“I thought we played two really good periods, but you just can’t afford to give up a lead to a team that is that quick and talented. Good on our guys coming back. No excuses [for the first period performance], but our guys should be proud of the way they battled back for the [last] two periods.”
– John Gruden
With all due respect to a talented Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins team, the Toronto Marlies made it too easy on them to start this game. The Marlies didn’t match the Penguins’ pace or intensity in a woeful first period that left them in a three-goal hole, too tall an order to overcome.
First Period
Against the run of play, the Marlies should have opened the scoring inside four minutes. Off a turnover, Ryan Tverberg generated a breakaway for Logan Shaw, whose backhand attempt was stopped. On the same shift, Tverberg turned provider for Luke Haymes, who fanned on his shot from the slot.
After Henry Thrun headed to the box for tripping, the Penguins scored 40 seconds into their first power play. The Marlies penalty kill has been exceptional, but it got caught on an overload on the right side this time, as WBS switched the puck quickly to the opposite circle for Avery Hayes to score his 20th goal of the season.
It was one-way traffic from that moment on, as the Marlies ran into turnover issues. It was just a matter of how many times the Penguins could seize on Toronto’s mistakes. Dennis Hildeby rejected Owen Pickering, Atley Calvert, and Phil Kemp on high-danger chances as the Marlies netminder prevented the first period from turning into a WBS runaway.
On a rare offensive foray, William Villenueve pinched in deep but had support in place with numbers back when the Penguins transitioned the other way. However, the Marlies weren’t organized in their defensive sort-outs. Hildeby stopped Hayes on the initial shot, but he couldn’t do much about a wide-open Rafaël Harvey-Pinard scoring on the rebound.
Sloppy changes and a failure to get the puck in deep enough were pain points for the Marlies in the opening frame, and it eventually came back to haunt them when Aidan McDonough was afforded time and space down the left wing. After skating into the left circle, McDonough ripped one off the far post and in past Hildeby.
The Marlies’ first meaningful attack since the early chances for Shaw and Haymes resulted in a drawn penalty, but Toronto couldn’t convert on the power play late in the frame to reduce the deficit.
Second Period
The Marlies got off to a bright start in the middle frame, putting the Penguins on the back foot. They did dodge an early bullet when a misplay by Hildeby gifted a great chance to McGroarty, but the netminder recovered to make a great save.
That might have been the turning point if Toronto had capitalized 30 seconds later. Haymes sent Borya Valis in alone on goal, but again, the Marlies didn’t bear down in a 1v1 situation against Joel Blomqvist.
The game appeared to be done and dusted when WBS scored a fourth goal at the eight-minute mark. Shaw bungled a zone clearance before a nothing play led to a fourth WBS goal. Finn Harding threw the puck toward the net from the right wall, which deflected and generated a rebound off the pads of Hildeby. Noah Chadwick couldn’t grab the stick of Harvey-Pinard in time, and Harvey-Pinard buried the loose puck at the top of the crease.
The Marlies’ response was excellent, as the ‘new guy line’ scored inside 60 seconds of the fourth Penguins goal. Ryan Kirwan advanced the puck to Ben King at the red line, where the latter picked his head up to find Brandon Buhr streaking down the left wing. King’s pass was perfect, allowing Buhr to take the feed in stride and cut inside of the last defender. Blomqvist denied Buhr a first professional goal, but King followed up on the play for an easy tap-in.
The same line almost combined again to good effect later in the frame. This time, Buhr turned provider, but Kirwan fanned on his one-timer low in the right circle.
High-danger chances were at a premium until the dying seconds of the period, when the Marlies had a chance to halve the deficit. Nylander teed up Shaw for a trademark one-timer in the left circle. The Marlies’ captain didn’t get all of his shot, allowing Blomqvist the time to slide across to his right.
Third Period
The Marlies dominated possession and offensive-zone time in the third period, but WBS did not give up many high-danger chances. At the five-minute mark, amid a spell of Toronto pressure, a series of point shots by Chadwick were either deflected wide or blocked in front. When the puck fell kindly for Borya Valis, his shot on the spin from the hashmarks didn’t cause the goalie much trouble.
Spells of incessant pressure resulted in a Toronto power play, though, and the Marlies found a second goal at the midway mark. After Nylander’s far-paid shot from the right circle produced a juicy rebound, the puck deflected off Kemp’s skate and into the net.
The home fans began to believe a comeback was in the cards after the first line scored out of nothing with six minutes remaining. Shaw chased down a dump-in by Tverberg and stripped possession from Harding before Tverberg took control, held off Aaron Huglen, and sent a cross-slot feed for Nylander to finish off at the far post.
The Marlies threw the proverbial kitchen sink at the Penguins, but they could not find one more offensive breakthrough. Blomqvist turned aside shots from Thrun and Valis but saved his best work for Shaw inside the final 30 seconds.
As valiantly as the Marlies fought back, a shaky first-period performance ultimately cost them two points and the chance to leapfrog Cleveland in the standings.
Post Game Notes
– With 10 games remaining, the Marlies are a point behind the Cleveland Monsters, who occupy third spot and the last automatic playoff berth. The Marlies’ magic number to ensure playoff qualification is two, but the focus is on overtaking Cleveland down the stretch.
– Alex Nylander remains in white-hot offensive form, even if his two goals were ultimately for naught in this outing. The winger has 14 points (7G/7A) in his last six games.
“We know [Nylander] can score and do those types of things, but can he forecheck, get on top of people, and create turnovers?” said Gruden. “I think he has been working on that. You saw it. You saw it on the second power-play goal. When he is going, he’s feeling it.”
– Ryan Tverberg extended his point streak to three games (2G/2A) with an assist on Nylander’s second goal. Logan Shaw’s streak is now at four games (4G/4A) with an assist on the same goal.
– This was a much-improved second AHL game from college UDFA signing Brandon Buhr on a line that I didn’t initially expect much from. Ryan Kirwan (eight AHL games) and Ben King (12 games for Toronto) weren’t natural complements in terms of experience, but the trio clicked and found some chemistry in the middle frame. Buhr was much more direct in his offensive play, which is a feature of his game, according to the scouting reports.
– Luke Haymes reached the 30-point mark with an assist on the power-play tally. He now has 20 points (13G/7A) in 31 games in 2026.
– Sunday’s lineup:
Forwards
Nylander – Shaw – Tverberg
Kirwan – Haymes – Valis
Sim – Paré – Buhr
Baddock – Johnstone – King
Defensemen
Mermis – Villenueve
Thrun – Sharpe
Smith – Chadwick
Goalies
Hildeby
Akhtyamov
