The revolving door of lineup changes continued for the Toronto Marlies on Friday night.
A visit to Syracuse saw Rich Clune named captain in the absence of Andrew Campbell. Tony Cameranesi, Willie Corrin and Kasimir Kaskisuo all made their professional debuts fresh out of college. Also making their Marlies debuts were recently-reassigned Ben Smith and Connor Carrick, with Toronto dressing seven defensemen.
The Syracuse Crunch were not to be taken lightly. Winners of five straight heading into this contest, they still had their sights set on a playoff berth and have Jonathan Drouin among their ranks.
Credit goes to a young Toronto Marlies team for the way they set about their hosts from puck drop. Only thirty seconds had elapsed when Ben Smith looked a shoe-in to score a wraparound goal, but he was denied by a fine right toe save from Kristers Gudlevksis. From the resulting faceoff, Mark Arcobello was presented with a gift in front but again the Crunch goaltender came up with the stop.
Toronto’s pace and intensity was too much for the Crunch as they outshot Syracuse 8-0 inside the opening five minutes.
It took until the seventh minute of play for Syracuse to make their first foray into Toronto’s zone, and it really should have resulted in a better outcome. Matthew Peca’s perfect pass on an oddman rush found Tye McGinn, but he fired wide on the golden opportunity.
Arcobello hasn’t enjoyed much luck in front of goal in his last couple of outings, and he must have been frustrated to see his next effort deflected wide of the net with Gudlevksis beaten following some good work from Connor Brown.
There was a lot of skill on show early — none better than the stick handling from Tanner Richard, who thrice batted the puck out of mid air as he raced out of his own zone. Heading into Marlies territory, Richard cut into the middle of the ice, but Kasimir Kaskisuo was equal to his five-hole attempt.
Ben Smith and the returning Zach Hyman somehow failed to score with eight minutes of the first period to play, with the Marlies dominating the shot-clock by a 10-1 advantage. After surviving the onslaught and with Toronto’s play dropping a few percent, Syracuse finally gained a foothold and created three good chances inside a minute.
Jeff Tambellini should have done better after good work from Drouin on a 2-on-1 rush.
Kaskisuo then produced a pair of fine stops, especially on the second to turn aside Richard’s effort.
Josh Leivo thought he scored shortly after, but Gudlevksis’ glove save translated into play swiftly transferring to the other end of the ice and the home team opening the scoring. Drouin chose to shoot during an odd-man rush and his NHL-calibre shot was too much for Toronto’s rookie goaltender.
It probably should have been 2-0 shortly thereafter, but Joel Vermin wasn’t able to deliver the killer pass to Henri Ikonen as the Crunch jumped on top of the Marlies following the goal.
Some hockey justice was served as Toronto tied the game up before 20 minutes were through. A long-range effort from David Kolomatis glanced off debutant Ben Smith for his first goal in his first game as a Marlie.
The middle frame began with Kaskisuo blocking Peca’s attempt to go upstairs on him.
Josh Leivo responded with his best chance of the game up until that point. Connor Carrick showed tremendous speed down the right side before finding his new teammate in the slot, where Leivo’s one timer brought the best out of the impressive Gudlevksis.
The first penalty of the game went the Marlies way. Drouin almost scored yet another NHL calibre goal — dancing through Toronto’s defense with consummate ease — but Kaskisuo’s sliding save may have been his best of the night.
The quality of the game trailed off somewhat after, with plenty of broken plays and neither team able to manufacture much until the final seven minutes of the period.
A more confident Tony Cameranesi may have found Brendan Leipsic during an odd man rush, while Holl made a nice play to find Brown in the slot but his shot was turned aside by Gudlevksis.
The breakthrough finally arrived for the Marlies, with another deflected play finding its way into the Syracuse net. Ty Stanton’s shot from the point found the vicinity of Ben Smith, who definitely knew more about this one as he deftly redirected the effort past Gudlevksis.
The game was deadlocked after 40, however, after the Syracuse powerplay got to work quickly on its second opportunity. On a broken play off a faceoff, defenseman Matt Taormina showed great hands to make a move around Hyman before measuring a wrist shot through traffic for the tying marker.
The Marlies responded by controlling the remaining 56 seconds of play, but they were unable to find the go-ahead tally before the buzzer.
Both teams had sequences of pressure early in the third period before the Marlies created the fifth goal from almost nothing. Leivo grabbed the bull by the horns as he drove across the blue line before finding Arcobello away to the left of the net. The centreman threw the puck across the crease, where Leivo was on hand to tap home past Gudlevksis.
The teams shared chances as the game opened up a little with 10 minutes to go. Drouin threatened again for Syracuse before Ben Smith and Hyman both come close for Toronto, while Rinat Valiev should have done better on a breakaway attempt.
The officials had called very little in a contest that could have featured a double figure count in penalties, yet Toronto wound up with a third straight penalty and it proved costly. It took just 18 seconds of swift puck movement and a rebound effort from McGinn to tie the game at three.
He had little chance on the tying marker, but Kaskisuo pulled off a telling save seconds later, setting the stage for the Marlies to win it inside a minute remaining. Leipsic stripped Drouin of the puck before sending Matt Frattin away down the right wing. Without a moment’s hesitation, the winger fired home a trademark wrister from the top of the right circle past the glove of Gudlevksis.
Kaskisuo was only called upon to make one save of note as the Marlies shut the Crunch down and outworked the hosts even with their net empty. Toronto’s ability to pull out results with so many new faces is an absolute credit to all involved, especially against teams fighting hard in the standings.
Post Game Notes
– Ben Smith scored twice in his Marlies debut, recording his ninth and tenth goals of the season.
– Brendan Leipsic (two assists) and Josh Leivo (one goal) extended their point streaks to three games.
– With a single assist, Mark Arcobello extended his point streak to six games. Arcobello has fired 17 shots in his last two games but has not found the net.
– Ty Stanton recorded his first professional point, assisting on the Marlies’ second goal.
– Matt Frattin scored the game winning goal, his 12th of the season. The goal was also his 14th game winner in a Marlies uniform, moving him into sole possession of second on the all-time game-winning goal leaders.
– Kasimir Kaskisuo turned aside 26 shots to earn his first professional victory and his first victory as a member of the Toronto Marlies. There was a lot to like about the performance and the calmness and poise he showed on debut. The Marlies have now tied the AHL record for most starting goaltenders with a victory in a single season.
– Eight different goaltenders have recorded wins for the Marlies; Antoine Bibeau, Jonathan Bernier, Ray Emery, Kasimir Kaskisuo, Rob Madore, Ryan Massa, Garret Sparks and Alex Stalock.
