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By Sherry Jean, Posted on May 21, 2016
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The Toronto Marlies will look to bounce back and even up the Eastern Conference Final series against the Hershey Bears as Game 2 is set for tonight at 7pm at the Giant Center in Hershey. Last night, the Bears took a 1-0 series lead after defeating the Marlies 3-1.
Game 1 Summary:
William Nylander scored his third goal of the playoffs to open the scoring for the Marlies, 9:04 into the second period.
Kasperi Kapanen assisted on the Nylander tally, his eighth point in his 10th game this post season. The assist also extends his point streak to three games.
Antoine Bibeau turned aside 20 shots in the losing effort. His record now stands at 5-3 with a 2.75 goals against average and .905 save percentage.
Puck drop is at 7:00pm on TSN2 and TSN1050. Don’t forget to follow the Marlies on Twitter and tune in to our #MarliesLive chat.
TSN2 Channel Listings
Cable Provider SD HD
Bell Fibe 401 1401
Bell Satellite 402 1402
Rogers 407/495 98/994
Shaw 182 237
Cogeco 862
Telus 401 851/1401
MTS 21 1021
Access Communications 282 582
SaskTel 112 412
Marlies Drop Game 1 of ECF
Toronto Marlies
May 20, 2016
TORONTO MARLIES at HERSHEY BEARS
FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2016
BEARS LEAD SERIES 1-0
SCORING SUMMARY
Toronto: W. Nylander (K. Kapanen)
Goaltender: A. Bibeau: 20/23
Hershey: C. Camper (D. Gazley, A. Ness) L. O’Brien (G. Mitchell, M. Bowey) Z. Sill (A. Ness, C. Camper)
Goaltender: J. Peters: 19/20
ON THE SCORESHEET
William Nylander scored his third goal of the playoffs to open the scoring for the Marlies, 9:04 into the second period.
Kasperi Kapanen assisted on the Nylander tally, his eighth point in his 10th game this post season. The assist also extends his point streak to three games.
Antoine Bibeau turned aside 20 shots in the losing effort. His record now stands at 5-3 with a 2.75 goals against average and .905 save percentage.
NOTABLES
Toronto was 0/1 on the powerplay and 3/4 on the penalty kill. The Bears power play goal ends the Marlies four game streak without allowing a powerplay goal.
Josh Leivo led all skaters, directing four shots towards the Hershey net.
Five Takeaways: Round 3, Game 1
Adam Proteau
May 20, 2016
Here are five takeaways from the Marlies’ 3-1 loss to the Hershey Bears Friday at Giant Center in Game 1 of their AHL Eastern Conference championship playoff series:
Nylander and Kapanen’s chemistry clearly evident on first goal of the series. The Marlies have been the beneficiary of the on-ice combination of centre William Nylander and winger Kasperi Kapanen for much of the regular season, and the duo continued working well together late in the second round of the playoffs against Albany, slickly and successfully to help create the game-tying goal in Game 7. That chemistry continued against the Bears Friday, as Kapanen pushed the puck into Hershey’s zone before finding Nylander with a superb pass, and the Swede quickly backhanded it past goalie Justin Peters to make it 1-0 for the visitors at the 9:04 mark of the first period.
The goal was Nylander’s third of the playoffs and his second point in his past two games. For Kapanen, the assist was his fifth of the post-season, his eighth point in 10 games, and gave him five points in his past five games. The more the two youngsters play together, the more you want to see them play together as often as possible.
Hershey answers back, ties things up in middle frame. After the first period ended with just one goal, the Bears came out of the dressing room intent on drawing even, and that’s just what they did when centre Carter Camper scored his team-leading fifth playoff goal at 3:39 of the middle frame.
The Marlies were the AHL’s best offensive juggernaut in the regular season with 294 goals-for, but Hershey was third best with 259 – and Camper’s goal (which was his second in as many games) was a reminder to Toronto that their opponents in this series are just as skilled and opportunistic with the puck as they are.
Bears believe they’ve beaten buzzer at end of second, but officials disagree. The Bears thought they’d taken their first lead of the series just before time expired in the second when blueliner Ryan Stanton beat Marlies netminder Antoine Bibeau, but after they reviewed the play, officials ruled the puck did not cross the line before the period ended, and Toronto’s tie was preserved.
As all teams understand, sometimes the review gods smile upon you and other times they don’t, and this was an instance where the Marlies came out on the right side of the verdict.
Toronto falls behind at beginning of third, can’t dig out of hole. At the beginning of the third, Toronto blueliner Viktor Loov lost body positioning on Hershey winger Liam O’Brien while battling for the puck along the boards, and O’Brien moved in on Bibeau before scoring his second of the post-season to make it 2-1 for the Bears at the 2:51 mark of the frame. And after centre Zach Sill netted his third of the playoffs on the power play at 8:12 of the third, the Marlies couldn’t generate any more offence – only the third time in 11 games they’ve been held to a single goal.
Toronto got seven shots on Peters in the first period and only 12 more after that, a direct result of the Bears taking control of the possession game in the second and third periods. It’s tough to beat any AHL goaltender – let alone a white-hot goalie such as Peters – when you test him so rarely. The Marlies’ offence didn’t have a ton of fluidity and precision, and that’s not often something you can say about this group of players. But it will have to change, and soon, because Hershey has more than enough firepower, skill and speed to take a 2-0 series advantage when the teams play Game 2 on Saturday.
Marlies’ discipline not at its best. Coming into the game, the Bears were the most penalized team of the post-season, as they put themselves in a shorthanded situation a whopping 59 times in 12 games. (Toronto finished the second round with 37 in 10 games). But it was the Marlies who were the more undisciplined squad Friday, giving Hershey four man advantages, the final of which ended with Sill’s goal that gave the host team a two-goal lead.
In its final four games against Albany in the second round, Toronto killed off all 14 total power plays and were 6-for-20 with the extra man. Having those numbers effectively reversed by the Bears was a contributing factor to the loss in Game 1.
