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TOR 4 - 3 BEL

Toronto: V. Lettieri (3) (M. Benning), L. Shaw (7) (B. Groulx, M. Benning),M. Johnstone (2) (Unassisted), R. Johnson (4) (V. Lettieri, M. Benning)
Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (19/22) W

Belleville: O. Lycksell (3) (G. Pilon), G. Pilon (2) SH (J. Donovan), A.Kaliyev (14) PP (O. Lycksell, P. Daoust)
Goaltender: M. Søgaard (27/31) L        

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Vinni Lettieri opened the scoring at 3:38 of the first period and later added the primary assist on Johnson’s third period goal. He has points (1-3-4) in three consecutive games. Lettieri has 11 points (3 goals, 8 assists) in 17 games with the Marlies this season.
• Logan Shaw scored at 3:57 of the first period. He has 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists) in 21 games this season.
• Marc Johnstone scored unassisted at 3:23 of the second period. He has three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in nine games this season.
• Reese Johnson scored the game-winning goal at 12:53 of the third period. He has goals (2) in consecutive games. Johnson has six points (4 goals, 2 assists) in 15 games this season.
• Matt Benning recorded the lone assist on Lettieri’s goal and the secondary assist on Shaw’s goal, both in the first period. He also had the secondary assist on Johnson’s third period goal. This was his first career three-point game.
• Bo Groulx had the primary assist on Shaw’s first period goal. He has points (1-4-5) in three consecutive games. Groulx has 15 points (7 goals, 8 assists) in 21 games this season.
• Artur Akhtyamov stopped 19 of 22 shots he faced. He is 7-5-0 this season with a 3.04 goals against average and a 0.896 save percentage.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies were 3-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play. Toronto is 5-7-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 4-6-1-1 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill. Toronto allowed its first shorthanded goal of the season in the second period.
• Toronto outshot Belleville 31-22 in all situations. Bo Groulx led the Marlies with five shots on goal. Toronto 4-4-1-0 when outshooting their opponent.
• The Marlies are 4-4-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 2-2-0-1 against the Senators.

POSTGAME QUOTES

MATT BENNING (3 ASSISTS)

On returning from injury:

I said in the locker room being hurt is not fun. So, to get back out there and get two points for the team, it’s fun. It’s good to be around the guys – battling, working towards something. It was fun tonight.

On his performance:
As a team we talked about getting to the net a little bit more and on all three of those goals (that he assisted on), we had guys in front of the goalie’s eyes and without that piece there, none of those are going in. Shawzy went hard to the net on one, Vinni had a nice play to get to the net on the other and then Vinni again with his pass to (Johnson), we had traffic. It’s hard for a goalie to save a puck he can’t see and I thought the forwards did a great job of that tonight.

MARC JOHNSTONE (1 GOAL)

On tonight’s game:

We played a complete 60 today. We showed what we can do when we stick together and play the right way. It started off with Bo, Vinni and Shaw and they led the way. They had those two quick goals which really turned the momentum and then everyone followed. It was just a great team effort overall.

On the five-minute penalty kill:

It just shows that when you stick together, you can do anything. It was a huge kill. It was a one-goal game. We buckled down and got the job done. It’s a credit to the killers that we have.

PRO 5 - TOR 1

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Providence: F. Lysell (7) (G. Merkulov, P. Brown), P. Brown (8) PP (D. Locmelis, C. Wolanin), F. Lysell (8) (C. Wolanin), G. Merkulov (6) (P. Brown, C. Wolanin), D. Locmelis (6) PP (G. Merkulov, C. Wolanin)
Goaltender: M. DiPietro (35/38) W

Toronto: L. Shaw (5) (B. Smith, T. Boyd)
Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (21/26) L      

