Toronto Marlies head coach John Gruden discusses his team’s 2-1 overtime victory over the WBS Penguins in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final.
On Michael Pezzetta scoring a game-winner in back-to-back games:
If you look at the playoffs for any team that continues to have success, the top lines neutralize themselves, and it is always someone stepping up on the third or fourth line. We don’t really have a one-through-four. We have four lines that can all play the game. We use all of them.
Again, the way they’ve been playing and setting the tone for our group… Good for him. He is a big part of why we are where we are right now. You probably wouldn’t bet that he would have the two game-winners, but I am glad he did. Good for him. He deserves it.
After review… IT'S A GOAL!
MARLIES WIN IT IN OVERTIME!!!! pic.twitter.com/mjblxJRXvA
— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) May 30, 2026
On the team’s overall performance in a tight-checking game:
It was probably one of the better games we’ve played. That just tells you how good this team is. As skilled as they are, they defend really well. They track. They’ve got some good players over on that team.
It was one of our better games, I thought. Over 60 minutes, we did a lot of good things. We were better tonight than we were in Game 1.
Hey, anything can happen, and there are a lot of deciding factors, but I just like the way we played. It was good to get out of there with the W, for sure.
On whether the Marlies limited the Penguins’ transition opportunities effectively:
That was a huge part of it. They’re a dangerous team, and if you give them turnovers through the middle of the ice, they will make you pay. I thought we neutralized them a little bit better in this game.
We didn’t give up as many grade-A chances. But they come, and they have some guys who can make plays over there. They’re a highly skilled team, but I thought we did a really good job of bottling up the neutral zone to slow them down in their transition game.
We have to bottle up a lot of what we did there and use it. We have to realize that, at the end of the day, it will still be a grind. We don’t expect anything else. We know how good this team is. But I think we did a lot of good things that we can show regarding how we had success tonight. That will be important.
There isn’t a bigger game than Game 3. They always say that whoever wins Game 3 wins the series a lot of the time. We know that. We will be ready for it. We’ll be excited for it.
On surviving the early push in overtime:
Once they scored the 1-1 goal, I thought we played really well in the third. Their goalie made some really good saves. But they definitely had a push, especially with the change being like the second-period change. They got some momentum there, but I thought we did a good job of bending but not breaking and still not giving up any breakaways or anything like that.
We got our game back in the last five or six minutes before the goal went in. We started to get to our game again. We were evening it out.
It was a good hockey game.
On the message during OT:
The message was to get back to what gave us success. It is a long game. Teams will have their pushes, especially a team with as many dangerous players as they do. I thought we managed it pretty well and got it back there in the last six minutes. We were carrying the play.
In the playoffs, you just never know how goals will go in. That was good to see.
On Easton Cowan’s status:
He had an upper-body (injury). He has been dealing with something. It is a maintenance thing.
Again, we just want to make sure that he is healthy, number one, and is okay moving forward. If it is something that is minor, he’ll take care of it. When he is ready, he is ready. If he is not, he won’t go until he is.
On leaving Wilkes-Barre with a 2-0 series lead:
It’s important. Now, we get three at home. We have to take care of business and continue to do what we did in Game 2.
We should be excited. No one will go away easily. We know it will be hard. We will embrace that challenge, move forward, and look forward to Monday night.
