Marlies Drop First Game

October 11, 2009
Marlies Lose First Game of the Season to Rockford
Tlusty’s Two Goals Not Enough In Toronto’s 5-3 Loss to IceHogs

(TORONTO) – The Toronto Marlies dropped their first game of the season to the Rockford IceHogs, 5-3 on Sunday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum.

The Marlies dominated the play early in the first period, but Akim Aliu scored on Rockford’s first shot of the game four minutes into the first frame. Aliu, a former London Knight, broke in on James Reimer and roofed the puck past him to open the scoring.

Jonas Frogren tied the game at 1-1 with a wrist shot from the slot that beat IceHogs starting goalie Joe Fallon. Alex Foster and Ryan Hamilton each collected assists on the play. Foster’s point was his 100th as a member of the Marlies.

Jiri Tlusty put the Marlies ahead 2-1 on the power play with his second of the season. Tyler Bozak fed a cross-ice pass to Tlusty who went top shelf on Fallon. Juraj Mikus collected the other assist on the play.

Daryl Boyle knotted the game at 2-2 with a snapshot that fooled Reimer just moments after Frogren landed a hard, open-ice hit on Jake Dowell.

Rockford added three more goals to close out the second period to take a 5-2 lead into the second intermission.

The Marlies opened the third period on a 5-on-3 advantage but weren’t able to capitalize on the opportunity.

Tlusty added his second goal of the night with six minutes left in the third period. Tlusty’s goal was his third in the past two games.

Toronto’s power play went 1-for-8 on the afternoon.

The Marlies will play their next four of five games on the road, beginning on Friday night in Rochester . Toronto returns home next Saturday to play the Americans at Ricoh Coliseum at 3:00 p.m.

ICE CHIPS: Tyler Bozak registered his first career AHL point (assist) on Sunday afternoon…Richard Petiot returned to Toronto for the first time since playing for the Marlies last season…Phil Oreskovic played his first game of the season after being a healthy scratch for the first two games…The Marlies have never beat the Rockford IceHogs in their team history (0-5-0-0).

SCORING SUMMARY

First Period
1. RFD Aliu (1) (unassisted) 4:09
1. TOR Frogren (1) (Hamilton, Foster) 13:26
2. TOR Tlusty (2) (Bozak, Mikus) 16:46 PP

Second Period
2. RFD Boyle (1) (Dowell) 2:52
3. RFD Klinkhammer (1) (Brennan, Kearns ) 4:21
4. RFD Ewing (1) (Cullen, MacArthur) 15:36 PP
5. RFD Dowell (1) (unassisted) 15:36 SH

Third Period
3. TOR Tlusty 2 (3) (Oreskovic, Deveaux) 14:08
Shots

TOR RFD
29 26

THREE STARS

1. RFD: Dowell
2. TOR: Tlusty
3. RFD: MacArthur

SOURCE: torontomarlies.com