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Logan Shaw put the Marlies on the board at 6:25 of the third period. This was his fifth goal of the season and 68^th with Toronto. He is now in fourth place for goals scored all-time with the Marlies. Shaw has eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) in 18 games this season.
• Blake Smith recorded the primary assist on Shaw’s third period goal. He has three points (1 goal, 2 assists) in 16 games this season.
• Travis Boyd picked up the secondary assist on Shaw’s third period goal. This was his 300^th career  . He has 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists) in 16 games this season.
• Artur Akhtyamov stopped 21 of 26 shots he faced.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies were 3-for-5 on the penalty kill and 0-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 4-6-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 2-5-1-1 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Toronto outshot Providence 36-26. Bo Groulx and Chas Sharpe led the Marlies with four shots on goal. Toronto is 3-4-1-0 when outshooting their opponent.
• The Marlies are 2-2-0-0 against Atlantic Division opponents and are 0-1-0-0 against the Bruins.

POSTGAME QUOTES

LOGAN SHAW (1 GOAL)

On tonight’s game:
I thought we had a great start. Obviously they capitalized on a lot of their chances which were breakdowns by us but I think it’s something to build off of. The score was 5-1 so, we’re not happy with that but there were things in our game that we liked that we didn’t have in a couple of games past. We’re for sure going to learn from it. We’re going to watch some video. Hopefully, keep going in the same direction, build off from what we did tonight and learn from what we did wrong. It’s still disappointing to come out 5-1 but I thought the effort was there. No one really quit but there was still habits in our game that we can fix.

IA 1 - TOR 2

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Iowa: D. Jiříček (1) (M. Kiersted, N. Aube-Kubel)
Goaltender: C. Petersen (21/23) L

Toronto: W. Villeneuve (2) (V. Lettieri, H. Thrun), B. Smith (1) (M. Johnstone, M. Pezzetta)
Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (36/37) W    

ON THE SCORESHEET

• William Villeneuve opened the scoring at 5:19 of the first period. He has 11 points (2 goal, 9 assists) in 17 games this season.
• Blake Smith scored at 12:15 of the second period. This was his first professional goal.
• Vinni Lettieri recorded the primary assist on Villeneuve’s first period goal. He has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in 13 games this season.
• Henry Thrun had the secondary assist on Villeneuve’s first period goal. He has nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 16 games this season.
• Marc Johnstone registered the primary assist on Smith’s second period goal. He has two points (1 goal, 1 assist) in seven games this season.
• Michael Pezzetta had the secondary assist on Smith’s second period goal. He has assists (2) in consecutive games.
• Artur Akhtyamov stopped 36 of 37 shots he faced. He is 2-1-0-0 this season when facing 30 or more shots. Akhtyamov is 6-3-0 this season with a 2.56 goals against average and a 0.914 save percentage.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies were 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play. Toronto is 4-5-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 6-3-0-0 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Iowa outshot Toronto 37-23. Luke Haymes led the Marlies with four shots on goal. Toronto is 5-4-0-0 when outshot by their opponent.
• The Marlies are 3-2-1-0 against Central Division opponents and are 2-0-0-0 against the Wild.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On today’s game:

I liked the result. I liked our goaltending. I liked the penalty kill. I loved some of the blocked shots that our PK, they dug in and I thought they won us that game. They were outstanding. Some good efforts from the Johnstone line. We were too sporadic. It’s still not our template in how we want to play a full game. I do like some of the times of our players digging in and getting a win. We played a desperate hockey team and I thought Artie was definitely a bright spot for sure.

BLAKE SMITH (1^st PROFESSIONAL GOAL)

On his goal:

It’s definitely a relief to get it somewhat early in the season. It’s nice to get off the back. When it went in, I just had a lot of emotion. Super excited and nice to see it go through.

On the reaction form his teammates:

I thought they played a good game today. They came out hard. Did that the whole game. So, it’s tiring as a team when the other team is coming that hard on you. I thought we did a pretty good job of weathering it. They played a good game and we got some good bounces.

