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TOR 2 - CLE 1

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Toronto: L. Shaw (12) PP (L. Haymes, T. Boyd), V. Lettieri (5) (L. Shaw)
Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (20/21) W

Cleveland: L. Del Bel Belluz (7) (O. Sillinger, D. Heinen)
Goaltender: I Fedotov (13/15) L, N. Lalone (2/2)

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Logan Shaw opened the scoring at 8:29 of the second period on the power play and later added the lone assist on Lettieri’s third period goal in his 800^th career professional game. He is now the franchise leader in assists (117) for the Marlies. Shaw has 23 points (12goals, 11 assists) in 32 games this season.
• Vinni Lettieri scored the game-winning goal at 16:41 of thethird period. He has 18 points (5 goals, 13 assists) in 26 games this season.
• Luke Haymes recorded the primary assist on Shaw’s second period goal. He has 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in 28 games this season.
• Travis Boyd had the secondary assist on Shaw’s second period goal. He has 21 points (9 goals, 12 assists) in 23 games this season.
• Artur Akhtyamov stopped 20 of 21 shots he faced.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies were 1-for-1 on the penalty kill and 1-for-3 on the power play. Toronto is 7-3-0-1 when scoring on the power play and 10-3-0-0 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Cleveland outshot Toronto 21-17 in all situations. Vinni Lettieri and Borya Valis led the Marlies with three shots on net. Toronto 10-8-0-0 when outshot by their opponent.
• The Marlies are 10-6-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 2-0-0-0 against the Monsters this season.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On tonight’s game:
I thought we played extremely well. The kill in the first period, the five minute was huge. I think it took a little bit of their momentum from their skilled players and it took them awhile to get going which they did later on in the third. But I thought it was a huge momentum boost for us and then the power play goal. So, the special teams were a huge part of this win tonight but I thought our five-on-five game was really solid. We didn’t give them much, kept them to the outside. If they got any chances, they had to earn them. So, I thought we did a great job of that.

On Logan Shaw:
He means everything. He’s an extension of (the coaching staff). He’s an unbelievable leader. He does everything right. Great with the younger players, great with the older players. He’s a true pro. Practices hard every day and for him to get rewarded with that nice play there on that two-on-one with (Lettieri), I can’t think of a better way for him to cap a great game and his 800^th pro game as well.

LOGAN SHAW (1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST)

On tonight’s game:
I thought we played a great road game. We didn’t give them too much. Artie played well. We were putting the puck behind their defencemen which is what we wanted to do from the start. Sometimes a boring game is a good game, and I thought we kind of did that, we capitalized on some chances and then just locked it down defensively.

On his franchise record:
I thank all my teammates I’ve had from day one here including this year but it’s cool, for a big organization like the Marlies, it’s definitely a milestone that I’m happy to hit. My thanks goes out to all my teammates I’ve had, coaches, everyone trusting me and believing in me and just letting me play my game.

BEL 2 - TOR 3

Belleville: G. Pilon (5) (W. Bongiovanni), W. Bongiovanni (9) (A. Kaliyev, L. Thomson)
Goaltender: H. Shepard (30/33) L

Toronto: V. Lettieri (4) (L. Shaw, M. Benning), M. Benning (2) (L. Haymes, M. Barbolini), L. Haymes (3) (B. Valis)
Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (30/32) W    

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Vinni Lettieri put the Marlies on the board at 4:32 of the second period. He has 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists) in 24 games this season.
• Matt Benning scored at 11:28 of the second period and earlier had the secondary assist on Lettieri’s goal. This was his second multi-point game of the season, both against Belleville. He has 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in 15 games this season.
• Luke Haymes scored the game-winning goal at 15:48 of the third period and earlier had the primary assist on Benning’s second period goal. This was his first professional game-winning goal. He has nine points (3goals, 6 assists) in 26 games this season.
• Logan Shaw recorded the primary assist on Lettieri’s second period goal. He is second all-time amongst Marlies in assists (115). Shaw has 19 points (10 goals, 9 assists) in 29 games this season.
• Matthew Barbolini registered the secondary assist on Benning’s second period goal. He has nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 25 games this season.
• Borya Valis picked up the lone assist on Haymes’ third period goal. He has 10 points (6 goals, 4 assists) in 27 games this season.
• Artur Akhtyamov stopped 30 of 32 shots he faced. This was his first start at Scotiabank Arena. He is 9-6-0 this season with a 3.14 goals against average and a 0.893 save percentage.

