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Brown Leads Marlies In Game Two Win Over Bridgeport

April 24, 2016, 7:46 PM ET [420 Comments]
Mike Augello
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Toronto Marlies took a commanding 2-0 lead in the opening round of the Calder Cup Playoffs with a 3-0 victory over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at Webster Bank Arena on Sunday evening.

Connor Brown tallied twice and Ben Smith added a single in support of Garret Sparks, who made 31 saves for his first AHL playoff win and shutout. The Marlies now lead the best-of-five series 2-0 and return to Toronto in hopes of eliminating the Sound Tigers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarter Final on Thursday at Ricoh Coliseum.




Brown leads the club with three goals and is continuing his strong play since returning from an ankle injury in late January.

The former OHL scoring champion led the Marlies and American Hockey League rookies in scoring with 61 points last season, but the 22-year-old used the nearly three months on injured reserve to improve his upper body strength. After registering only four assists in eight games before the injury, Brown averaged slightly less than a point-per-game (11 goals, 14 assists in 26 games) and impressed in a brief NHL stint in March.

Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe made two lineup changes for Game 2, replacing Tobias Lindberg with Kasperi Kapanen and opting for Sparks in the second of back-to-back games after Antoine Bibeau made 31 saves in a 4-1 victory on Saturday.

Kapanen assisted on Smith's goal that extended the lead to 2-0 early in the third and Sparks played well, but benefited from a strong Marlies defensive performance against a Sound Tigers offense that produced only 209 goals during the regular season.

"We'd like to keep both guys engaged, we have the ability to do that." Keefe said regarding changing goalies following the game. "Obviously it's back-to-back games here today and (Bibeau) fought a bit of a cold all week long and just thought it was the right thing to do."





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