Toronto Marlies Defeat Utica Comets In Shootout

The Toronto Marlies defeated the Utica Comets 7-6 in a shootout on Friday night.

In the first period, it was Marlies captain, Logan Shaw, who got the visitors on the board first just 4:09 into the game. Just under halfway through the period, Brian Halonen tied the game at one. Shortly before the period was over, Zach Solow scored his ninth of the year to give Toronto a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.

In the middle frame, Ryan Schmelzer scored shorthanded to tie the game at two. A few minutes later, Nolan Foote scored on the power play to give the Comets a 3-2 lead. Just under two minutes later, Kieffer Bellows scored his team-leading 23rd goal of the year to tie the game at three. The Comets then scored two goals in 14 seconds to take a 5-3 lead into the second intermission.

But, the Marlies came out firing to start the third. 28 seconds in to the frame, Ryan Tverberg scored a power play goal to bring the Marlies within one. Just a few minutes later, Logan Shaw scored his second of the game to tie it at five. Later in the frame, Justin Dowling scored to give the Comets a 6-5 lead. With just under two minutes remaining, Nick Abruzzese tied the game at six with his 11th of the season.

60 minutes wasn't enough on Friday night, and overtime was needed. In the extra frame, both teams exchanged chances, but neither team found the back of the net. In the shootout, Alex Steeves scored the lone goal, and Dennis Hildeby shut the door on all three Comets' shooters, leading the Marlies to a 7-6 victory.

Toronto returns to action on Saturday as they head to Springfield to face the Thunderbirds. Puck drop is at 7:05pm on AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY
Toronto: L. Shaw (21) (N. Abruzzese, K. Bellows), Z. Solow (9) (M. Rifai), K. Bellows (23) (L. Shaw, M. Kokkonen), R. Tverberg (9) PP (K. Bellows, D. Gambrell), L. Shaw (22) (J. Slavin), N. Abruzzese (11) (W. Villeneuve, M. Rifai)
Goaltender: D. Hildeby (18/24) W

Utica: B. Halonen (14) (J. Dowling, W. MacKinnon), R. Schmelzer (13) SH (Unassisted), N. Foote (1) PP (K. Criscuolo), G. Clarke (20) (M. Willman, K. Criscuolo), N. Foote (2) (B. Halonen, J. Dowling), J. Dowling (11) (B. Halonen, N. Foote)
Goaltender: E. Källgren (26/32) SO/L

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Logan Shaw opened the scoring at 4:09 of the first period and scored at 3:05 of the third period. This was his sixth multigoal game of the season. He has points (2-3-5) in three consecutive games. Shaw has 43 points (22 goals, 21 assists) in 51 games this season.
• Zach Solow scored at 17:56 of the first period. He has goals (2) in consecutive games. Solow has 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists) in 49 games this season.
• Kieffer Bellows scored at 14:55 of the second period. He also recorded the secondary assist on Shaw’s first period goal and the primary assist on Tverberg’s third period goal. He is tied for seventh overall in goals (23). Bellows has 41 points (23 goals, 18 assists) in 47 games this season.
• Ryan Tverberg scored on the power play 28 seconds into the third period. He has 29 points (9 goals, 20 assists) in 38 games this season.
• Nick Abruzzese scored at 17:46 of the third period and earlier picked up the primary assist on Shaw’s first period goal. He has 38 points (12 goals, 26 assists) in 54 games this season.
• Marshall Rifai had the lone assist on Solow’s first period goal and the secondary assist on Abruzzese’s third period goal. He has 14 points (2 goals, 12 assists) in 40 games with the Marlies this season.
• Mikko Kokkonen registered the secondary assist on Abruzzese’s second period goal. He has 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in 49 games this season.
• Dylan Gambrell recorded the secondary assist on Tverberg’s third period goal. He has 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 52 games this season.
• Josiah Slavin had the lone assist on Shaw’s third period goal. He has 19 points (7 goals, 12 assists) in 53 games this season.
• William Villeneuve recorded the primary assist on Abruzzese’s third period goal. He has 22 points (2 goals, 20 assists) in 43 games this season.
• Dennis Hildeby stopped 18 of 24 shots he faced. He is 1-1 in shootouts this season.

IN THE SHOOTOUT

• Alex Steeves – Goal (2023-24: 3/4)
• Kieffer Bellows – No goal (2023-24: 1/4)
• Logan Shaw – No goal (2023-24: 2/4)

TEAM NOTES

• Toronto is 3-2 in the shootout this season.
• The Marlies went 2-for-3 on the penalty kill and 1-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 17-6-5-2 when scoring on the power play and 11-10-7-1 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill. Toronto’s power play (22.9) on the road is third overall in the AHL.
• Toronto has recorded two or more power play goals in nine games this season.
• Toronto had a 33-24 edge in shots in all situations. Kieffer Bellows and Zach Solow led the Marlies with four shots on goal. Toronto is 16-12-6-2 when outshooting their opponent.
• Toronto is 11-13-7-2 against North Division opponents and are 3-0-0-1 against the Comets this season.

RECORD WHEN

Scoring first                            23-3-7-2
Leading after 1^st                      15-2-3-0
Trailing after 2^nd                      3-14-4-1
On the road                            15-8-3-2
March                                      2-2-0-0
Friday                                      8-4-1-1

MARLIES LEADERS *Amongst active AHL players

Goals               23 (K. Bellows)
Assists            28 (J. Blandisi)
Points              48 (J. Blandisi)
PPG                 7 (J. Blandisi)
Shots               158 (K. Bellows)
+/-                    +18 (T. Miller)
PIMS                107 (Z. Solow)

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On tonight’s game:

We kind of shot ourselves in the foot with some plays. We were doing a lot of good things, especially in the second period but the mistakes when we make them, it seems like they end up in the back of our net. Just the fight that we had in the third, scoring that big power play goal and Dennis making some really big saves there to withstand a little bit of that pressure on their power play. It was a good character win at this time of the year. We’ll definitely take it.

On Dennis Hildeby and the big saves that kept Toronto in the game:

It’s huge, especially for his growth and development. You play a lot of games throughout a year and you’re going to have games like that where sometimes you just don’t have your best or the shooters just finding areas of the net. For him to be able to overcome that and make the big saves after that had happened, it says a lot about Dennis and his growth and the team going to bat for him as well because he’s been there for us a lot this year. For our players to pick him up and then him pick us back up was outstanding.

On Logan Shaw’s three-point game:
Especially the last two games, he’s been exceptional. He’s doing everything – he’s killing penalties, on the power play and he’s leading. He gets help from his teammates but it’s a good time for him to start feeling it. It’s important and it’s good to see.

UPCOMING GAMES:*All times Eastern Standard Time

March 9 at Springfield – 7:05 p.m.
March 15 at Rochester – 7:05 p.m.
March 16 vs. Rochester – 1:30 p.m. (Scotiabank Arena)
March 17 vs. Laval – 4:00 p.m.
March 22 at Rochester – 7:00 p.m.

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