Lehigh Valley: C. Marody (4) (P. Tomasino), O. Bonk (1) SH (L. Pederson), K. Dorwart (5) (L. Pederson, T. Robertson), A. Gendron (6) (Unassisted), L. Pederson (12) (Unassisted), G. Wilson (3) (O. Bonk, O. Eklind) Goaltender: A. Kolosov (29/30) W
Toronto: M. Johnstone (6) (M. Pezzetta) Goaltender: V. Peksa (17/23) L
ON THE SCORESHEET
Marc Johnstone scored at 3:53 of the third period. He has 10 points (6 goals, 4 assists) in 20 games this season.
Michael Pezzetta had the lone assist on Johnstone’s first period goal.
Vyacheslav Peksa stopped 17 of 23 shots he faced.
TEAM NOTES
The Marlies were 1-for-1 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play. Toronto is 11-10-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 10-4-0-0 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
Toronto outshot Lehigh Valley 30-23 in all situations. William Villeneuve led the Marlies with six shots on net. Toronto is 6-6-1-0 when outshooting their opponent.
The Marlies are 3-4-0-0 against Atlantic Division opponents and finish their regular season series 0-2-0-0against the Phantoms this season.
Rochester: N. Novikov (4) (N. Laaouan, J. Joshua), I Rosen (14) (A. Wahlberg),R. Fiddler-Schultz (7) (C. Meyer), T. Kuntar (11) PP (R. Fiddler-Schultz, Z. Jones) Goaltender: D. Levi (16/21) L, S. Ratzlaff (6/7)
Toronto: B. Groulx (15) (V. Lettieri, B. Smith), W. Villeneuve (3) (T. Boyd, M. Barbolini), A. Nylander (9) (B. Valis), A. Nylander (10) (M. Rifai, H. Thrun), B. Valis (7) (B. Groulx, A. Akhtyamov), M. Johnstone (5) (C. Paré, H.Thrun) Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (31/35) W
ON THE SCORESHEET
Bo Groulx put the Marlies on the board at 12:34 of the first period and later added the primary assist on Valis’ second period goal. He has 25 points (15 goals, 10 assists) in 32 games with the Marlies this season. Groulx is tied for sixth overall in goals.
William Villeneuve scored at 1:29 of the second period. He has three goals and 10 assists in 27 games this season.
Alex Nylander scored at 10:32 and 13:25 of the second period. This was his second multi-goal game of the season. Nylander has 20 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 28 games this season.
Borya Valis scored the game-winning goal at 17:48 of the second period and earlier had the lone assist on Nylander’s first goal of the game. This was his second game-winning goal of the season. He has 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists) in 31 games this season.
Marc Johnstone scored at 3:53 of the third period. He has nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in 19 games this season.
Vinni Lettieri had the primary assist on Groulx’s first period goal. He has points (2-7-9) in his last seven games. Lettieri has 21points (5 goals, 16 assists) in 28 games this season.
Blake Smith recorded the secondary assist on Groulx’s first period goal. He has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in 31 games this season.
Travis Boyd registered the primary assist on Villeneuve’s second period goal.
Matthew Barbolini picked up the secondary assist on Villeneuve’s second period goal.
Marshall Rifai registered the primary assist on Nylander’s second goal of the game.
Henry Thrun recorded the secondary assists on Nylander’s second goal of the game and Johnstone’s third period goal. He has 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in 22 games this season.
Cédric Paré picked up the lone assist on Johnstone’s third period goal.
Artur Akhtyamov stopped 31 of 35 shots he faced and recorded his first career AHL point on Valis’ second period goal. He is 12-6-0 this season with a 2.94 goals against average and a 0.900 save percentage.
TEAM NOTES
The Marlies were 4-for-5 on the penalty kill and 0-for-1 on the power play. Toronto is 11-9-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 8-10-1-1 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
Rochester outshot Toronto 35-28 in all situations. Vinni Lettieri, Alex Nylander and Borya Valis led the Marlies with three shots on net. Toronto is 12-8-0-0 when outshot by their opponent.
The Marlies are 12-6-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 2-1-0-0 against the Americans this season.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN
On today’s game: I don’t think we want to get into (a run-and-gun style) game with these guys .Once we started to structure it up a little bit and get above them and create some turnovers, they didn’t have the same success they did in the first period. We weren’t very good (in the first period). But credit to our players to turn it around. From the first shift in the second period, we were pretty dominant from that point on. Not a recipe for success in the first period but the second and third, one hundred per cent.
On the turnaround in the secondperiod: We reminded (the players) what we talked about and for whatever reason wedidn’t execute it (in the first period). We were trying to press and they werefeeling it. Right from our leadership with Shaw and Groulx and Lettieri that line that we’ve kept together for a long time, they came out and they set the tone and then we scored on that second shift because of the way they started the period. Our guys look up to that line. They’ve been really good for us. Especially through this stretch of getting us back on some winning streaks and playing the right way, they’re a big reason why.
