Thu. roundup: Marlies get past Bears

Thursday’s boxscores

TORONTO 3, HERSHEY 2
Kyle Calder scored twice and Joey MacDonald made 28 saves as Toronto edged Hershey, 3-2, at Ricoh Coliseum on Thursday night.

It was the fourth straight home win for the Marlies, who avenged a 5-1 loss to the Bears back on Dec. 20.

The Bears struck first with a goal from Andrew Joudrey just over a minute into the game.

Calder tied the game eight minutes later when he found a loose puck in front of the Bears’ goal. Josh Engel fired a shot from the point that was stopped by Hershey goalie Braden Holtby, but Calder was there to whack it home and knot the game at 1-1.

In the second period, Juraj Mikus moved into the slot and rifled a wrist shot past Holtby to put the Marlies in front, 2-1.

Calder scored his second of the game on a 5-on-3 advantage six minutes into the third period to put Toronto ahead by two goals. Calder’s goals give him 6-4-10 in his last nine games.

Steve Pinizzotto cut the lead to 3-2 at the 16:27 mark of the third period, but the Bears could not get the equalizer and fell for the third time in their last four road games.

MacDonald stood tall in the final minutes of the game and finished the night with 28 saves. Engel and Christian Hanson finished with two assists each.

The Marlies power play went 2-for-7 in the game. Their power play has now clicked at least once in each of Toronto’s last six home games.

MANITOBA 3, HOUSTON 2

Pierre-Cedric Labrie scored with 3:23 left in regulation to lift Manitoba to a 3-2 win in Houston on Thursday.

The Moose are 3-2-0-0 on a seven-game road trip that will end in San Antonio tomorrow and Saturday.

After the first half of the game went scoreless, Sergei Shirokov got Manitoba on the board at 10:16 of the second period with his 18th goal of the season.

Duncan Milroy responded for the Aeros at 13:35, but Michael Grabner answered 36 seconds later to restore Manitoba’s lead.

Houston pulled even again on a Maxim Noreau power-play goal with 4:33 left in the third, but Labrie broke the tie just 70 seconds after. It was Labrie’s second goal in three games and his fourth of the season.

Cory Schneider stopped 26 of 28 shots to earn the win for Manitoba. Barry Brust made 26 saves in defeat.

ROCKFORD 4, MILWAUKEE 1
Rockford extended its cushion over Milwaukee and moved closer to the top of the West Division with a 4-1 win over the Admirals at the Bradley Center on Thursday.

The second-place IceHogs are now three points behind Chicago and five ahead of Milwaukee in the West.

Rockford, now 15-4-0-1 in its last 20 games, got goals from Jake Dowell and Richard Petiot before Rob Klinkhammer and Jack Skille sealed the win with empty-netters in the final minute of regulation.

Joe Fallon made 27 saves and improved to 15-10-1 on the season. Mark Dekanich made stopped 23 of 25 shots for Milwaukee.