Playoff Hopes All But Dashed As Marlies Fall 3-1 to Moose

This article was last updated on May 19, 2022

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The Toronto Marlies playoff hopes suffered another blow on Friday night falling 3-1 to the Manitoba Moose and have been all but eliminated from the playoff race.
 
The Marlies entered the game five points back of the Moose and were hoping to sweep the weekend series to pull within one point. But the loss now puts Toronto seven behind and Manitoba needs just one more point to officially end the Marlies’ playoff aspirations.
 
The Moose played a perfect road game by not taking many risks, limiting turnovers and capitalizing on their scoring opportunities. Manitoba were led by Mario Bliznak who scored two goals and Corey Schneider who turned aside 30 of 31 shots.
 
Despite being mathematically alive, the Marlies dressing room was eerily quiet as the players were clearly in a sombre mood.
 
“We’re out of it now and it’s a failure of a season,” said captain Ben Ondrus. “All you can do is learn from the losses, get better and make sure they don’t happen in the future."
 
“I don’t think it was a lack of effort, things weren’t going our way. It’s tough to explain, obviously we liked to have a better outcome but it’s something you can’t really put into words.”
 
Stopping 27 of 30 shots, Marlies goalie James Reimer felt the game could have easily gone the other way.
 
“We battled hard and they got a couple good bounces, a couple of goals that barely squeaked in or just plain weird and we didn’t get the bounces at the other end. If you play that game again we probably win 4-3 or 4-2, that’s the game of hockey.”
 
Moose Strike First
 
Moose forward Kevin Clark opened the scoring late in the first period as he fired a shot from the left faceoff circle which seemed to handcuff James Reimer to put Manitoba up 1-0.
 
Halfway through the 2nd period, Bliznak put Manitoba up 2-0 when he fired his own rebound up high past Reimer. After the goal Reimer looked all around him and seemed confused as to how he was beaten on the play.
 
Just over two minutes into the third, Moose forward Tom Maxwell fired a shot from the half-boards which was stopped by Reimer but Bliznak was on the doorstep to tap in his second goal of the game.
 
The Marlies lacked intensity for most of the game, no doubt feeling the effects of playing the night before in Hamilton. The team didn’t show any signs of desperation until they pulled Reimer for the extra attacker with just over six minutes to play in the third period.
 
“I think we were really slow out of the gate and I think that game in Hamilton really took a lot out of us,” said Marlies coach Dallas Eakins.
 
“The end of it was a real emotional rollercoaster and I had to play some of our top guys huge minutes. I think we were trying but we just didn’t have a lot left in our bodies.”
 
With the goalie pulled, Ondrus tipped in Ryan Hamilton’s shot from the half-boards to get Toronto on the board. The shot went in and out of the net so quickly the play had to be reviewed but was determined to be a goal. Greg Scott drew the other assist on the play.
 
With Reimer still on the bench, the Marlies put on the pressure and had several scoring chances but Schneider closed the door the rest of the way. Toronto outshot Manitoba 16-3 in the final frame but only managed to score the lone goal.
 
Until it is official the Marlies will continue to battle hard and fight for a playoff spot.
 
“We have a lot of pride in the room and we want to win no matter what,” says Reimer.
“We’re fortunate enough to still have a chance and we still have some part of our destiny in our hands right now, if we beat them tomorrow (today) we’re five back again and we have six points to get and we’re going to keep fighting.”
 
The Marlies have very little time to re-group as they battle the Moose again today at 4pm at Ricoh Coliseum.

Contact Aman Dhanoa at aman@oyetimes.com

Photos courtesy of Annandi Merhai of Devi Designs

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