After twice falling behind by three goals in Friday evening’s season opener in Rochester, a sharp goaltending performance from Dennis Hildeby ensured the Toronto Marlies didn’t suffer the same fate in their home-opening rematch against the Amerks.
Once they broke the deadlock, the Marlies didn’t look back and were good value for the victory and the two-game split across the weekend.
“He was our best player tonight for sure. I think as a team we came out a little slow in the first period. He kept us in it; we could easily have been down a few.”
– Travis Boyd on the performance of Dennis Hildeby
“We had that bend, don’t break mentality. Dennis made some really big saves, and we started to get some momentum in the second period. I liked the result, but we definitely have some room for improvement for sure.”
– John Gruden
First Period
From Toronto’s perspective, the first period was a complete mess in terms of competitiveness and structure. The only saving grace was that Dennis Hildeby stepped up to the plate and kept a frustrated Rochester team off the board.
At no point did Toronto establish a solid forecheck; they turned over pucks with frequency inside the red line, and offensive-zone entries for Rochester went unimpeded. At times, it appeared as if the Amerks were on the power play, such was their zone domination.
Hildeby had to be on his mettle from the get-go, producing his best save of the period 64 seconds in to deny Riley Fiddler-Schultz. He also turned aside Grade-A scoring chances for Jagger Joshua and Noah Östlund, posting a total of 17 saves through the opening frame. Hildeby did an excellent job of either holding onto shots to quell periods of pressure or turning pucks away from danger, denying any second opportunities of note.
Toronto almost stole an undeserved lead at the midway mark. Matt Benning and Reese Johnson created a breakaway with tape-to-tape passes; Ryan Tverberg was the recipient of the excellent build-up play, but his shot struck the crossbar after he fooled the netminder with a nice move.
Second Period
The middle frame wasn’t much better to begin with, although the Marlies were more of an offensive threat, albeit in a rope-a-dope style.
A pair of 2v1 opportunities weren’t capitalized on as Luke Haymes forced a blocker save out of Topias Leinonen, and Marc Johnstone’s poor pass gave Tverberg no chance of making amends for his earlier narrow miss.
In between times, Hildeby continued to hold down the fort. After a sharp stop to deny Trevor Kuntar, the netminder produced a sliding left pad save to rob Nikita Novikov as Rochester attacked in waves.
A rugby tackle from Cade Webber after he put himself in trouble gave Rochester the first chance with the man advantage. An interference call on the Amerks levelled out proceedings for 44 seconds, leading to a shortened, but eventful, power play for Toronto.
On three separate occasions, the Marlies almost coughed up a breakaway with bungled attempts at offensive-zone entries before William Villeneuve showed some poise to keep the puck alive at the Rochester blue line. The defenseman offloaded possession to Logan Shaw in space on the left side, where the captain delivered a touch of class. An inch-perfect feed from Shaw meant Travis Boyd only needed to open the face of his stick blade to redirect the puck into the net for a debut goal.
The switch had now been flipped, and Toronto was dominant for the final five minutes of the period. Haymes and Matthew Barbolini combined to good effect, but neither took the shot and passed the chance away. Jacob Quillan teed up Alex Nylander for what appeared to be a tap-in, only for the Swedish forward to flub his effort wide.
Toronto delivered the dagger of a second goal with 13 seconds remaining in the second period. Bo Groulx hunted down a dump-in from Boyd and outworked Zach Metsa to win possession. From behind the goal line, Groulx saw off the attention of Jake Leschyshyn to deliver a perfectly-weighted forehand pass through the hash marks. Boyd leaned into the shot with such venom that he lifted himself off his skates. Leinonen was beaten cleanly, and thanks to 28 saves from Hildeby, Toronto took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
Third Period
The Marlies reserved their best for the third period and never looked in real danger of relinquishing the lead.
They were unable to double their power-play tally despite a stronger effort with the extra skater.
