“We weren’t at our best but had that push in the third period. Our penalty kill was outstanding and gave us a chance [to stay competitive].”
– John Gruden
The Marlies ultimately paid the price for their lack of competitiveness through 40 minutes. Outbattled and feckless in possession, the Marlies handed the initiative to a desperate opponent.
When Toronto finally decided to start battling and earn every inch of their ice, San Jose began to panic and floundered under pressure. However, by that stage of the game, the Marlies dug themselves too deep a hole to climb out of.
First Period
Some credit should go to San Jose for a big push to start the game. The Barracuda held a 7-0 lead on the shot clock through the opening seven minutes, dominating the bulk of possession.
Disappointingly, there was no real pushback from Toronto after withstanding the early barrage. The Marlies generated one credible scoring chance at five-on-five through Joseph Blandisi. On a 3v2, Roni Hirovnen’s effort from the high slot resulted in a rebound that eluded Alex Steeves with half a net to aim at.
Toronto’s lack of discipline saw them take three consecutive penalties in the second half of the period, and only Cédric Paré could count himself unlucky for a disputable delay-of-game call.
The Marlies fared better when down a man as the penalty kill withstood San Jose and generated some scoring chances. Alex Steeves drew a glove save from Gabriel Carriere on a breakaway opportunity.
Robert Mastrosimone had a strong game and caused San Jose issues. On one penalty-killing shift, he twice stripped opponents of possession but couldn’t deliver a telling finish from tight angles on partial breakaways.
In his return from injury, Artur Akhtyamov turned aside 13 shots to keep the game level in a promising first 20 minutes from the rookie netminder.
Second Period
The middle frame was a disaster from Toronto’s perspective. Barring a couple of minutes, the Marlies were inept offensively and compounded matters by giving up two terrible goals.
Caught on a long shift following an icing, Toronto wasted two chances to clear the defensive zone and coughed the puck up via Nicolas Mattinen. Anthony Vincent’s shot appeared to take a couple of deflections before looping over Akhtyamov’s glovehand. The rookie would have been disappointed to give that one up, but it might’ve just been a case of his timing not being as sharp as it usually would be after the time off.
There was some ire before the game restarted, and Toronto found themselves down a man for a fourth time. The penalty kill did its job, and the Marlies built some momentum at five-on-five with some offensive-zone possession.
One chance for Zach Solow was all Toronto had to show from their sustained pressure before a misplaced pass in the offensive zone proved costly.
San Jose seized on the turnover, and a bad read/gamble by Marshall Rifai turned a 3v2 into a 2v1, leading to a give-and-go between Ethan Cardwell and Pavol Regenda. The latter appeared to direct the puck into the net with a kicking motion, but after a lengthy review, the goal stood.
To cap off a terrible period, Toronto was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct and bench-minor penalty after the buzzer. Understandably, there was some frustration at the officials, but the Marlies allowed it to boil over.
Third Period
Toronto’s penalty kill didn’t give up a single shot, and the perfect momentum shift occurred 11 seconds later.
As the Marlies attempted to clear the blue line on a broken play, Mastrosimone seized on some indecision from San Jose and surged down the middle of the ice. As the last defender for San Jose backed off, Mastrosimone caught the goaltender off-guard with a skimming shot past his left pad.
It was game on, or at least it should have been, as Toronto began to exert real pressure.
90 seconds later, a point shot from Topi Niemelä resulted in a rebound, with the puck lying in the blue paint. Nobody wearing white reacted quickly enough, and Toronto appeared to freeze in the moment as San Jose orchestrated a breakaway.
Danil Gushchin hurtled in on Akhtyamov, but the goaltender produced a fantastic save. The rookie goaltender was hung out to dry again afterward as Topi Niemela flubbed a pass and turned it right back over to Tristen Robins, who fed it back to Gushchin for the finish. It was a dagger blow that the Marlies never fully recovered from.
Blandisi gave the Marlies some hope with a brilliant redirect from a Matt Benning point shot to halve the deficit with 13 minutes remaining.
As much as Toronto pushed for a tying goal, they left themselves exposed defensively and gave up several Grade-A chances to San Jose. Akhtyamov robbed Collin Grad from point-blank range, denied Cardwell on a partial breakaway, and made a second good save to deny the former.
Toronto drew back-to-back penalties, but the power play faltered when they needed it most. The best chance fell to Logan Shaw, who had some space in the left circle to glide into the slot, but the captain’s finish wasn’t clutch this time.
A scramble in the San Jose crease with 2:30 remaining proved to be Toronto’s last chance to tie the game. Nick Abruzzese couldn’t finish from close range, and the puck didn’t fall for anyone else in a white jersey.
San Jose secured victory with a comical empty-net goal. Graf skated the puck in unattended from his blue line following Niemelä’s misplay of a bouncing puck.
Post Game Notes
– Toronto was a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill, the only positive to take from the team’s performance. The Marlies have not allowed a goal on the penalty kill in 14 of 20 road games.
– After missing over two weeks due to injury, Artur Akhtyamov produced a promising performance even if his stats (.885 SV%) took another beating.
“I thought he made some big saves,” said Gruden. “He’d probably want that first one back. He kept us in it for a long period of time there when we didn’t have anything going.”
– With the greatest respect to Robert Mastrosimone, he’s not the type of player you want to be your standout performer on a nightly basis. In an otherwise tepid performance from several others, Mastrosimone excelled on the penalty kill and during five-on-five with his no-nonsense, hard-nosed, driving-the-net approach.
– If I were Gruden, would split up the Nick Abruzzese – Logan Shaw – Alex Nylander line to freshen things up. Shaw has struggled to score this season, Abruzzese continues to over-pass in looking for Shaw, and Nylander’s last few performances have been lifeless and without direction. Options are limited with the current reassignments, but throwing a Zach Solow or Mastrosimone onto the top line to give a different look in a Zach Hyman-type role feels like a viable option.
– Sunday’s lineup:
Forwards
Abruzzese – Shaw – Nylander
Hirvonen – Blandisi – Steeves
Barbolini – Paré – Tverberg
Mastrosimone – Solow
Defensemen
Webber – Benning
Rifai- Niemelä
Mermis – Kokkonen
Mattinen
Goaltenders
Akhtyamov
Peksa
