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The Toronto Marlies tied the franchise record for road victories in a season with a 4-2 win over the Belleville Senators on Friday night.

The 27th success away from Ricoh Coliseum wasn’t easily accomplished after a poor start from the Marlies against the bottom-ranked team in the Eastern Conference.

First Period

The Senators certainly worked hard in this game and that was enough to trouble the Marlies, who turned the puck over with regularity early on.

Belleville unsurprisingly struck first with almost nine minutes on the clock. Ethan Werek took advantage of debutant Jesper Lindgren’s giveaway with a top-corner finish past the blocker of Garret Sparks.

Three minutes later, the gloves were dropped between Tyler Randell and Mason Marchment, spelling the end of the night for Marchment as he left the ice visibly shaken and bloodied.

Sheldon Keefe, normally a composed figure on the bench, was furious with the effort and performance and let his team know with a barnstorming rant during a break in play.

It had the desired effect, as Toronto finished the first period with more jump, eventually drawing a penalty that carried over into the middle frame.

Second Period

The game could have been much different if Colin White capitalized on a great short-handed chance early in the middle frame, but Sparks made yet another crucial save and Toronto tied the game up less than two minutes into the period.

Following a faceoff win, a shot from Adam Brooks deflected off of Frederik Gauthier on its way to net and the rebound squirted out into the right circle, where Vincent LoVerde was johnny on the spot for his sixth of the season.

Sparks was called on again to turn aside Nick Moutrey and Jim O’Brien as the Marlies continued to cough the puck up with regularity.

Toronto rewarded the work of their goaltender by striking on the power play shortly after. Adam Brooks took a pass from Chris Mueller in stride before taking a second to measure his shot from the top of the hashmarks, beating Hogberg top shelf.

It quickly became 3-1 Marlies as they struck for the third time in the span of six minutes.
On a 3-on-2 odd-man rush, Miro Aaltonen, the trailer on the play, scored for the first time since his return from a concussion.

The lead could have been extended if Colin Greening and Trevor Moore took their chances, but Toronto was grateful to reach the intermission buzzer with the two-goal lead intact as the Senators finished the period on top.

A power play for Belleville resulted in an excellent opportunity on a backdoor play, but Moutrey was unable to provide the finishing touch.

Third Period

To Belleville’s credit, they once again came hard at Toronto to start the period and almost halved the deficit. Sparks pulled off a tremendous left pad save to rob Moutrey 13 seconds in and was sharp again almost a minute later on Ben Sexton in tight.

In-between times, Aaltonen could only bury his shot into the chest of Hogberg from a good look in the slot.

Toronto’s penalty kill kept Belleville off the board at the seven-minute mark and nearly extended the lead in the process, but Ben Smith’s shot chimed off the post.

After Moore and Justin Holl were an inch away from connecting on a pretty goal, Toronto’s insurance marker arrived with 6:34 remaining.

Smith was allowed to walk out from the backboards unmarked before attempting a cross-crease feed; the puck got caught in the skates of a Senators player and the Marlies captain reacted first, roofing the puck past Hogberg.

The Belleville crowd knew the game was over as they streamed out of the Yardmen Arena, but the Senators did manage to find a consolation goal late. It was unfair to Sparks, as Toronto eased up with the clock winding down and White found the net on a second opportunity following a shot from Maxime Lajoie.

The Marlies will return home for two home games this weekend and we can expect to see varied lineups, with 26 skaters currently on the active roster.


Post Game Notes

– Toronto now leads the season series against Belleville 8-2. The power play marker was the Marlies’ tenth against the Senators this year.

– A goal and two assists gave Adam Brooks his second multi-point haul of the season. That’s six points (2-4-6) in five games for the rookie, who has recorded 12 shots during that time — well above his season average.

“We played him on the left side [with Mueller and Smith] today — just another look to see how he could do there,” said Sheldon Keefe. “He’s playing well and playing with confidence and he’s getting results, so we’re real happy with him.”

Garret Sparks posted 25 shots for the victory and is now 26-8-2 this season. It was also his 75th AHL career win in just 115 games.

– This was the second multi-point haul (1-1-2) in five games for Vincent LoVerde. The goal was his 10th of the year and his fourth in seven games.

Ben Smith recorded his 25th goal of the season — just two shy of his single-season career best in the AHL.

– In his fourth game back, Miro Aaltonen looked more like his old self and could have added to his second-period marker.

Jesper Lindgren made his Toronto Marlies debut but didn’t cover himself in glory with the turnover that led to the opening goal against. Taking that one play out of the equation, the Swedish defenseman settled into a solid performance and made a couple of nice plays offensively.

– Friday’s lines:

Forwards
Timashov-Aaltonen-Moore
Brooks-Mueller-Smith
Greening-Gauthier-Baun
Marchment-Plouffe-Clune

Defensemen
Marincin-Holl
Rosen-Lindgren
Borgman-LoVerde

Goaltenders
Sparks
Pickard


Post-Game: Sheldon Keefe


Game Highlights