Josh Leivo with a goal and an assist in first game after missing 13 with injury

Thursday, 01.15.2015 / 9:58 PM The Canadian Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Josh Leivo showed no signs of rust in his return to the Toronto Marlies lineup.

The 21-year-old forward opened the scoring for Toronto and assisted on the eventual winner as the Marlies toppled the host Charlotte Checkers 4-1 on Thursday in American Hockey League action.

Leivo was playing his first game since Dec. 12 after an upper-body injury kept him sidelined for the past 13 contests.

Connor Brown put Toronto (17-15-6) ahead for good when he scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season at 18:24 of the second period. Carter Ashton and Viktor Loov added goals in the third to secure the victory.

Zach Boychuk put the Checkers (14-20-5) on the board at 13:26 of the second.

Antoine Bibeau made 28 saves for the Marlies as Charlotte's Drew MacIntyre stopped 21-of-24 shots in defeat.

Toronto went 1 for 2 on the power play while the Checkers failed to score on three chances with the man advantage.

The Marlies have gone 7-0-3 in their past 10 outings and are two games above .500 for the first time this season. They currently sit two points behind the Chicago Wolves for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

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