Marlies welcome playoff adversity after loss to Stars ties Calder Cup final 1-1

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Curtis McKenzie scored the other Texas goal while Mike McKenna stopped 21 shots.

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Ben Smith responded for the Marlies and Garret Sparks made 22 saves in the loss.

After combining for 11 goals in Game 1, Sunday’s game was much tighter — something Sparks expects to be the case the rest of the way.

“It’s the two best teams in the AHL playing a seven game series so you’re going to have competitive hockey, you’re going to have physicality, tight gaps and you’re going to have guys that are hustling all over the ice,” he said. “The sooner you can learn to cope with that, and beat it, the better off we’ll be.”

Smith nearly tied the game 2-2 with less than a minute remaining in the third, but directed Justin Holl’s shot wide.

Bayreuther gave the Stars their only lead of the game at 4:31 of the third, beating a screened Sparks from the point on a power play for his second of the playoffs.

McKenzie got Texas on the board 2:45 into the second period after Dillon Heatherington sprung him on a breakaway. The Stars captain beat Sparks on the backhand for his eighth of the post-season.

Texas had an excellent chance to take a 2-1 lead with a 1:40 two-man advantage six minutes into the second period, but could not beat Sparks on three shots. Defenceman Brent Regner had the best chance of the 5-on-3 power play, but rang his shot off the post.

Smith opened the scoring with 2:09 remaining in the first period re-directing a Travis Dermott point shot past McKenna for his sixth of the playoffs.

“They’re a little bit better through the neutral zone, they clog up the neutral zone, it’s hard to get through,” Smith said of how the Stars adjusted from Game 1. “We saw it there the last 10 minutes or so, we could hardly get through the neutral zone so definitely some adjustments to be made and find ways to get behind their (defence) and get pucks back.”

Justin Dowling had Texas’s best chance of the opening 20 minutes at 3:30, on a partial breakaway, but Sparks steered the shot aside.

Toronto out-shot Texas 13-6 in the first period.

Notes: The series now shifts to Texas for Games 3-5 beginning on Tuesday. … The 8,219 announced attendance for Game 2 is the largest for a Marlies game at Ricoh Coliseum.

Dhiren Mahiban, The Canadian Press