Toronto Marlies beat Hamilton Bulldogs 7-2 in Winter Classic

The Toronto Marlies scored three times in the first period Saturday and never looked back in beating the Hamilton Bulldogs 7-2 in an outdoor American Hockey League game played at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

Greg Scott scored twice for Toronto (22-15-5), while Nicolas Deschamps added a goal and two assists.

Mike Zigomanis had a goal and an assist and Drew Paris, Marcel Mueller and Joe Colborne also scored for the Marlies, who got 19 saves from Ben Scrivens. Jerry D’Amigo added three assists.

Dany Masse and Louis Leblanc replied for Hamilton (18-17-5). Nathan Lawson stopped 20 shots for the Bulldogs.

The ice was fast but repairs during the second period slowed the pace of the game played under sunny skies with a temperature of -4 C.

Masse gave Hamilton a 1-0 lead just 27 seconds into the first thanks to a solid Bulldogs’ forecheck, but Zigomanis tied it at 5:26, redirecting a shot between Lawson’s legs.

Scott made it 2-1 Toronto at 8:19, roofing a shot in close off a feed from D’Amigo.

Paris then gave the Marlies a two-goal edge at 12:02 with a wrist shot from just inside the Hamilton blue-line.

On top the high-scoring first period, the crowd of 20,565 at the home of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats was treated to a rough opening 20 minutes.

Toronto’s Kelsey Wilson and Hamilton’s Zack FitzGerald fought right after Masse’s opening goal. The Marlies’ Korbinian Holzer then went toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs’ Aaron Palushaj with just over six minutes to go in the period.

Mueller made it 4-1 at 8:33 of the second with an unassisted goal that beat Lawson blocker side.

Leblanc, who was recently sent down by the Montreal Canadiens, got one back for Hamilton at 10:08 on a nice individual effort.

But Toronto stifled any chance of a Hamilton comeback in the third before pouring it on late with goals from Colborne, Deschamps and Scott in the final four minutes to put an exclamation point on the Marlies’ outdoor victory.