Some credit must be given to Belleville for a solid performance. That said, many of the Toronto Marlies’ issues in this 4-2 loss were self-inficted.
Still, the Senators were clinical on their scoring opportunities and hungrier on both sides of the puck.
“I think I had 4-5 chances in front of the net myself and missed on three of them. I have to bury those in the next game. The positive is that it’s early [in the season], and we are getting those chances.”
– Alex Nylander
“I thought it was even in terms of offensive zone time, but we had a lot of breakdowns. We fed into their [Belleville’s] transition [game]. We lost because at 5v5, we gave them too much. We gave them too many easy goals, and we have to clean that up.”
– John Gruden
First Period
Bo Groulx drew a tripping penalty inside two minutes in what looked to be a positive start for the Marlies, but the resulting power play lacked fluency and didn’t record a shot on goal.
Belleville broke the deadlock at the eight-minute mark with a speculative effort. Carter Yakemchuk drove through the right circle and shot low from an acute angle. The puck took a slight deflection off a skate in front, but it’s one Artur Akhtyamov would want back.
Toronto responded positively by generating two Grade-A scoring chances. From the restart, Luke Haymes teed up Travis Boyd in the slot, but veteran forward couldn’t solve Hunter Shepard. Vinni Lettieri also didn’t bury a similar type of chance as the two-time Calder Cup-winning goaltender kept the Marlies at bay.
Akhtyamov made an important save in between times to turn aside Wyatt Bongiovanni and keep the deficit at one.
Michael Pezzetta and Landon Sim generated two separate chances for Ryan Tverberg in the second half of the frame as the fourth line proved a bright spot for the Marlies. Shepard was equal to both efforts from Tverberg, much to the 23-year-old’s frustration.
Toronto’s frailties defensively led to a 2-0 hole with 2:15 remaining. After the Marlies were given the runaround in their own zone, Keean Washkurak’s tip on a point shot from Jorian Donovan doubled the Senators’ lead.
It could and should have been worse 45 seconds later. Another defensive breakdown resulted in a 3-on-2 for Belleville, which the Senators played perfectly. Arthur Kaliyev looked certain to score until Akhtyamov produced an acrobatic blocker save.
Second Period
An early push would have been the message in the locker room, and a Toronto goal should have transpired 30 seconds into the middle frame. Logan Shaw created a turnover, but Travis Boyd whistled his effort wide from the hashmarks with only Shepard to beat.
As Gruden alluded to in the post-game presser, Belleville got inside Toronto far too easily in this game and should have restored their two-goal lead a minute later. Akhtyamov was forced into a sharp double save on Kaliyev and Xavier Bourgault.
Tverberg, Nylander, Shaw, and Groulx will all feel they should have scored, as Toronto continued to frustrate themselves with poor finishing.
After excellent work from Jacob Quillan, Nylander was in alone on Shepard. Opting for a move across the crease, the Swedish forward lost the handle at the critical moment and another high-quality scoring chance evaporated.
At the other end, Akhtyamov delivered another stunning save to rob Keean Washkurak, although it proved a short-lived reprieve as Toronto imploded in the defensive zone. Philippe Daoust‘s cross-slot feed from the right wing found goal-scorer Oskar Pettersson on his lonesome, with Henry Thrun lost on the play.
Toronto responded 79 seconds later when Nylander tipped home a point shot from Matt Benning. The veteran defenseman owns a heavy shot and should be encouraged to use it more often.
Instead of galvanizing the home team, the Marlies‘ goal had the opposite effect as Belleville attacked in waves and Toronto completely collapsed. Yakemchuk and Kaliyev forced Akhtyamov into excellent saves, while the latter also ripped a shot off the crossbar. With the Marlies swimming around aimlessly, a fourth Belleville goal was inevitable.
It was another moment to forget for Thrun as Garrett Pilon rounded the defenseman before sending a pass to the far post, where Hayden Hodgson gained inside positioning and finished off the move.
Third Period
Toronto registered two shots in 13 minutes, and thus, a comeback was never in the cards.
The final frame was marred by a serious injury to Landon Sim. The rookie was involved in a mid-ice collision and fell awkwardly over an opponent. Left prone on the ice in obvious pain, Sim was forced to crawl to the bench on all fours from the opposite side of the ice, with the officials refusing to halt the play.
The resulting mixing of the lines eventually helped Toronto carry the majority of the play throughout the final seven minutes. The caveat is that the Senators were sitting back on a substantial lead.
Nylander scored a second goal inside the final minute — it initially looked as if Lettieri applied the final touch — as Toronto jammed the puck over the goal line during a melee in the crease. It was nothing more than a consolation prize as Toronto incurred its first loss on home ice this season.
Post Game Notes
– Henry Thrun’s performance was below par, to say the least. There’s an argument to be made for giving him a reset in the form of a game off.
– The insistence on playing Cedric Paré in the top six to start this season is a head-scratching decision. He has a single point through four games, with offensive plays often dying on his stick. His use on the power play is equally confusing, but it’s early in the season, so we’ll see how everything shakes out.
I would swap Paré out with Ryan Tverberg, who continues to enjoy a bright start to the campaign in a bottom-six role. With the lines mixed late in the game, Tverberg flourished alongside more offensively gifted linemates (If you’d like some insight into Tverberg, I wrote on his important 2025-26 season in a piece last week).
– Two goals for Alex Nylander, but I didn’t love his overall performance. All too often, he skated into trouble or looked for low-percentage plays instead of getting pucks to the net. Even more frustrating was his lack of physicality until he was high-sticked in the third period (missed by the officials). Clearly pissed off by the situation, Nylander delivered a couple of big hits that left me wishing he could bring that level of intensity regularly.
– This defeat doesn’t lie at the feet of Artur Akhtyamov. He should have done better with the first goal, but otherwise, he did everything in his power to keep Toronto competitive in the game.
– Jacob Quillan registered an assist to remain at a point-per-game pace (5A) through five outings. He continues to be highly effective for the Marlies even when the team isn’t firing on all cylinders.
– The outlook for Landom Sim appears grim, albeit with no official updates yet. It looked like a right knee injury. He had to be helped down the tunnel after scrambling to the bench.
– Injury updates:
- Matthew Barbolini: upper body, day-to-day
- Marc Johnstone: upper body, day-to-day
- David Kämpf: lower body, day-to-day
- Sam Stevens: upper body, week-to-week
– Saturday’s lineup:
Forwards
Paré – Groulx – Lettieri
Boyd – Haymes – Shaw
Nylander – Quillan – Valis
Pezzetta – Tverberg – Sim
Defensemen
Webber – Thrun
Chadwick – Benning
Smith – Villeneuve
Goaltenders
Akhtyamov
Peksa
