies now sit four points clear at the top of the North Division.
– Toronto leads the season series 6-4 with two games remaining in St. John’s.
– Garret Sparks is a perfect 4-0 when facing the IceCaps this season. He made 20 saves for his 20th victory of the season in just his 28th start.
“He’s found some consistency both in his preparation and also just in the fact that he’s become the number-one goaltender,” said Sheldon Keefe. “He hasn’t had that in his time in pro hockey previous at this pro level. It’s been between him and Bibeau last year, and before that he was in Orlando in the East Coast league. This is his time. He’s our goaltender here now, and he looks like he’s excited for it. He looks like he’s prepared for it.”
– Two goals for Kerby Rychel takes him to 50 points for the year. He’s the first Toronto player to hit that mark this season.
– Brendan Leipsic registered a pair of points, extending his goal and point streaks to four and six games respectively.
– Frederik Gauthier netted for the second consecutive game, doubling his total through the previous 39 outings.
Game Highlights
Post-Game: Sheldon Keefe
Game Sheet – Toronto 5 vs. St. John’s 2
| Skater | G | A | PIM | Shots | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campbell, Andrew | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Valiev, Rinat | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| Holl, Justin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Oleksy, Steve | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Nielsen, Andrew | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Dermott, Travis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -1 |
| Sislo, Mike | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| O'Reilly, Cal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Johnsson, Andreas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Findlay, Brett | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Leipsic, Brendan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Gauthier, Frederik | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Rychel, Kerby | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| Greening, Colin | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Griffith, Seth | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Timashov, Dmytro | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| Cameranesi, Tony | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Moore, Trevor | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