MARC JOHNSTONE (1 GOAL)
On today’s game: It takes a lot of ways to win in this league. Sometimes you’re not going to have your A-game. So even when we have our B-game in the first period and we come out with the win, it shows what we can do when we stick together and play for each other.
January 1, 2026
SYR 1 - TOR 2 (OT)
Syracuse: D. Duke (13) PP (J. Pelletier, C. Geekie) Goaltender: B. Halverson (15/17) OT/L
Toronto: B. Groulx (14) (H. Thrun, V. Lettieri), A. Nylander (8) (V. Lettieri, M. Rifai) Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (34/35) W
ON THE SCORESHEET
Bo Groulx put the Marlies on the board at 12:14 of the third period. He has 23 points (14 goals, 9 assists) in 31 games with the Marlies this season. Groulx is tied for seventh overall in goals.
Alex Nylander scored the game-winning goal at 1:37 of overtime. This was his second game-wining goal of the season. He has 18 points (8 goals, 10 assists) in 27 games this season.
Henry Thrun recorded the primary assist on Groulx’s third period goal. He has 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in 21 games this season.
Vinni Lettieri had the secondary assist on Groulx’s third period goal and the primary assist on Nylander’s overtime goal. He has points (2-6-8) in his last six games. Lettieri has 20 points (5 goals, 15 assists) in27 games this season.
Marshall Rifai registered the secondary assist on Nylander’s overtime goal. This was his first point in his third game this season.
Artur Akhtyamov stopped 34 of 35 shots he faced. He is 6-1 all-time in his AHL career in overtime. Akhtyamov is 11-6-0 this season with a 2.87 goal against average and a 0.901 save percentage.
TEAM NOTES
Toronto is 4-1 in overtime this season.
The Marlies were 5-for-6 on the penalty kill and 0-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 10-9-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 7-10-1-1 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
Syracuse outshot Toronto 35-17 in all situations. Alex Nylander led the Marlies with four shots on net. Toronto is 11-8-0-0 when outshot by their opponent.
The Marlies are 11-6-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 1-1-0-0 against the Crunch this season.
December 30, 2025
TOR 2 - CLE 1
Toronto: L. Shaw (12) PP (L. Haymes, T. Boyd), V. Lettieri (5) (L. Shaw) Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (20/21) W
Cleveland: L. Del Bel Belluz (7) (O. Sillinger, D. Heinen) Goaltender: I Fedotov (13/15) L, N. Lalone (2/2)
ON THE SCORESHEET
Logan Shaw opened the scoring at 8:29 of the second period on the power play and later added the lone assist on Lettieri’s third period goal in his 800th career professional game. He is now the franchise leader in assists (117) for the Marlies. Shaw has 23 points (12goals, 11 assists) in 32 games this season.
Vinni Lettieri scored the game-winning goal at 16:41 of thethird period. He has 18 points (5 goals, 13 assists) in 26 games this season.
Luke Haymes recorded the primary assist on Shaw’s second period goal. He has 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in 28 games this season.
Travis Boyd had the secondary assist on Shaw’s second period goal. He has 21 points (9 goals, 12 assists) in 23 games this season.
Artur Akhtyamov stopped 20 of 21 shots he faced.
TEAM NOTES
The Marlies were 1-for-1 on the penalty kill and 1-for-3 on the power play. Toronto is 7-3-0-1 when scoring on the power play and 10-3-0-0 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
Cleveland outshot Toronto 21-17 in all situations. Vinni Lettieri and Borya Valis led the Marlies with three shots on net. Toronto 10-8-0-0 when outshot by their opponent.
The Marlies are 10-6-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 2-0-0-0 against the Monsters this season.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN
On tonight’s game: I thought we played extremely well. The kill in the first period, the five minute was huge. I think it took a little bit of their momentum from their skilled players and it took them awhile to get going which they did later on in the third. But I thought it was a huge momentum boost for us and then the power play goal. So, the special teams were a huge part of this win tonight but I thought our five-on-five game was really solid. We didn’t give them much, kept them to the outside. If they got any chances, they had to earn them. So, I thought we did a great job of that.
On Logan Shaw: He means everything. He’s an extension of (the coaching staff). He’s an unbelievable leader. He does everything right. Great with the younger players, great with the older players. He’s a true pro. Practices hard every day and for him to get rewarded with that nice play there on that two-on-one with (Lettieri), I can’t think of a better way for him to cap a great game and his 800th pro game as well.
LOGAN SHAW (1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST)
On tonight’s game: I thought we played a great road game. We didn’t give them too much. Artie played well. We were putting the puck behind their defencemen which is what we wanted to do from the start. Sometimes a boring game is a good game, and I thought we kind of did that, we capitalized on some chances and then just locked it down defensively.
On his franchise record: I thank all my teammates I’ve had from day one here including this year but it’s cool, for a big organization like the Marlies, it’s definitely a milestone that I’m happy to hit. My thanks goes out to all my teammates I’ve had, coaches, everyone trusting me and believing in me and just letting me play my game.
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