The Toronto Marlies fell 6-1 to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Wednesday afternoon.Toronto is now third in the North Division with a 20-16-6-2 record.
Jonathan Gruden scored 14:30 into the first period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes of play. Dylan Gambrell tied the game just over a minute into the second period, but Jack St. Ivany scored 14minutes later, giving the Penguins a 2-1 lead through two periods of play.
Corey Andonovski scored 3:37 into the third period. Alex Nylander added a goal 12:22 into the third. Radim Zohorna scored an empty netgoal at 17:09 in the third and Jack St. Ivany added his second of the game with just under two minutes remaining.
After the game, head coach John Gruden blamed the team’s lack of offence on a lack of shots on net and overpassing.
“Four periods in a row with zero five on five [goals],” Gruden said. “I think it's a lack of not understanding putting pucks to the net and just fighting for them. We're losing a lot of those battles right now. We're guilty a little bit of trying to pass the puck in the net, so it's costing us. It's costing us O-zone time and it's costing us chances for. Something we have to revisit and take a look at.”
Captain Logan Shaw added the team needs to play better in front of goaltender Keith Petruzzelli.
“Yeah, it's tough. Hard on him obviously,” Shaw said. “We have to play better in front of him, that's where it starts. We have to manage the puck. Limit our turnovers which we're not doing right now.”
The Marlies are back in action on Friday in Belleville. Puck drop is at 7:00pm on AHLTV.
Game notes:
SCORING SUMMARY
WB/Scranton: J. Gruden (J. Koppanen), J. St. Ivany (3) (R. Ansons), C. Andonovski (3) (R. Zohorna), A. Nylander (15) (J. Rathbone, P. Abbandonato), R. Zohorna (2) EN (J. Rathbone), J. St. Ivany (4) (Unassisted)
Goaltender: J. Blomqvist (16/17) W
Toronto: D. Gambrell (7) (K. Clifford, D. Ovchinnikov)
Goaltender: K. Petruzzelli (26/31) L
ON THE SCORESHEET
- Dylan Gambrell put the Marlies on the board at 1:05 of the second period. He has 23 points (7 goals, 16 assists) in 43 games this season.
- Kyle Clifford recorded the primary assist on Gambrell’s second period goal. He has 19 points (8 goals, 11 assists) in 34 games this season.
- Dmitry Ovchinnikov had the secondary assist on Gambrell’s second period goal. He has 10 points (7 goals, 3 assists) in 20 games this season.
- Keith Petruzzelli stopped 26 of 31 shots he faced.
- Toronto’s all-time record when playing games with a start time of 11:30 a.m. or earlier is 25-16-3-1.
- The Marlies went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play. Toronto is 8-10-1-0 when not scoring on the power play 12-7-1-1 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
- Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had a 32-17 edge in shots in all situations. Kieffer Bellows, Dylan Gambrell and Logan Shaw led the Marlies with three shots on goal. Toronto is 7-5-2-0 when outshot by their opponent.
- The Marlies are 8-3-1-0 against Atlantic Division opponents and finish their regular season series 1-1-0-0 against the Penguins this season.
RECORD WHEN
Not scoring first 1-13-2-0
Trailing after 1st 3-9-1-0
Trailing after 2nd 2-12-2-1
At home 9-9-4-0
February 2-2-0-1
Wednesday 2-5-0-0
MARLIES LEADERS *Amongst active AHL players
Goals 19 (L. Shaw)
Assists 26 (J. Blandisi)
Points 38 (J. Blandisi)
PPG 5 (L. Shaw, R. Tverberg)
Shots 126 (L. Shaw)
+/- +18 (T. Miller)
PIMS 80 (Z. Solow)
POSTGAME QUOTES
LOGAN SHAW
On the team’s performance:
I just don't think we played hard enough. Guys worked hard, but I think the word that we're looking for is compete. But that's with everybody, myself included. Think we have to compete a little bit harder. Last couple of games have been embarrassing for us and for the organization. We know what we have to bring this weekend. We're playing two teams that are going to work hard and play the right way. For us it's about coming to work this weekend.
On Keith Petruzzelli:
It’s tough. hard on him obviously. We have to play better in front of him, that's where it starts. We have to manage the puck. Limit our turnovers which we're not doing right now. But, it's a mental game and it's tough on everybody. We know he'll get through it. We're going to be there for him and make sure we play better for him.
UPCOMING GAMES:*All times Eastern Standard Time
February 16 at Belleville – 7:00 p.m.
February 17 vs. Hershey – 4:00 p.m.
February 19 vs. Rochester – 2:00 p.m. (Scotiabank Arena)
February 23 at Laval – 7:00 p.m.
February 24 at Laval – 3:00 p.m.
