The first-place Marlies hosted the second place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday night. The Marlies were six wins up on the Penguins for first in the AHL East. They came home after a road trip to Winnipeg and St. John's, winning one game in each city. The Penguins were in town following back-to-back overtime losses to the Portland Pirates.
The Penguins brought with them a busload of fans as the walk into the Ricoh was an even mix of Marlies and Penguins jerseys, and the crowd was just as intense tonight as the action on the ice.
With the Marlies sitting on a 38-9-4 record, a long run into the playoffs is expected, and being able to show up the No. 2 team in their conference and the league is a sure sign of shorts and sandals hockey in Toronto this year.
The game kicked off with a very loud chant of "Let's Go Pens" and there was hardly a fight from the Marlies faithful. A few minutes after the chant died, Marlies regulars got the drums out of belted out a chant of their own, which seems to have set the tone, as the Penguins very simply come in and take what they want, and the Marlies act fancier, but don't come out on top.
The Penguins were out-hitting and being more physical than the Marlies, whenever the play got near the boards, the Penguins were using it to their advantage to tangle up the Marlies and keep them off the puck. The Marlies were having trouble getting the puck to their teammate and a lot of passes weren't being caught which led to clearing out of the WBS zone.
The game was all about special teams early and both teams failed to score on the powerplay. The Penguins PK did an excellent job blocking shots, passing, and taking away any real chances early on.
Some first period highlights:
Brendan Leipsic came in hot into the WBS zone, skated around a few Penguins, but took his shot a wee bit too late and it went over the net. I begrudingly admit that it was a nice play.
Connor Brown made a great pass from beside the WBS net to Leipsic but the puck was just tipped away by the defender.
William Nylander kept three Penguins at bay in their own end to keep the Marlies line changes safe.
Kasperi Kapenen came into the WBS end with the puck, the defenders trying to knock it away, but he dribbled it like a soccer ball and managed a shot.
The Penguins got a nice chance on the Marlies net when Bibeau was off to the side of the net, but Josh Archibald whiffed on the puck.
Kapenen tried to put Ried McNeil through the glass and failed but it was fun to watch.
The second period opened with two quick Penguins goals. The first came on the power play when Connor Brown went off for high sticking, and everyone circled around Bibeau before Anton Zlobin got the puck past Bibeau to make it 1-0.
Fourty seconds later Kael Mouillierat (21-WBS) snipes it top shelf from the point, giving WBS a 2-0 lead. The Penguins are holding onto their physical lead on the game throughout the second period, Ryan Parent (45-WBS) is wide open at the point and gets a nice shot off, a little while later Josh Archibald gets into the Marlies zone all alone, but doesn't score. Mouillierat comes into the MArlies end and is given the puck at the blueline, skates right at Bibeau but Antoine makes the save.
Some second period highlights:
The second period ended without many highlights, a solid game from the Penguins.
The Marlies took this into account and came roaring out of the gate in the third period, with TJ Brennan scoring his 20th of the season from the point. That play to take back the Ricoh continued throughout the period, with the Marlies killing off a Hyman penalty, and spent more time in the WBS end. The Marlies played so well I thought they were on the powerplay, but they weren't.
Connor Brown made it 2-2 while falling, slipping it past Murray. Minutes later Nylander sniped one of his own from the faceoff circle to give the Marlies the lead.
It was a much different team from the first two periods. More speed, energy, and attack. I don't know what happened in the room, but they seem to have woken up and realized, "hey, we're No. 1 in this league, we don't need to take this."
Zach Hyman showed some patience as he stickhandled towards Murray, then slipped it to Brett Findlay who was waiting beside the net to tap it in to give the Marlies a 4-2 lead.
The Marlies will held this lead for the rest of the game, and took down the second-place Penguins 4-2.
Three stars:
#3 - Connor Brown - 1G, 0A, -1
#2 - William Nylander - 1G 1A, +2
#1 - Zach Hyman - 0G, 3A, +3
A couple extra highlights from the third period:
In the Penguins end, David Kolomatis shot and banked the end boards, and Connor Brown got the rebound but somehow Murray made the save.
Leipsic and Brown came racing into the WBS end, Leipsic passed to Brown and Brown shot, but was robbed by Murray.
They really showed what they could do, now making it consistent is key for their future.
Tomorrow, the Marlies host the Portland Pirates at the Air Canada Centre. Portland is fifth in the East, and is the Florida Panthers affiliate. Scott will be there live.