TEAM NOTES

• Toronto is 23-17-2-1 at Scotiabank Arena and 9-7-1-0 on Boxing Day. Toronto is 3-4 against Belleville on Boxing Day at Scotiabank Arena and has been outscored 17-15.
• The Marlies were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 0-for-5 on the power play. Toronto is 8-9-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 9-3-0-0 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Toronto outshot Belleville 33-32 in all situations. Bo Groulx and Borya Valis led the Marlies with four shots on net. Toronto 6-5-1-0 when outshooting their opponent.
• The Marlies are 8-6-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 4-3-0-1 against the Senators this season.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On today’s game:
We didn’t give them much. They had their pushes which teams always do but I thought we did a good job of keeping them to the outside, keeping the shots to the outside and not give them two or three whacks after their initial attempt. There was a lot of improvements in that regard. We were just a lot cleaner, so it was good.

On Matt Benning:
What makes him so special is that he just keeps everything at an even keel regardless of what kind of shift he’s had. He’s got all those great pro traits that a defenceman has and he settles things down too. He can sense that we’re getting a little too squirrely or that we’re trying to do too much on the backend and you can see that he hits a reset. He’s an extension of (the coaching staff) which helps us immensely as coaches. He’s a veteran and he means a lot to our team.

TOR 4 - BEL 8

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Toronto: C. Paré (4) (C. Sharpe, M. Johnstone), L. Shaw (10) PP (V. Lettieri, J. Quillan), B. Groulx (12) (M. Benning, T. Boyd), M. Johnstone (4)PP (C. Sharpe, A. Nylander)
Goaltender: V. Peksa (10/14), A. Akhtyamov (15/19) L

Belleville: K. Washkurak (3) (L. Hookey, M. Duarte), G. Pilon (4) (X. Bourgault, S. Harrington), L. Thomson (7) (G. Pilon, A. Kaliyev), J. Rees (3)(O. Pettersson, H. Hodgson), J. Jenik (4) (G. Pilon, J. Rees), P. Daoust (8)(A. Kaliyev, X. Bourgault), T. Hamara (1) PP (P. Daoust, W. Bongiovanni), J.Rees (4) (Unassisted)
Goaltender: H. Shepard (20/24) W        

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Cédric Paré scored at 2:33 of the first period. He has goals (3) in three consecutive games. Paré has eight points (4 goals, 4assists) in 22 games this season.
• Logan Shaw scored on the power play at 9:00 of the second period. This was his first power goal of the season and his 50^th career AHL power play goal. Shaw has 18 points (10 goals, 8 assists) in 28 games this season.
• Bo Groulx scored at 17:19 of the third period. He has goals (4) in four consecutive games. Groulx has 20 points (12 goals, 8 assists) in 28 games this season.
• Marc Johnstone scored on the power play at 18:33 of the third period and earlier had the secondary assist on Paré’s first period goal. He has seven points (4 goals, 3 assists) in 15 games this season.
• Chas Sharpe recorded the primary assists on Paré’s first period goal and Johnstone’s third period goal. He has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in 16 games this season.
• Vinni Lettieri recorded the primary assist on Shaw’s second period power play goal.
• Jacob Quillan registered the secondary assist on Shaw’s second period power play goal. He has points (2-6-8) in six consecutive games. Quillan has 23 points (5 goals, 18 assists)in 24 games this season.
• Matt Benning had the primary assist on Groulx’s third period goal. He has eight points (1 goal, 7 assists) in 14 games this season.
• Travis Boyd picked up the secondary assist on Groulx’s third period goal. He has 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists) in 22 games this season.
• Alex Nylander recorded the secondary assist on Johnstone’s third period goal.
• Vyacheslav Peksa stopped 10 of 14 shots he faced in 31:55 of action. Artur Akhtyamov stopped 15 of 19 shots in relief.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 4-for-5 on the power play. Toronto is 6-3-0-1 when scoring on the power play and 5-10-1-1 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Belleville outshot Toronto 33-24 in all situations. Blake Smith led the Marlies with four shots on net. Toronto is 8-8-0-0 when outshot by their opponent.
• The Marlies are 7-6-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 3-3-0-1 against the Senators this season.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On today’s game:
We just shot ourselves in the foot. It’s very disappointing the way the gameended for us but we have to reset and get back to what we know is going towork. I don’t want to be too negative. Our guys need a break, but they alsohave to understand what it going to take for us to get to that next level. Verydisappointing. (Belleville) didn’t really earn it. I thought we gave it to themwith our turnovers, our lack of urgency in certain parts especially with thechanging, it’s just disappointing. I’ll try to think of some of the positives(and) the power play was pretty good.

