News
Marlies Roll Amerks
April 12, 2008
Four-goal first period leads Marlies to victory
(TORONTO) – Red hot Jiri Tlusty led the Marlies to a 6-2 win over the Rochester Americans in front of 7,140 fans at Ricoh Coliseum on Saturday evening. Tlusty scored a goal and added two assists for his third consecutive multi-point game while Marlies’ goaltender Justin Pogge made 24 saves for his 26th victory of the season.
The Marlies opened the game by scoring four goals in the first 13 minutes of the game. Kris Newbury sent a pass to a streaking David Ling, who snapped a shot over the glove of Rochester starting goaltender Adam Dennis at 4:12. Alex Foster and Newbury tipped shots for the Marlies’ second and third goals. Andy Wozniewski blasted a shot that missed the goal but bounced off the back boards and onto the stick of John Mitchell. The bounce fooled Dennis, which left the net open for Mitchell to notch his team-leading 19th goal of the season at 12:55.
Rochester got on the scoreboard at 18:22 of the middle frame when Dan Collins scored his fifth of the season. Collins received a pass from David Brine before sliding the puck past Pogge to make it a 4-1 hockey game.
During the waning minutes of the second period Jay Harrison rifled a shot from the point that deflected off a Rochester player and into the net to restore the four-goal lead. Staffan Kronwall and Tlusty tallied helpers on the play.
Tlusty added his fourth goal in his third game since returning from the Maple Leafs just 24 seconds into the third period. John Mitchell sent a cross-ice pass to Tlusty, who wristed a shot into the top of the net. Brady Calla scored the final goal of the game when he scored Rochester’s second goal at 7:06 of the final frame.
The Marlies close out the regular season when they host the Manitoba Moose – AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks – on Sunday, April 13 at 4 p.m. Sunday’s game is Fan Appreciation Night and will feature the Million Dollar Shot contest. The Marlies host games 1 and 2 of their first-round AHL Calder Cup Playoff series on Wednesday, April 16 and Friday, April 18. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m. against an opponent which has yet to be determined.
ICE CHIPS: The 21 shots taken by the Marlies in the opening stanza set a new season-high for shots in a period… Jiri Tlusty has 17 points (seven goals, ten assists) in 13 games with the Marlies this season… John Mitchell has seven points (one goal, six assists) in three games… Rochester accrued 58 penalty minutes in tonight’s game, the most penalty minutes by a Marlies’ opponent all season.
SCORING SUMMARY
First Period
1. TOR D. Ling (16) (Newbury, Kronwall) 4:12
2. TOR A. Foster (17) (Harrington, Oreskovic) 9:21
3. TOR K. Newbury (16) (Harrison, Ling) 9:47
4. TOR J. Mitchell (19) (Wozniewski, Tlusty) 12:55
Second Period
5. RCH D. Collins (5) (Brine, Baier) 18:32
6. TOR J. Harrison (13) (Kronwall, Tlusty) 19:32 PP
Third Period
7. TOR J. Tlusty (7) (Mitchell, Ondrus) 0:24
8. RCH B. Calla (1) (Glass, Larman) 7:06
Shots
TOR 34 RCH 26
THREE STARS
1. J. Tlusty #41 -- TOR
2. J. Harrison #20 -- TOR
3. J. Mitchell #79 -- TOR
