ALBANY, NY — One game after going a perfect 8-for-8 on the penalty kill and scoring two shorthanded goals, the Albany Devils PK faltered in a 7-2 loss against the Toronto Marlies Tuesday. The Marlies used four power-play goals to pull the series even, 2-2, with Game 5 on the horizon Thursday at Times Union Center.
Albany got the start they wanted scoring just 2:10 into the game thanks to a strong forecheck and Matt Lorito finding Blake Pietila for a one-timer at the right face-off dot. Defensively, The Devils held the Marlies without a shot until eight minutes into the contest.
However, a four-minute high stick penalty started the Devils PK struggles. Mark Arcobello scored from the left side at 13:17 and Kasperi Kapanen followed with a man-up tally at 18:48.
“I really liked our start,” Head Coach Rick Kowalsky said. “I thought they looked aggressive, we got some pucks, exposed them a little bit, had some good chances, and then the four minute penalty. It seemed to get them going and we really struggled from that point on.”
In the second, T.J. Brennan made it a 3-1 score on the power play at 1:05 and Brendan Leipsic extended the lead up a man at 14:10.
“We were playing with fire, “Kowalsky said. “We got burned. A lot of them were dumb penalties. You can’t do that this time of year against anyone especially a team with that much firepower.”
Toronto’s first two even strength goals came off Nikita Soshnikov’s stick at 18:39 of the second and 1:36 of the third.
Toronto’s Connor Brown and Albany’s Graham Black exchanged goals at 10:27 and 19:40, respectively, to produce the final result.
Scott Wedgewood played the first 40 minutes, making 12 saves on 17 shots. Yann Danis played the final period and had 7 stops on 9 tries.
Toronto’s Antoine Bibeau earned his third win of the playoffs and second win of the series, stopping 24 shots.
“We played into their hands, played to their strengths,” Kowalsky said. “We move on, we reset tomorrow. Every team that’s lost a game in this series responded the next night. We need to do that. The biggest thing is not carrying any of this into Game 5. We knew this was going to be a tough series. A loss is a loss. It doesn’t matter the way.”
• The Essentials
Shots: Albany 26, Toronto 26
Power Play: Albany 0-6, Toronto 4-9
Three Stars: 1. Nikita Soshnikov (TOR), 2. Antoine Bibeau (TOR), 3. Mark Arcobello (TOR)
• Next Up
Thursday’s Game 5 will be the final home game for the Devils this round. Puck drop is at 7 pm.
