1. Scrivens the Story: The Heat were the better team. The Heat heavily out-chanced, out-shot, out-possessed, and out-hit the Marlies, but they did lose in one crucial area – goaltending. Ben Scrivens’ stellar play has been the difference at times this series, and his play on Tuesday night was incredible. 35 saves on 36 shots gave the Marlies a win in a game where they had no business being close in many aspects. Opportunistic scoring and a brick wall in net – that’s how the Marlies won Game 4.
2. Heat Facing Elimination: Troy G. Ward was upbeat in the Post-Game Press Conference with media after the loss. His club was tactically almost perfect, but lost the game to go down 3-1. I suppose there’s no point in getting steamed up about a loss the night before an elimination game, but there is now no room for error. If the Heat can play with the same poise tomorrow, the series likely heads back to Toronto for Game 6, but a Wednesday loss (no matter how it is dealt) will end their season. Biggest game of th… Yeah, you know what I’m saying.
3. Orr/Desbiens: After the Marlies potted the empty-net goal at 19:31 of the third period, Colton Orr challenged Guillaume Desbiens to a fight off the draw. It appeared the Marlies veteran fourth-liner (inserted into their line-up for his first post-season game) wasn’t happy with a hit that Desbiens delivered in the first five minutes of the second period (I think?!). Desbiens declined the fight, and the puck was dropped without event. Later in the shift, Orr cross-checked Desbiens to the ice from behind, and the mitts were dropped. Confusing timing for the Orr instigated interaction, over half a game after Desbiens’ hit on Deschamps – if that was the point of contention. Safe to say the skirmish was polarizing, at the least.
