The Toronto Marlies picked up a point after falling 3-2 in overtime to the BellevilleSenators on Wednesday night.
Topi Niemelä scored the Marlies first goal just over 5 minutes into the game. Nick Abruzzese added another goal 2:43 into the second period, giving the Marlies a2-0 lead early in the middle frame. Josh Currie scored for the Senators 12:29into the second.
Wyatt Bongiovanni scored at 9:07 in the third. Bongiovanni scored again at 1:56 in overtime.
After the game, head coach John Gruden felt the team had a lot to like from their game.
“I thought for the most part we were playing a flawless game until the miscue on their first goal,” Gruden said. “It gave them a little bit of life. And then they scored the big goal on the power play. For the most part I thought we kept them at bay.”
Robert Mastrosimone and Zach Solow picked up assists on Topi Niemelä’s first period goal. Gruden said he was impressed with how their line played all night.
“They're predictable. They read off each other extremely well. They changed momentum in the game. They're dependable,” Gruden said.“They don't just play the offensive side, they play the defensive side. So, they've worked extremely well for us -- couple good looks there in the third too. That's definitely a plus for tonight.”
The Marlies will be back in action in Syracuse on Friday night. Puck drop is at 7:00pm on AHLTV.
Game notes:
SCORING SUMMARY
Belleville: J. Currie (11) (S. Halliday), W. Bongiovanni (11) PP (J. Larsson, E. Sokolov), W. Bongiovanni (12) (T. Kleven, C. Reinhardt)
Goaltender: L. Merilainen (25/27) W
Toronto: T. Niemelä (8) (Z. Solow, R. Mastrosimone), N. Abruzzese (15) (R. Hirvonen)
Goaltender: D. Hildeby (28/31) OT/L
ON THE SCORESHEET
- Topi Niemelä opened the scoring at 5:36 of the first period. He has points (2-7-9) in eight of his last 10 games.
- Nick Abruzzese scored at 2:43 of the second period. He has set a career-high in points (49). Abruzzese has points (6-10-16) in 11 of his last 15 games.
- Zach Solow recorded the primary assist on Niemleä’s first period goal. He has 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 62 games this season.
- Robert Mastrosimone had the secondary assist on Niemleä’s first period goal. He has 14 points (4 goals, 10 assists) in 41 games this season.
- Roni Hirvonen picked up the lone assist on Abruzzese’s second period goal. He has 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) in 32 games this season.
- Dennis Hildeby stopped 28 of 31 shots he faced.
- The Marlies went 2-for-3 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play. Toronto is 10-15-5-0 when not scoring on the power play and 13-13-8-1 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
- Belleville had a 31-27 edge in shots in all situations. Topi Niemelä led the Marlies with five shots on goal. Toronto is 16-7-4-0 when outshot by their opponent.
- Toronto is 15-16-8-2 against North Division opponents and finish their regular season series 4-3-3-0 against the Senators.
RECORD WHEN
Scoring first 28-6-8-0
Leading after 1st 20-3-4-0
Leading after 2nd 22-1-4-0
At home 15-12-7-0
April 2-1-1-0
Wednesday 5-5-2-0
MARLIES LEADERS *Amongst active AHL players
Goals 28 (L. Shaw)
Assists 34 (N. Abruzzese)
Points 56 (J. Blandisi)
PPG 7 (J. Blandisi, L. Shaw)
Shots 184 (L. Shaw)
+/- +18 (T. Miller)
PIMS 132 (Z. Solow)
HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN
On tonight’s game:
They kept sticking to their game plan. I thought for the most part we were playing a flawless game until the miscue on their first goal. It gave them a little bit of life. And then they scored the big goal on the power play. For the most part I thought we kept them at bay. And then they're a good hockey team, they're going to feel it a little bit. They were able to come out on top. It was a disappointing ending. Give our guys a lot of credit -- losing a guy like Gambrell like that and then we had to fill that hole. They did a really good job of that. I give our guys a lot of credit.
On the message to the group through the end of the season:
They know what's at stake. We don't need to sit there and pile it on. They put a lot of pressure on themselves. We're going to, we always give them a game plan. We want to make sure that they're excited to play. We've got five games left and we still control our own destiny and we're pretty depleted. So, last thing we're going to do is bang on them to where they've got to understand what's at stake -- they know what's at stake. They did their best, so again, we're looking forward to this weekend.
UPCOMING GAMES:*All times Eastern Standard Time
April 12 at Syracuse – 7:00 p.m.
April 13 at Syracuse – 7:00 p.m.
April 17 at Rochester – 7:05 p.m.
April 20 vs. Cleveland – 4:00 p.m.
April 21 vs. Cleveland – 4:00 p.m.
