“What I like most about [the performance] is the way we played in the second and third periods. I think that should be our standard. You can see a different pace coming out after that first period, and we got the results to show for it. At the end of the day, you can’t control if you’re going to score, but you can control the way you play. If we play like that, nine out of 10 times, we’re going to give ourselves a really good chance to win.”
– John Gruden
Despite finishing the regular season with three consecutive wins, the Toronto Marlies missed out on an automatic playoff berth by a single point. But back-to-back wins this weekend against the division winners, Laval, should give the group confidence heading into the best-of-three series against Rochester, starting on Wednesday.
First Period
The Marlies got off to a hot start with a goal inside the opening minute. Dakota Mermis picked up possession in the defensive zone, surged up the ice, and crossed the blue line with a give-and-go courtesy of Luke Haymes. Mermis finished confidently past Hunter Shepard for his first goal of the season.
The Marlies should have been up 2-0 after another great scoring chance for a defenseman. Easton Cowan was the architect, but Marshall Rifai’s finish shot was stopped by Shepard.
Cowan was then targeted when Luke Tuch took the rookie forward down along the left with a slewfoot. With Cowan slammed to the ice, a huge scrum ensued, but the officials deemed the offense only worthy of a minor penalty. Thankfully, #53 was fine to continue after a dangerous-looking incident.
On the ensuing penalty, a mistake by Cowan proved costly. His attempted pass to William Villeneuve across the blue line was intercepted by Owen Beck, setting a 2v1 in motion. Vinzenz Rohrer led the odd-man rush and attempted to send a pass to Beck at the far post. Villeneuve took away the pass with his stick but was unfortunate to deflect the puck past Artur Akhtyamov.
The Marlies responded positively in a period chock-full of high-danger opportunities. Alex Nylander, Bo Groulx, and Haymes were unable to bury Grade-A chances. At the other end of the ice, Akhtyamov made five good saves to prevent a go-ahead tally for Laval as the teams were locked at 1-1 through 20 minutes.
Second Period
The shot total may have been even in the middle frame, but Toronto generated the high-danger chances while keeping Laval to the outside for the most part.
In another fast start to the period by the Marlies, Groulx teed up Logan Shaw inside 20 seconds, but Toronto’s captain couldn’t bury his first attempt or the rebound.
The Marlies deservedly took the lead just over a minute later thanks to a tidy finish. Vinni Lettieri ripped a one-timer from the left circle near side on Shepard after excellent build-up play courtesy of Ryan Tverberg and Matt Benning.
The Marlies squandered a whole series of Grade-A scoring chances to pad the lead through 40 minutes: Shaw fired wide from the high slot, Lettieri was stopped on a partial breakaway, Cowan looked to pass to Nylander on a 2v1 when shooting was the percentage call, and Cedric Paré somehow didn’t score from point-blank range.
The Marlies also frittered away a power play, but despite not scoring a second goal in the frame, the process and performance were otherwise where John Gruden wanted them.
Third Period
Both teams entered the final frame with a bit of an extra incentive for message-sending. Cleveland’s victory against Grand Rapids meant Toronto would face Laval in the second round should they defeat Rochester in a best-of-three play-in round.
Akhtyamov produced another quality save on Beck inside the opening five minutes, a pivotal moment in the game that allowed Toronto to surge out to a 3-1 lead. A point shot from Noah Chadwick resulted in a scramble out front, where Jacob Quillan seized control, rounded the net, and scored a wraparound goal with Shepard stranded.
It should have been 4-1 from the restart of play, but Paré squandered another chance from point-blank range.
With the teams likely to meet in the post-season next week (no disrespect to Rochester intended), the physicality ramped up to playoff levels. Noted shit-stirer Florian Xhekaj reverted to type and was assessed a pair of roughing penalties and a 10-minute misconduct, ending his participation in the game. Some credit should go to Tverberg, who eagerly engaged with Xhekaj despite the obvious physical mismatch.
Toronto’s power play was once again awful, although the second shorthanded goal they conceded was solely due to a goaltending error. Akhtyamov dithered in possession for too long behind the goal line, allowing Rohrer to strip him of the puck and set up Beck to score.
The Marlies did a pretty good job of limiting quality scoring chances until Shepard was pulled late in the frame. Rohrer found space behind the defense, but Akhtyamov made up for his earlier mistake with a great save.
Quillan’s work rate helped seal the deal, as his efforts helped force a turnover. Michael Pezzetta seized on it to score into the empty net after outmuscling a defender.
Vincent Arseneau took a run at Villeneuve as the final buzzer sounded, which the officials opted to ignore as he didn’t make full contact. A minor scrum ensued, but it dissipated quickly as cooler heads prevailed. There is no doubt that the physicality will ramp up considerably if these two teams meet at the end of the month.
Post Game Notes
– The Marlies finished the 2025-26 season with a record of 36-26-5-5, good enough for fourth in the North Division, one point behind third-place Cleveland.
– Ryan Tverberg capped off an excellent regular season with another pair of assists. He enters the playoffs on a three-game point streak (2G/3A).
– Flourishing on a lesser-experienced third line this weekend was Jacob Quillan, who played with Matthew Barbolini and Tverberg on either side of him, in what appears to be a Game 1 line for Gruden. Quillan is riding a six-game point streak (5G/2A) and finished the regular season almost back to the point-per-game form (36pts in 40 gms) he was in before he was dubiously managed by Craig Berube with the Leafs.
“Now, Quillan just has a different confidence level,” said Gruden. “He plays with a lot of pace.”
– The second goal aside, Artur Akhtyamov did nothing to harm his chances of making an appearance in the playoffs. He turned aside 32 of 34 shots and was a difference maker in the first period (stopped 14 of 15). He will be the understudy in the post-season, but goaltending should be a strength for the Marlies through the playoffs as the team looks confident in their netminders, regardless of who receives the start.
– Sunday’s lineup:
Forwards
Groulx – Shaw – Lettieri
Cowan – Haymes – Nylander
Barbolini – Quillan – Tverberg
Pezzetta – Paré – Johnstone
Defensemen
Rifai – Thrun
Mermis – Villeneuve
Chadwick – Benning
Goalies
Akhtyamov
Hildeby
