“We had our chances. [Jacob] Fowler made some big saves. At the end of the day, it’s definitely exciting for our group to know that we can play with one of the league’s best. I think [Laval] is an elite team in this league.”
– John Gruden
A little more finish offensively or a little less carelessness in the defensive zone would have allowed the Toronto Marlies to collect two points against the Laval Rocket on Saturday. That said, picking up a point after spotting the North Division leaders a 2-0 lead after 35 minutes is a positive result and highlights the group’s resilience. With the 3-2 overtime loss, the Marlies extended their points streak to six games (3-0-3).
First Period
Laval, a high-pressure team that excels at forcing mistakes on their opposition’s half of the ice, created a turnover by Logan Shaw in the opening seconds. It led to a 40-second push in the Toronto zone, but the Marlies survived the pressure.
In fact, Toronto bounced back from the stuttering start, winning every shift for the next four minutes. The one high-danger chance fell to Marc Johnstone, but the fourth-line forward couldn’t get the puck past Jacob Fowler.
The momentum swung again on another mistake by Shaw. This time, Dennis Hildeby produced a sharp save on Alex Belzile’s low shot in the slot.
The game meandered to the midway point of the period, although Bo Groulx and Shaw had chances from promising positions.
The action exploded after Dakota Mermis delivered a crushing hit on Owen Beck. The Laval forward had his head down and was fair game for a legal hit, although Laval did not take it lying down. Jared Davidson invited Mermis to drop the gloves and probably regretted the decision after three heavy punches from the Marlies defenseman sent him crashing to the ice.
With Davidson correctly awarded two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, Toronto headed to the power play. It was nothing short of a disaster, as the Marlies couldn’t cope with the Rocket’s aggressive penalty kill. The five-forward first unit could barely string a pass together.
Less than a minute after their kill, Laval took the lead. At the Marlies blue line, Belzile cut inside Reese Johnson and Johnstone before picking out Adam Engström. The latter cut across Henry Thrun in the high slot and scored with a shot against the grain that grazed the iron on its way past Hildeby.
The Marlies made life difficult on themselves by taking consecutive slashing penalties to finish the period. Joshua Roy struck the iron on the Rocket’s second power play as Toronto stumbled into the intermission down by one.
Second Period
After killing off the remainder of the second penalty, the Marlies took the game to the Rocket. Johnstone fired high on a partial breakaway after good work through the neutral zone by the fourth line, and Luke Haymes led a pair of 2v1 situations, but neither resulted in a shot on net. The Marlies then generated a 3v1 situation; Groulx chose to shoot, but Fowler made a comfortable save and directed the puck to safety.
Laval took a ridiculous penalty seconds later, but it mattered not. It was another horrific power-play effort in which the Marlies were fortunate not to concede a shorthanded goal following a misplay by Shaw and a miscommunication with Travis Boyd. Hildeby flashed the leather to rob Florian Xhekaj on the breakaway opportunity.
The Marlies then found more penalty trouble. A minor infraction followed by a double minor by Paré took all of the wind out of the Marlies’ sails. Toronto killed off all the penalties, but within 12 seconds of returning to even strength, Laval doubled its lead.
The Marlies lost a defensive-zone draw cleanly, allowing William Trudeau to fire a speculative shot from the left point. After hitting a body or two in front, the puck fell to Vincent Arseneau to finish off.
The Marlies needed a spark to get back into the game, and one arrived from the bottom six inside the final three minutes of the frame. Consecutive dominant shifts from the fourth line hemmed Laval in the defensive zone, building some momentum for Toronto. On the second shift, the Marlies changed on the fly before Ryan Tverberg drew a penalty while driving the net.
Despite his diminutive frame, Tverberg continued to cause Laval problems in the crease as the Marlies moved the puck around seeking a shooting lane with the extra attacker. Noah Chadwick took it upon himself to unload a one-time blast from the top of the circles, but the shot was blocked. The puck deflected down low in the right circle to Ryan Kirwan, where the rookie forward beat Fowler with a great shot from an acute angle.
Third Period
The Marlies nearly threw away their chance of a comeback in the opening seven or eight minutes of the final frame. Sloppiness on both sides of the puck created opportunities for Laval, who were cursing their inability to put the game to bed. Hildeby produced another key save on Luke Tuch during a 3v2 opportunity.
In the following four minutes, the Marlies generated four Grade-A scoring chances but finished none: Luke Haymes couldn’t beat a sprawling Fowler with a shot from the right circle; on a breakaway, Shaw was stopped and couldn’t bury the easier rebound opportunity; Tverberg — the Marlies’ sparkplug in this game — blocked a shot in the defensive zone, surged down the right side, pulled up, and found Paré on the opposite wing, but the finish didn’t match the build-up, as Paré’s shot found the mesh of Fowler’s glove.
The Marlies didn’t record a shot for over five minutes before pulling Hildeby with 1:28 remaining. Toronto’s strong forecheck and relentless puck pursuit paid dividends. From a few feet above the left circle, Chadwick sent a skimming shot toward the crowd in front of Fowler. The puck took at least one deflection before finding the netminder’s five-hole to draw the game level at 2-2.
Overtime
The extra frame was a disaster from the Marlies’ perspective — easily one of their worst overtime showings of the season. The combinations put together by the coaching team didn’t make much sense, and Laval dominated the run of play. Laurent Dauphin clinched the point for the Rocket with a breakaway goal, leaving the Marlies to wonder what could have been.
Post Game Notes
– Noah Chadwick stepped up offensively with a two-point (1G/1A) game, his third multi-point haul in the last eight games, taking his point tally to 13 in 42 games this season (3G/10A).
“[Chadwick] doesn’t seem to get too rattled about anything,” said Gruden. “He’s made some mistakes, as a young player would, but he seems to just go about his business and learns from them. I like his demeanour. He doesn’t get too high or too low. He stays even-keeled, and for him to score a big goal like that in a huge moment is big for his confidence.”
– Ryan Kirwan scores his first AHL goal in his fifth career game. He’s a shoot-first player, and playing on a line with Ryan Tverberg proved to be a fit. Sliding him onto a line with a more creative centerman might be an interesting option at some point; perhaps Luke Haymes, when Jacob Quillan returns? The coaching staff has already deployed Kirwan on PP2, and I would like to see him utilize his shot more with the extra skater.
“[Kirwan] has one of the best releases I’ve seen in a long time,” said Gruden. “Once he gets more confident and up to speed, you can see why he is here.”
– This was a solid outing from Dennis Hildeby after a couple of weeks with no game action. He may feel he could have challenged Dauphin more on the game winner, but that’s nitpicking, considering how many big saves he produced when the game was on the line in regulation.
“[Hildeby] looks really good,” said Gruden. “I think it gives our group a lot of confidence, with the way he is poised in net, square, and makes some saves you don’t expect someone to make. He looks sharp. He’s a really good goalie and a competitor.”
– Saturday’s lineup:
Forwards
Groulx – Shaw – Lettieri
Barbolini – Haymes – Boyd
Kirwan – Paré – Tverberg
Johnson – Stevens – Johnstone
Defensemen
Thrun – Chadwick
Smith – Benning
Mermis – Villeneuve
Goaltenders
Hildeby
Akhtyamov
