“The first 20 minutes are as good as we could have played. The only thing is we didn’t get a goal. I think we needed to get that first one to let a little of the pressure off. We turned a couple of pucks over there in the second early, and we got away from what was working. It just snowballed. We’ve got to learn, and we’ve got to learn quicker.”
– John Gruden
“It just goes back to our consistency. Tied game against the best team in the league, sitting in a good spot, and not taking our foot off the gas. I feel like in the second period we did that. We sat back from our structure and our work ethic. Guys are working, but just maybe not working as smart as we should.”
– Logan Shaw
A palpably frustrated Logan Shaw was left ruing the performance of his team after a promising first-period display preceded four unanswered goals by Grand Rapids in a 4-2 defeat for the Toronto Marlies. The lack of consistency from period to period has to be eating away at the Marlies‘ coaching staff and player group at this point.
First Period
As John Gruden alluded to, Grand Rapids is such a strong frontrunning team that scoring first against them is imperative. The Marlies had chances to break the deadlock but couldn’t convert.
Arguably, the best opportunity fell to Vinni Lettieri with 70 seconds played. After a fortuitous rebound off the backboards fell to him at the side of the net, it wasn’t the best finishing attempt you’ll see, but it was a decent save by Dustin Tokarski. Other high-quality chances fell the way of Logan Shaw, Luke Haymes, Matt Benning, and Henry Thrun without a breakthrough.
Making his Toronto Marlies debut, veteran netminder Ken Appleby produced a pair of sharp saves on Tyler Angle and Nolan Moyle. Toronto also killed off the only penalty of the game and outshot the Griffins 12-3 through 20 minutes.
Second Period
Grand Rapids’ success this season is built on grinding teams down with a relentless offensive-zone cycle and clogging up the neutral zone. It’s a winning recipe, especially in the middle frame with the long change. Toronto fell into that hole in the second period and couldn’t work its way out of it.
The Marlies weren’t working smart enough, as Shaw said in his post-game comments. Too many giveaways and icings led to relentless pressure and the opening goal against at the six-minute mark. After a lost board battle in the right corner of Toronto’s zone, Carson Bantle rifled home from the left circle on a feed from Alex Doucet.
It took the Griffins just 41 seconds to double the lead. A low point shot from Antti Tuomisto found its way past Appleby, who got a piece of it, but it’s one the veteran netminder would likely want back.
Toronto generated one scoring chance of note: Thrun was the trailer on the play created by the top line, but he couldn’t beat Tokarski from the hashmarks. The Marlies did draw a penalty in the process, although the effort was toothless with the extra skater.
At the tail end of the power play, Grand Rapids sprung a partial breakaway, and Luke Haymes took a tripping penalty when scrambling to break up the play.
Third Period
The result was put beyond any doubt 10 seconds into the third period. John Prokop mishandled a dump-in, handing possession to Jakub Rychlovský, who teed up Eduards Tralmaks for a tap-in.
Dominik Shine netted a power-play goal with 12 minutes remaining, and the only question left was whether Tokarski could register a shutout. The answer was no.
After Jacob Quillan drew a penalty, a second infraction resulted in a 5-on-3 during which Bo Groulx fired home his eighth of the season.
There was no quit from Quillan, whose speed down the left wing and cross-slot pass set up Shaw for a 6v5 goal. It was far too little, too late, though, and gave the scoreline a flattering look from the Toronto perspective.
Post Game Notes
– The Marlies fell to 10-11-2 this season and now occupy fifth place in the North Division. Life doesn’t get any easier with two upcoming road games in Laval (leading the North) before Cleveland (Toronto’s kryptonite) visits Coca-Cola Coliseum on Sunday.
– After six weeks on the sidelines with a suspected knee injury, Landon Sim returned to action. Other injury updates:
- Travis Boyd: lower body, day-to-day
- Cédric Paré: illness, day-to-day
- Chas Sharpe: upper body, day-to-day
- Borya Valis: lower body, day-to-day
- William Villeneuve: illness, week-to-week
– Sunday’s lineup:
Forwards
Groulx – Shaw – Lettieri
Haymes- Quillan – Nylander
Barbolini – Tverberg – Sim
Pezzetta – Johnstone – Johnson
Defensemen
Webber- Benning
Prokop – Thrun
Smith – Chadwick
Goaltenders
Appleby
Peksa
