Marlies Home Winning Streak Snapped

January 31, 2009

Stapleton’s Two-Point Night Not Enough For Marlies

(TORONTO) – The Toronto Marlies lost their first home game since December 14, 2009 on Saturday afternoon, 6-3 to the Rockford IceHogs in front of 5,437 fans at Ricoh Coliseum.
Evan Brophey opened the scoring for the IceHogs eight minutes into the game by beating Marlies starting goalie Justin Pogge five-hole with a wrist shot. Adam Pineault collected an assist on the goal.

Mike Radja and Judd Blackwater each scored first period goals to give Rockford a 3-0 cushion after the first period.

Tim Stapleton chipped into the IceHogs lead while the Marlies were on a 5-on-3 advantage. Kris Newbury passed Stapleton the puck and fired a puck past Rockford starting goalie Corey Crawford. The IceHogs goalie was screened by Bates Battaglia on the play. Staffan Kronwall picked up an assist on the play.

Less than two minutes later, Bates Battaglia banged home his 12th of the season on the power play. The IceHogs netminder thought he had the puck covered, but Battaglia dug the puck past the goal line. Newbury and Stapleton each collected assists on the play.

Niklas Hjalmarsson scored his second goal of the season and Blackwater potted his second of the game to give Rockford a 5-2 lead going into the second intermission.

Jiri Tlusty notched his ninth of the season to cut the IceHogs lead down to two goals late in the third period. Richard Petiot and Joey Ryan tallied assists on the goal. It was Ryan's first career AHL point.

The IceHogs Tim Brent secured the victory with an empty net goal, snapping the Marlies seven-game home winning streak on Saturday afternoon.

The Marlies host the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night at Ricoh Coliseum at 7:00 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: The Marlies entered the game on a seven-game home winning streak…The first 5,000 fans in attendance to today’s game received a Doug Gilmour bobblehead…Both teams entered today’s action riding two game winning streaks…Tim Stapleton now has five points (three goals, two assists) in the past two games…Joey Ryan was back in the line-up for the Marlies after missing over a month of action…The Marlies have yet to beat the IceHogs in their history, going 0-3-0-0 in their career series…IceHogs Danny Groulx ranks second amongst AHL defenseman in shots on goal with 132

SCORING SUMMARY
First Period
1. RFD E. Brophey (10) (Pineault) 8:44
2. RFD M. Radja (10) (Brophey, Pineault) 10:57
3. RFD J. Blackwater (2) (Brent, Kontiola) 15:25

Second Period
1. TOR T. Stapleton (9) (Newbury, Kronwall) PP 5:51
2. TOR B. Battaglia (12) (Newbury, Stapleton) PP 7:12
4. RFD N. Hjalmarsson (2) (Radja, Pineault) PP 15:54
5. RFD J. Blackwater 2 (3) (Brent, Hambly) 17:44

Third Period
3. TOR J. Tlusty (9) (Petiot, Ryan) 14:15
6. RFD T. Brent (12) (Kontiola) 19:37

Shots
TOR RFD31 21
THREE STARS1. RFD: Blackwater2. RFD: Brophey3. TOR: Stapleton

SOURCE: torontomarlies.com