The Toronto Marlies took home a 4-3 overtime win in Game Two of their best-of-three series with the Belleville Senators on Friday night. The series is now tied at 1.
Joseph Blandisi opened the scoring less than a minute into the first period, giving the Marlies a quick 1-0 lead. Kyle Clifford added a second Toronto goal just over three minutes into the second period. Donovan Sebrango added the first Sens goal at 9:50 in the second. Marshall Rifai scored the Marlies third goal just over six minutes later, restoring the Marlies two goal lead.
Garret Pilon scored twice – at 19:13 and 19:40 in the second and third periods – to tie the game at three and force overtime. Dylan Gambrell scored 50 seconds into the extra frame, securing the 4-3 victory.
After the game, Gambrell admitted he wasn’t even sure he had scored.
“I couldn't see anything,” Gambrell said.“I saw Blender coming running to jump at me so then I knew.”
Dennis Hildeby stopped 31 of 34 shots, including 14 of 15 in overtime. Joseph Blandisi said Hildeby has been integral to the team alls eason.
“Yeah, posts are his friends because he takes up the whole net. So, they're missing wide or going to hit the post,” Blandisi said. “He's been our rock the whole season. I think he's our MVP and you're able to see it day in and day out, so I think with him back there we've got so much trust in him and gives us a lot of confidence playing in front of him.”
The Marlies will play the third and final game of their series on Sunday in Belleville. Head Coach John Gruden said the team can pick up where they started on Friday.
“Well, I mean that first ten minutes were pretty good. We got in a little bit of trouble, we started forcing things in the middle of the ice,” Gruden said. “They can generate on our turnovers. We have to prevent that from happening again. All in all, I like where our mindset is. They understand what it's going to take. It's going to be an exciting game.”
Puck drop on Sunday is at 3:00pm in Bellville on AHLTV.
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