Marlies Defeat Checkers in First of Back-to-Back Games

Looking to build a streak of their own against the red-hot Marlies, the Checkers came up short, falling to Toronto 4-1.

The two teams were locked in a tight battle for much of the first until the Marlies broke through for the game’s first goal late in the frame. Stuart Percy sprung Josh Leivo on a breakaway, where he picked the corner and gave Toronto a lead heading into the second. The Checkers were only able to register four shots in the middle frame, but knotted the game thanks to a strike from recent addition Zach Boychuk.

Toronto regained the lead, however, with another late-period goal. The Checkers turned the puck over as they were breaking out of the Marlies zone, leaving Leivo alone with the puck in close. Drew MacIntyre came up with a phenomenal kick save on the attempt, but was plowed into by a Marlies player that the Checkers’ defense had shoved into the net. Connor Brown then swooped in to tap in the rebound and Toronto took a 2-1 lead into the final 20 minutes.

The Marlies extended their lead early in the third, with Carter Ashton hammering home a loose puck out front on a power play to give Toronto a two-goal cushion. The Checkers were unable to mount any sort of rally, and Viktor Loov delivered the final nail in the coffin with an empty netter, securing a 4-1 win for the Marlies.

Returning home after one of their most successful road trips of the season, the Checkers weren’t able to replicate those results tonight, as the mistakes piled up and cost them.

“We just didn’t play smart,” said head coach Jeff Daniels. “We couldn’t generate much tonight at all and you’ve got to give them credit because I thought they played a real solid road game and we didn’t have much going at all tonight. We can’t beat ourselves.”

““We have a tendency to take the foot off the pedal sometimes after wins, and I think that’s what we did tonight,” said MacIntyre. “I think we just took the foot off the pedal a little and we didn’t out-battle them and out-compete them and want the game more than them.”

The game seemed to swing on the second Toronto goal, in which MacIntyre ended up with a Marlie on top of him. The sequence, caused by a turnover as the Checkers were attempting a breakout, took the wind out of the sails heading into the final period after the Checkers seemed to be building momentum.

“It was a really frustrating goal to give up,” said MacIntyre. “We tend to do that sometimes – have lapses. It was a bad time to take a lapse.”

Though it looked to be a controversial call at first glance, MacIntyre seemed content with the explanation given by the referee.

“I could see the ref’s point,” said MacIntyre. “He said we pushed him in, and he’s a good ref so I can’t argue too much. I saw the replay and it kind of looked like we did.”

With the quick insurance marker in the third for Toronto, the Checkers found themselves down by two goals, not the ideal situation for a team that has struggled monumentally to score goals this season.

“We’re not in a position where we can count on scoring three, four or five goals a night,” said Daniels. “It just hasn’t happened throughout the year. When you make mistakes that end up in the back of your net it’s tough to recover.”

The bright spot in that department is the return of Boychuk, who tied Chris Terry for the franchise’s all-time goals lead with 204 as a Checker. One of the biggest offensive threats in the league, Boychuk will be counted on to help spark the team and turn those woes around.

“We had some good looks and some good chances and just weren’t able to bury them, so as the games go on we’ll get more chemistry,” said Boychuk. “That’s definitely a big part of the game we need to work on.”

As they prepare for a rematch with Toronto tomorrow, the Checkers can look at their opponent as proof that their season can be turned around. With tonight’s win, the Marlies now have a 10-game points streak and have gone from the bottom of the standings to in contention for a playoff spot. The Checkers know that that could be them if they are able to string some good performances together.

“There’s still plenty of games left and plenty of points out there to be had, but we’ve got to get a streak going like they’re going right now,” said Daniels. “We talked after the second period about this being one of the teams we’re trying to chance and we can’t let it slip by, and we did.”

“It gives us hope,” said Boychuk of Toronto’s run. “We didn’t start the way we wanted to the first half of the season but that’s the beauty of it. There’s another 37 games left and you never know what can happen. We got some reinforcements back and it’s just time to keep playing well. We can learn off that road trip and keep it going.”

NOTES

The Checkers fell to 0-5-0 against Toronto dating back to the teams’ first-ever meetings last season … With an assist to extend his team scoring lead, Chad LaRose hit 20 points on the season. The Checkers were the last AHL team to have a single player reach that mark … Charlotte has scored two goals or less in 26 of 39 games this season, including nine of their last 10 … The Checkers went 0-for-3 on the power play to fall to 1-for-41 (2.4 percent) over their last 10 games … MacIntyre’s personal six-game point streak (4-0-2) came to an end … After missing 26 games due to injury, Brody Sutter returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 15 … Forwards Gabriel Desjardins and Greg Nemisz and defenseman Beau Schmitz missed the game due to injury … Forward Carter Sandlak and defenseman Austin Levi were healthy extras.