The Toronto Marlies were unable to put together a coherent offensive attack against the Texas Stars in Game 3 of the Calder Cup Western Conference Final, as Travis Morin broke a 2-2 tie midway through the third period that gave Texas a 3-2 victory at Ricoh Coliseum Wednesday and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Defenseman TJ Brennan scored both goals for Toronto, who suffered their first playoff loss at home and registered only 22 shots on Stars goalie Cristopher Nilstorp. Patrik Nemeth, Kevin Henderson and Morin tallied for Texas.
“When you look at (the Stars) 12 forwards, they’re playing with a level of desperation that our 12 forwards haven’t found yet.… Marlies coach Steve Spott said following the game. “We’ve got a couple guys playing at the level that we expected, but we’ve been successful as a committee this year and doing things as a committee and right now we don’t have enough forwards on board getting the job done offensively.…
Brennan gave the Marlies the lead midway through the first on a screened point shot off an offensive zone faceoff win by Kenny Ryan. Texas tied the game early in the middle frame as Nemeth beat Drew MacIntyre between the legs for his first goal of the playoffs.
The Stars dominated puck possession and enjoyed the majority of offensive chances, registering 12 straight shots in the latter half of the second and early third and taking the lead as Henderson tipped a Brett Ritchie shot that was going wide into the Toronto goal.
The Marlies responded just over three minutes later, as Peter Holland fed a backhand pass to Brennan for another point blast that eluded Nilstorp, but Texas took the lead back for good 59 seconds later as defenseman Jamie Oleksiak took advantage of a neutral zone turnover and fed Brendan Ranford, whose shot was deflected by Morin past MacIntyre. Toronto will try to even the series in Game 4 on Thursday, which is a 7pm start that can be seen on Rogers TV.
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It was a veritable who’s who of NHL GM’s and scouts at Ricoh Coliseum on Wednesday. Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, Boston GM Peter Chiarelli, new Carolina GM Ron Francis, Dallas GM Jim Nill , as well as former Leafs GM and current Sharks Director of Pro Scouting John Ferguson Jr. and many others are in town for the NHL Scouting Combine, which runs from May 26 to 31, but according to the Star’s Kevin McGran , there are some Marlies players who may draw interest from other clubs when July 1 rolls around.
Brennan, the 2014 winner of the Eddie Shore Trophy for Best AHL Defenseman is an unrestricted free agent and might be desirable for an NHL team looking for a bottom pairing defenseman with offensive ability and power play chops, as well as AHL veteran Trevor Smith, who proved very capable in a depth role with the Leafs with Dave Bolland and Tyler Bozak out with injury. *******
TSN’s Darren Dreger speculated that the LA Kings may use their compliance buyout on center Mike Richards after the season and that if so, he has the winning pedigree that the Leafs would be interested in adding.
The 29-year-old Richards has six years remaining on the 12-year contract extension signed with Philadelphia in 2007. Richards was a member of Team Canada in 2010 and had a big role in the Kings surprising Stanley Cup victory two years ago, but his $5.75 Million cap hit may be too high for someone who’s offensive numbers have declined to 11 goals this season.
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