The Toronto Marlies fell to their fourth defeat in five games after a low-scoring loss to Belleville in the Boxing Day game at the ACC.
The Marlies were undoubtedly the superior team throughout the 60 minutes but they weren’t as clinical around the net as Belleville, who netted twice on just 15 shots and benefitted from a 32-save performance by Andrew Hammond.
First Period
The Marlies were on top through the opening six minutes but failed to capitalize on two high-grade scoring opportunities: Adam Brooks missed Kasperi Kapanen with a pass where a shot was the better choice and then sent a rebound off of an Andreas Johnsson shot wide of the net.
The recently-faltering power play stepped up for the Marlies at the sixth-minute mark, when a one-time cannon from Andrew Nielsen found its way past Hammond.
Chris Mueller, frustrated offensively throughout the game, really should have done better than to find the crest of Hammond after a nice piece of set-up play from Ben Smith behind the net.
A rare turnover from Smith then gifted a chance to Jack Rodewald before Colin White had a great look in transition, but Calvin Pickard was sharp on both Senators scoring chances.
Belleville then netted a tying goal on the game’s second power play 12 minutes in. A shot from White deflected off the shaft of Ethan Werek’s stick in front and found a way through an unsighted Pickard.
The first period petered out after Belleville evened the score. Coming out of the intermission, Belleville controlled the pace of the game.
Second Period
A turnover from Nielsen inside the opening 30 seconds led to a great look for Mike Blunden from the slot, but Pickard came to his defenseman’s rescue.
It took until the midway mark of the period for Toronto to threaten offensively, and it was another chance that went begging: Kerby Rychel failed to corral a rebound after Hammond juggled the puck with his glove hand.
The final two minutes of the middle frame produced one excellent chance for each team thanks to some sloppy play both ways. Max Reinhart would have had an easy tap-in but the pass never came, while Colin Greening missed the target during a 3-on-1 rush for the Marlies.
Third Period
All tied heading into the third period, Toronto still weren’t matching the desperation of the Senators, and their inability to capitalize on their chances was perfectly encapsulated seven minutes into the final frame: Smith and Mueller combined but Mueller somehow missed the net. Sixty seconds later, Toronto fell behind for good.
A failure to clear their zone was followed by a lost puck battle along the right wall before Tyler Randall’s no-look backhand pass picked out Francis Perron all alone in front in the slot, with Pickard unable to bail his team out this time around.
The Marlies owned the majority of possession for the final 11 minutes, but they were trying to walk the puck into the net with pretty plays that were almost always a pass or two too many.
The desperation for Marlies finally kicked in with a little over two minutes remaining after Pickard was pulled for the extra attacker. At least half of Toronto’s 12 shots during the third period were taken with six skaters on the ice, but it was too little, too late as Hammond stood firm to preserve the two points for Belleville.
Post Games Notes
– Despite outshooting the Senators 33-15, Toronto’s first loss of the season to Belleville leaves the season series at 3-1-0.
“We obviously had the puck a lot today and generated a lot of shots,” said Sheldon Keefe. “We’d like to generate a lot more quality. I thought we played on the perimeter quite a bit.”
– The Marlies has lost four of their last five games (three straight on home ice) and scored just five goals in those losses.
“We knew that the schedule was getting harder,” said Keefe. “We were going to start to play some of the better teams that we hadn’t seen yet — Rochester recently, Manitoba for a couple. Good teams that are at the top of the league and we knew that was going to challenge us. At the same time, we lose guys to callups and injuries and all of that stuff. We’re just trying to sort our way through that, but adversity is a good thing as long as you continue to work and look to get better every day.”
– Toronto could feel hard done by about the lack of penalties called in this game (just three total). They should have had at least four power plays in the first period and double that throughout the 60 minutes. As Keefe pointed out after the game, the officials don’t seem to be calling slashing as they were earlier in the season.
– Andrew Nielsen scored his first goal of the season but it only partially masked another poor performance from him defensively. Three giveaways directly led to near goals against.
“He’s a guy who scored a lot for us last year and found a way to get a lot those shots to fall for him,” said Keefe. “Hasn’t been the case this year, but it’s nice to start that way.”
– Kasperi Kapanen recorded a primary assist on Nielsen’s power play tally and put two shots on goal in his return to the Marlies. Andreas Johnsson was responsible for the secondary assist, his tenth helper of the season and ninth point on the power play.
– Calvin Pickard’s statistics took a hit in this game with two goals on 15 shots. He had no chance on either goal against, though, and made a handful of excellent saves.
– Tuesday’s lines:
Forwards
Johnsson-Brooks-Kapanen
Rychel-Gauthier-Bracco
Clune-Greening-Moore
Timashov-Mueller-Smith
Defencemen
Valiev-LoVerde
Rosen-Paliotta
Nielsen-Holl
Goaltenders
Pickard
Sparks