BEL 3 - TOR 4 (OT)

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Belleville: M. Duarte (3) (L. Thomson, G. Pilon), A. Kaliyev (19) (X.Bourgault, D. Gilbert), L. Thomson (6) (D. Gilbert, X. Bourgault)
Goaltender: M. Sogaard(26/30) OT/L

Toronto: J. Quillan (5) (T. Boyd, R. Parsons), C. Paré (3) (R. Johnson),B. Groulx (11) (L. Shaw), M. Benning (1) (V. Lettieri, J. Quillan)
Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (22/25) W    

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Jacob Quillan put the Marlies on the board at 1:36 of the second period and later added the secondary assist on Benning’s overtime goal. He has points (2-5-7) in five consecutive games. Quillan has 22 points (5 goals, 17 assists) in 23 games this season and is tied for 11^th overall in assists (17).
• Cédric Paré scored at 2:29 of the third period. He has seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 21 games this season.
• Bo Groulx scored on the power play at 14:46 of the second period. He has 19 points (11 goals, 8 assists) in 27 games this season.
• Matt Benning scored the game-winning goal at 1:43 of overtime. This was his first career overtime goal. He has seven points (1 goal, 6 assists) in 13 games this season.
• Travis Boyd registered the primary assist on Quillan’s second period goal. He has 19 points (9 goals, 10 assists)in 21 games this season.
• Rhett Parsons had the secondary assist on Quillan’s second period goal. This was his first AHL point.
• Reese Johnson picked up the lone assist on Paré’s third period goal. He has seven points (4 goals, 3 assists) in 18 games with the Marlies this season.
• Logan Shaw had the lone assist on Groulx’s third period goal. He now solely ix second overall all-time in assists (114) for the Marlies. Shaw has 17 points (9 goals, 8 assists) in 27 games this season.
• Vinni Lettieri recorded the primary assist on Benning’s overtime goal. This was his 300^thcareer AHL point.
• Artur Akhtyamov stopped 22 of 25 shots he faced. He is 8-5-0 this season with a 3.03 goals against average and a 0.894 save percentage.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 7-9-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 8-3-0-0 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Toronto outshot Belleville30-25 in all situations. Matt Benning led the Marlies with six shots on net. Toronto is 5-5-1-0 when outshooting their opponent.
• The Marlies are 7-5-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 3-2-0-1 against the Senators this season.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On Matt Benning:
Well deserved for him to get the game-winner. Vinni Lettieri made a really great play over to him and he buried it. He does a lot of really great things out there. He helps the younger defencemen, he brings a lot of experience, he’s a great leader. It’s just nice to see a guy like that get rewarded in overtime.

On what he liked in the second period:
It was the style of play. We were playing faster, we were making quicker decisions, we were spending more time in their end. It’s just the way you have to play against a team like this or any team to be frank. We were much better at it and we were able to get the momentum back. Our game was much better.

MATT BENNING (OVERTIME WINNER)

On overtime goal:
I’m not really an overtime guy but it was nice to get out there. Vinni (Lettieri) made a heck of a play and I just put it in an empty net.

On whether the game showed the team’s maturity:
When they score one late (in the first period), it’s an emotional rollercoaster. Teams can go either way and for us to stick with it, it’s a mature sign and we’ll build on it.

RHETT PARSONS (FIRST AHL POINT)

On overcoming the two-goal deficit in the first period:
The message is we just have to start better. It was a great response in the second and third but if we play a full 60, we can beat anyone in the league. Just start better and come out flying right from the start of the puck drop.