“We played a lot smarter, stayed above them a lot more, and were able to shut a lot more things down against them.”
– Ryan Tverberg
“Right out of the gate, the hustle was there. A big goal by Ryyno (Ryan Tverberg) — that line was awesome. The Beast (Dennis Hildeby) was phenomenal.”
– Vinni Lettieri
“We don’t quit. We never quit. We had a bad game; I wouldn’t say we didn’t work hard in Rochester. We came back, and that first period is one of our best periods all year. We didn’t really get away from our game at all.”
– Logan Shaw
The Toronto Marlies responded to their Game 2 dud in Rochester with an excellent performance with their season on the line. Often, teams are tentative and nervous during elimination games, but that wasn’t the case for the Marlies after they scored a critical early goal to settle any early butterflies in the stomach.
Inserted into the line after sitting on the bench for Games 1 and 2, Dennis Hildeby delivered a mature performance, including one spectacular save late, to help the Marlies move on to the second round.
First Period
Both teams got off to a sloppy start, with three icings between them in the opening 80 seconds. The Marlies gathered their composure the quickest and scored the vital first goal with 2:12 off the clock.
Henry Thrun sent a flipped backhand clearance from his own zone into the neutral zone, where Ryan Johnson misjudged the bounce. The alert Ryan Tverberg seized on it, creating an odd-man rush. With the pass taken away, Tverberg — who has certainly been that guy in big moments for the Marlies this season — snuck a low shot by Devon Levi after initially losing the handle.
The Marlies dominated the first half of the frame and should have padded their lead, generating five grade-A opportunities. Bo Groulx was twice stopped by Levi on the same play, and Cedric Paré didn’t bury three chances inside the dots.
The Marlies found themselves on the penalty kill after Vsevolod Komarov grabbed hold of Michael Pezzetta’s stick and embellished a hooking penalty. Rochester’s dangerous power play went for the jugular with the extra skater, running Hildeby at every opportunity. Given no help from the officials, the big Swede stood tall, and the Marlies’ penalty killers attempted to respond physically without giving the officials another chance to send them to the box.
Despite killing the penalty, the momentum now favoured Rochester, who enjoyed more puck possession and offensive-zone time. Hildeby remained steadfast, making three saves and giving up nothing in terms of second opportunities.
The Marlies spurned an extended 5-on-3 power play late in the frame, unable to score almost two full minutes with the two-man advantage. More brilliance from Tverberg, and then Shaw making a nuisance of himself, created the opportunity, but the Marlies were indecisive and didn’t capitalize.
Second Period
With the game firmly in the balance, Hildeby produced a good early save on Riley Fiddler-Schultz. It was a key turning point as Toronto surged into a 2-0 lead at the five-minute mark.
Dakota Mermis was the unlikely architect offensively, winning a battle in the neutral zone and working his way past two defenders to set up a cycle in the offensive zone while the Marlies orchestrated a line change. The result was Logan Shaw scoring from the slot on a feed from below the goal line via Vinni Lettieri.
The Marlies appeared to be in total control and should have struck for a third time at the eight-minute mark. Toronto’s captain, who led from the front with his Game 3 performance, turned defense into offense with a surge down the middle of the ice to create a 2v1 situation. The normally clinical Bo Groulx couldn’t finish off the move.
A mistake from the Marlies allowed Rochester back into the game at the midway point. Johnson didn’t get a puck in deep in the neutral zone, handing it over to Radim Mrtka, who sent the Amerks the other way. The ever-dangerous Konsta Helenius got in behind the defense and wired a shot top shelf by Hildeby for his second goal of the series.
Any doubts held by the home crowd were seemingly assuaged four minutes later when Toronto restored its two-goal lead on the man advantage. The Marlies slowly pulled the Amerks’ PK apart, and Groulx found Shaw with a delicious feed for a redirect on the doorstep.
However, Rochester responded in kind with the extra attacker to make it a one-goal game again heading into the final frame. The Marlies would not have been happy with their penalty-killing effort, as they overloaded into a board battle and lost it, allowing Anton Wahlberg to tee up Olivier Nadeau for a tap-in.
Third Period
After Lettieiri didn’t bury a chance 70 seconds into the final frame, the Marlies were forced to withstand some Rochester pressure. Hildeby turned aside Jagger Joshua, Christopher Douglas (x2), and Jake Leschyshyn on high-danger chances for the Amerks. The Marlies also killed off a penalty as a series of turnovers and poorly executed zone exits invited pressure.
A media timeout settled the Marlies, who generated enough chances to take the game away from Rochester. Lettieri teed up Groulx, who looked odds-on to score from close range until Levi somehow made the save. Further opportunities for Alex Nylander and Lettieiri also weren’t buried as Rochester stayed within one thanks to their netminder and a defiant penalty killing effort.
Levi was pulled with 2:40 remaining, and Rochester, to their credit, swarmed around Toronto’s net. But big players come up with the goods in big moments; Hildeby produced an incredible close-range save to rob Fiddler-Schultz’s deflected shot. Four seconds later, William Villeneuve’s long-range clearance/shot found the vacated Rochester net to seal the deal.
As much as the excitement engulfed the Coca-Cola Coliseum, the relief was also palpable for the team after the Marlies were pushed to the edge by a Rochester team that fought hard to the end.
Post Game Notes
– The Marlies went 1-for-4 on the power play, 2-for-3 on the penalty kill, and outshot Rochester 39-31.
– His professional pride may have been stung a little by not starting in games one or two. Whether that was the case or not, Dennis Hildeby responded in the best possible manner with an outstanding performance between the pipes and is surely a lock to start against Laval on Wednesday. He turned aside 29 of 31 shots to record his second AHL playoff victory.
– William Villeneuve and Ryan Tverberg recorded their first professional playoff goals. Tverberg was an absolute monster on the second line alongside Easton Cowan and Jacob Quillan, and all three were a handful for Rochester to contain, with Quillan shifted back into the center spot. One penalty aside, Villeneuve delivered a mature performance in just his fifth professional playoff appearance.
– The Marlies’ first line delivered one even-strength goal but could easily have netted a handful. Bo Groulx and Vinni Lettieri were outstanding, and Logan Shaw delivered the goods with a pair of goals. His second goal of the game was the first playoff-winner of his career.
“I always let those guys know that they mean so much to our group,” said Gruden. “They can play a 200-foot game. They’re good in all zones… You could see how effective they were on both sides of the puck. They were outstanding.”
– One final note to mention the rookie D-pairing: Noah Chadwick has been impressive against Rochester, but this was Chas Sharpe’s first AHL playoff game. Considering the importance of the game and his partnership alongside a fellow rookie, the pair of them handled the situation extremely well. I’m not sure either of them would have thought they would be in this situation at the start of the season, so both deserve credit. A larger test now awaits, however.
Bring on Laval! Be sure to grab your tickets and get out to support the Marlies if you can.
– Game 3 lineup:
Forwards
Groulx – Shaw – Lettieri
Cowan – Quillan – Tverberg
Paré – Haymes – Nylander
Pezzetta – Johnstone – Johnson
Defensemen
Rifai – Thrun
Mermis – Villeneuve
Chadwick – Sharpe
Goalies
Hildeby
Akhtyamov
