The Marlies‘ resiliency in fighting back from a two-goal deficit was admirable, but they did not bring their A-game to this series and ultimately paid the price in this heartbreaking Game 3 loss.
First Period
The theme of this series was early-period goals. Game 3 was more of the same.
The Marlies were intent on hitting everything that moved and aggressively pressuring the puck to start this game, but it wasn’t always allied with sound defensive-zone structure. After Josiah Slavin dropped his stick pursuing the puck carrier on the wall, Boko Imama peeled away from Marshall Rifai in the slot and rifled home a one-time shot on a feed from Jacob Larsson.