Marlies Mauled By Bears

Bears’ Four Second Period Goals Too Much for Marlies

(TORONTO) – The Hershey Bears were too much for the Marlies on Saturday afternoon in front of 3,878 fans at Ricoh Coliseum. The Bears defeated Toronto 6-1, as Tim Stapleton was the lone Marlie to score.
The first period was dominated by solid goaltending on both sides of the ice. Marlies starting goalie Adam Munro and Bears’ goaltender Simeon Varlamov kept the game scoreless through one period of play.

The second period saw a plethora of scoring. Hershey’s Francois Bouchard put the Bears on the board early into the second period with his 13th goal of the season. Andrew Gordon found a wide open Bouchard in front of the Marlie goal with a cross ice pass and beat Munro who attempted to poke check the pass away.

The Marlies jumped back into the game less than three minutes later on the power play when Tim Stapleton found the loose puck in front of the Hershey goal and scored his 19th of the season. Jeremy Williams and Jiri Tlusty collected assists on the play. Hershey’s penalty killing unit entered the game ranked last in the AHL.

Bouchard scored his second of the game mid-way through the second period to put the Bears ahead 2-1. Alexandre Giroux and Keith Aucoin scored consecutive goals which made it 4-1.

Giroux potted his second of the game and league leading 45th of the season and Graham Mink extended the Hershey lead to 6-1 with back-to-back goals mid-way through the third frame.

The Marlies travel to Hamilton tomorrow afternoon for a 4:00 p.m. game against the Bulldogs at Copps Coliseum.

ICE CHIPS: Toronto hits the road for three straight games, starting tomorrow in Hamilton…Staffan Kronwall played in his first AHL game since being with the Marlies…The Bears’ Alexander Giroux and Keith Aucoin rank first and second in the AHL in points….Keith Aucoin extended his point streak to 14 games…Hershey forward Chris Bourque is the son of Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque…With his goal today Tim Stapleton now has seven points in his last four games.

SCORING SUMMARY
First Period
No Scoring

Second Period
1. HER F. Bouchard (13) (Gordon, Helmer) 1:57
1. TOR T. Stapleton (19) (Tlusty, Williams) 3:25 PP
2. HER F. Bouchard 2 (14) (Wilson, Lepisto) 7:50
3. HER A. Giroux (44) (Aucoin) 11:27
4. HER K. Aucoin (22) (Bourque, Alzner) 13:24 PP

Third Period
5. HER A. Giroux 2 (45) (Mink, Aucoin) 7:48
6. HER G. Mink (21) (Alzner, Gordon) 9:19 PP

Shots
TOR HER
21 29

THREE STARS
1. HER: Alexander Giroux
2. HER: Keith Aucoin
3. HER: Francois Bouchard

SOURCE: torontomarlies.com