The Toronto Marlies defeated the Syracuse Crunch 2-1 in a shootout on Friday night, picking up an important 2 points.
Late in the second period, Logan Shaw opened the scoring on the power play with his 29th goal of the season. Late in the third, Alex Barre-Boulet tied the game at one. The score remained tied after 60 minutes of play, so overtime was needed.
Both teams exchanged chances in the extra frame but neither were able to find the back of the net.
In the shooutout, Alex Steeves had the lone goal, and Dennis Hildeby stopped all three Syracuse shooters to secure the victory for Toronto.
The two teams will meet again in Syracuse on Saturday night. Puck drop is at 7:00pm on AHLTV.
Game notes:
SCORING SUMMARY
Toronto: Shaw (29) PP (N. Abruzzese, A. Steeves)
Goaltender: D. Hildeby (27/28) W
Syracuse: A. Barre-Boulet (4) (G. Fortier, J. Finley)
Goaltender: B. Halverson (28/29) SO/L
ON THE SCORESHEET
- Logan Shaw opened the scoring on the power play at 16:00 of the second period. This was Shaw’s 50th goal with the Marlies. He has 56 points (29 goals, 27 assists) in 65 games this season.
- Nick Abruzzese recorded the primary assist on Shaw’s second period power play goal. He has points (6-11-17) in 12 of his last 16 games.
- Alex Steeves had the secondary assist on Shaw’s second period power play goal. He has 54 points (24 goals, 30 assists) in 62 games this season.
- Dennis Hildeby stopped 27 of 28 shots he faced. He is 3-1 in shootouts this season. Hildeby is 21-11-7 this season with a 2.42 goals against average and 0.912 save percentage.
IN THE SHOOTOUT
- Alex Steeves – Goal (2023-24: 4/6)
- Logan Shaw – No goal (2023-24: 2/6)
- Four Marlies have recorded 50 or more points this season – Nick Abruzzese(15-35-50), Joseph Blandisi (25-31-56), Logan Shaw (29-27-56), Alex Steeves(24-30-54). This is the third time Toronto has had four or more players with 50 or more points in a season – 2015-16 (4), 2005-06 (6).
- The Marlies went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 1-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 23-7-5-2 when scoring on the power play and 20-9-2-1 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
- Toronto had a 30-28 edge in shots in all situations. Nick Abruzzese led the Marlies with five shots on goal. Toronto is 17-16-6-2 when outshooting their opponent.
- Toronto is 16-16-8-2 against North Division opponents and 1-5-1-0 against the Crunch this season.
RECORD WHEN
Scoring first 29-6-8-0
Tied after 1st 10-7-5-2
Leading after 2nd 23-1-4-0
On the road 17-11-3-2
April 3-1-1-0
Friday 10-6-1-1
MARLIES LEADERS *Amongst active AHL players
Goals 29 (L. Shaw)
Assists 35 (N. Abruzzese)
Points 56 (J. Blandisi, L. Shaw)
PPG 8 (J. Blandisi, L. Shaw)
Shots 186 (L. Shaw)
+/- +18 (T. Miller)
PIMS 132 (Z. Solow)
HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN
On tonight’s game:
We had to understand what the opponent is. They defend, they’re stingy so, we couldn’t cheat trying to create more. We actually had good looks. I liked our patience. I liked the fact that we stuck to our game plan. They got one late there but at the end of the day, we played a pretty solid game, 60 minutes and we got a lot of contributions from everyone and they did what they did as a team to win a hockey game.
LOGAN SHAW (1 GOAL)
On tonight’s game:
It was a playoff game for us. We played a sound defensive game. We didn’t really give them much. Dennis played great but I think that was one of our better overall games of the year. Even in the third, they got one towards the end and we didn’t collapse. They’re going to push, get chances and I think we did the same thing. Overall, it was a hard-fought game and that’s what we were expecting tonight but I’m happy with our group and … how our team played tonight.
UPCOMING GAMES:*All times Eastern Standard Time
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.
