The Toronto Marlies are finding offense easy to come by, but their defensive woes continue to dominate the narrative to start the season.
Despite a better overall effort, a 5-4 shootout loss to the Rochester Americans means the Marlies are still rooted to the bottom of the North Division, having recorded just one victory through six games.
First Period
The Marlies held the balance of play through the opening ten or so minutes but found themselves trailing anyways after Danny O’Regan was left alone in the blue paint to redirect a pass from Zach Redmond past Jeff Glass.
The Marlies struck back in a move that started with Calle Rosen’s outlet pass to Sam Gagner down the right side. The veteran center delivered an inch-perfect centering pass to the onrushing Pierre Engvall, who showed a great burst of speed to beat his opponent to his spot before applying a deft finishing touch.
Jeff Glass, who hasn’t inspired a ton of confidence since signing, was primarily at fault for Rochester’s second marker. His inability to hold onto a weak shot from William Borgen allowed a rebound that Alexander Nylander snuck under the pads of the Marlies netminder.
Second Period
A bright opening two minutes to begin the middle frame was quickly undone by a turnover from Dmytro Timashov just inside the Amerks zone. The Amerks quickly transitioned the puck the other way, where despite having numbers back, missed assignments from the Marlies led to O’Regan netting his second of the game.
Special teams were one area that was dialled in for the Marlies in this game — their power play drew them within one at the seven-minute mark, when Carl Grundstrom and Chris Mueller combined to set-up Timashov for a tap-in.
Missed opportunities by Josh Jooris, Colin Greening and Engvall looked like back breakers when Rochester stuck at the midway point to once again take a two-goal lead. Courtesy of another cheap turnover, Brendan Guhle made no mistake for his first of the season.
Third Period
The power play ensured Toronto only trailed by one heading into the second intermission thanks to a good individual effort by Carl Grundstrom. Showing strength and agility on the puck, the Swedish winger turned in tight and stuffed the puck home from the crease.
A series of penalties taken by the Marlies halted progress in the search for a tying goal in the third period with Mason Marchment sent to the box twice in the span of four minutes.
The Marlies looked to be slipping to a 4-3 defeat until pulling Glass for the extra attacker paid dividends with ten seconds remaining. An excellent screen in front of Scott Wedgwood meant he saw nothing of Sam Gagner’s one-time shot that found the top corner of the net.
The Marlies almost stole victory in the time remaining, but Adam Cracknell’s attempt struck the iron.
A point secured, the Marlies were unable to force a victory in overtime, mustering just one attempt on goal after being forced to kill another penalty.
Rochester scored all three attempts in the shootout against the one tallied by Sam Gagner to take the extra point on offer and extending their win streak to five.
Post Game Notes
– The power play went 2-4 and the penalty kill was perfect on four occasions.
– The Marlies are scoring at over four goals per game but continue to haemorrhage goals against, conceding 32 in six games.
“Definitely some strides in the right direction, but at the same time, there is clearly still lots to work at here,” said Sheldon Keefe. “We still gave up way too much, way too many chances, way too many shots… This is a team that we knew was going to really challenge in the neutral zone with how they transition and how they get their defense involved. I didn’t like how we dealt with that. That’s an area we got exposed in today. A lot of their shots and chances came off the rush and off of entries.”
– A pair of assists for Calle Rosen takes his points tally to seven (1-6-7) on the season.
– Carl Grundstrom returned from sickness to record a goal and an assist.
– Chris Mueller and Mason Marchment both returned from injury. The former recorded a power play helper, while Marchment produced a decent performance despite the fact this was his first competitive action since the Calder Cup Final.
– Sam Gagner continues to be the Marlies leading scorer, now with eight points after registering his fourth goal and assist respectively.
– Friday’s lines:
Forwards
Grundstrom-Mueller-Gagner
Timashov-Cracknell-Bracco
Engvall-Jooris-Moore
Marchment-Greening-Molino
Defensemen
Rosen-Liljegren
Borgman-LoVerde
Nielsen-Subban
Goaltenders
Glass
McAdam