IA 2 - TOR 7

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Iowa: G. Mayhew (6) (C. Lambos, D. Spacek), B. Marek (1) (D. Spacek, C. Lambos)
Goaltender: S. Hlavaj (22/29) L

Toronto: N. Chadwick (1) (B. Groulx), B. Groulx (5) (N. Chadwick, T. Boyd), L. Shaw (4) PP (L. Haymes, T. Boyd), V. Lettieri (2) (W. Villeneuve, B.Groulx), C. Sharpe (2) (M. Barbolini, R. Tverberg), B. Groulx (6) (N. Chadwick, A. Nylander), L. Haymes (1) (M. Pezzetta, W. Villeneuve)
Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (29/31) W    

ON THE SCORESHEET

•  Noah Chadwick opened the scoring at 1:18 of the first period. This was his first professional goal. He also later added the primary assists on both of Groulx’s goals.
• Bo Groulx scored at 3:51 of the first period and scored his second of the game at 7:27 of the third period. He also had the lone assist on Chadwick’s goal and the secondary assist on Lettieri’s goal. This was his third career AHL four-point game. He has 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) in 16 games this season
• Logan Shaw scored the game-winning goal on the power play at 10:52 of the first period. This was his 25^th career AHL game-winning goal. He now has 67 goals with the Marlies which ties him for fourth all-time with Joseph Blandisi.
• Vinni Lettieri scored on the power play at 19:31 of the first period. He has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in 12 games this season.
• Chas Sharpe scored at 2:15 of the third period. This was his second goal of the season.
• Luke Haymes scored at 13:03 of the third period and also picked up the primary assist on Shaw’s first period power play goal. He has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in 13 games this season.
• Travis Boyd recorded the secondary assists on Groulx and Shaw’s first period goals. This was his fourth multi-point game of the season. He has 13 points (7 goals, 6 assists) in 14 games this season.
• William Villeneuve had the primary assist on Lettieri’s first period power play goal and the secondary assist on Haymes’ third period goal. His third period assist was his 100^th career AHL point. He has 10 points (1 goal, 9 assists) in 16 games this season.
• Matthew Barbolini registered the primary assist on Sharpe’s third period goal. He has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in 13 games this season.
• Ryan Tverberg picked up the secondary assist on Sharpe’s third period goal. He has seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 13 games this season.
• Alex Nylander recorded the secondary assist on Groulx’s third period goal. He has 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists) in 13 games this season
• Michael Pezzetta had the primary assist on Haymes’ third period goal. This was his first point as a Marlie.
•  ArturAkhtyamov stopped 29 of 31 shots he faced. He is 5-3-0 this season with a 2.75 goals against average and a 0.904save percentage.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies went 5-for-5on the penalty kill and 2-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 4-1-0-1 when scoring on the power play and 5-3-0-0 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Iowa outshot Toronto 31-29.Bo Groulx led the Marlies with seven shots on goal. Toronto is 4-4-0-0 when outshot by their opponent.
• The Marlies are 2-2-1-0 against Central Division opponents and are 1-0-0-0 against the Wild.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On today’s game:

Once you’re mentally engaged and you’re physically engaged, the execution drives itself. I liked the response. We’ve been talking about it and after awhile the talk is cheap. They did what they had to do. I liked what they did. Good for them, especially the leadership group. They did a really good job getting the guys going.

On Noah Chadwick’s first goal:

Big guy back there getting pucks to the net and sometimes they just find a way. It’s good for him. It’s always nice to get that first one under your belt. I thought our D grew up quite fast today. They played extremely well and I think it always help when you score your first shift. That definitely helps the confidence.

On keeping it simple:

I thought (the leadership group) was really good tonight. They expect more from themselves. They don’t need to put all the pressure on themselves to score every night but if they play simple, that’s a standard that you get rewarded points wise … It’s just one day and we have to do it again tomorrow.

BO GROULX (2 GOALS, 2 ASSISTS)

On today’sgame:

The game in Belleville was a wake-up call for us. Offensively, we weren’t on point. Defensively I thought we were pretty loose. We had a lot of talk throughout the week about getting better, especially the guys in the top six and I thought we had a great response today. I was back with Vinni and Nylander on my left wing and I thought we played really, really well. We capitalized on the chances they gave us and at the same time, we didn’t give up anything. Overall, it was a great game from the top six.