Groulx was turned aside on a breakaway, and Quillan suffered a similar fate on a lone drive to the net as Leinonen produced a solid double save. Nylander jammed at the puck long after it was covered by the Amerks’ netminder, and the officials punished him for it.
The resulting Rochester power play spoiled Hildeby’s shutout attempt. An initial save on Isak Rosén’s shot saw the puck jam up against the post with Hildeby oblivious to the situation. Leschyshyn reacted quickest of any skater to snatch possession and score into the yawning cage.
With a little under nine minutes remaining, there was plenty of time for Rochester to mount a comeback. Toronto had other ideas and quashed any momentum by striking 17 seconds after the restart of play.
The eventual goalscorer created a turnover at the Amerks’ blue line, allowing Quillan to drive to the net. The latter’s wrist shot was saved, but the rebound fell to Barbolini. The Amerks defenders around the net were drawn to Barbolini, leaving Tverberg uncovered at the far post. Barbolini had his head up and found Tverberg with a reverse pass for the 3-1 insurance tally.
Toronto shut the game down with some excellent game management, as Hildeby faced only a single shot before Rochester opted for the extra attacker with three minutes remaining. Shaw sealed the deal with an empty-net tally to send the crowd home happy and etch Toronto’s first mark in the win column this season.
Post Game Notes
– It is an important season for Dennis Hildeby in terms of his development and role within the organization. He stopped 32 of 33 shots in a performance that will inspire confidence. The Swedish netminder featured in just five AHL games (+1 NHL game) through October and November last season, and the lack of ice time hindered him throughout the campaign.
“He looks composed and very comfortable in the net,” said Gruden. “It comes over time with experience. He looked poised. Sometimes, when Dennis got into a little bit of trouble early, he looked a little busy in net. I think he has really quieted his game down. I liked his rebound control and his overall consistency. He practices like that all the time.”
– Travis Boyd is as proven as they come at the AHL level, so it’s no surprise that he scored twice in his season debut. He’s never posted a shooting percentage under 10 through his career and is generally around the 15% mark. He brought a different dynamic to the top line alongside Bo Groulx, who was much improved over Friday evening.
– It’s only two games, but David Kämpf has struggled to make an impact offensively at the AHL level. He has proven somewhat of a blackhole in that regard, with many promising moves dying on his stick over the weekend. He’s also taking up a veteran spot, which limits the options for John Gruden. It’ll be interesting to see how Kämpf is used next weekend.
– Captain Logan Shaw took a downturn offensively last season, and I wondered how he would respond this year. He has two goals (1EN) and an assist through the opening two games. Similar to Groulx, he took a step forward in this game over Friday’s performance.
– The most consistent and offensively threatening Marlies player across the weekend was Jacob Quillan. With some puck luck and better finishing from himself and teammates, he could easily be sitting with half a dozen points already. That said, he still produced three assists across the two games.
– I try not to play favourites in this space, but Ryan Tverberg is a player I’m fond of after his rookie season, and you have to love an underdog story. After a tough 2024-25 campaign, Tverberg needs a bounce-back campaign. He got off to a good start with a promising performance on Saturday, showing the tenacity and work rate associated with his rookie season. He didn’t allow the disappointment of the first period breakaway near-miss to affect him, and if anything, it sparked him to work harder. His initial work on the play that led to his goal sums up everything good about his game.
– On a much-changed blue line from Friday, Chas Sharpe produced a promising season debut performance at both ends of the ice. His defensive game was solid enough on the bottom pairing, and it’ll be interesting to see whether he’s done enough in the eyes of management to stick around with the Marlies.
– On that note, Ken Appleby and Braeden Kressler have been assigned to the Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL).
– Saturday’s lineup:
Forwards
Groulx – Kämpf – Boyd
Barbolini – Haymes – Shaw
Valis – Quillan – Nylander
Johnson – Johnstone – Tverberg
Defensemen
Thrun – Villeneuve
Smith – Benning
Webber – Sharpe
Goaltenders
Hildeby
Akhtyamov
