Toronto Marlies Fall To Rochester Americans In Game One – Amerks Lead Series 1-0

The Toronto Marlies fell 4-3 to the Rochester Americans on Thursday in Game One of the North Division Final. Rochester leads the best-of-five series 1-0.  

“Unfortunately, we didn’t play the way we did against Utica,” said Head Coach Greg Moore. “I think our tough lesson is, we’ve got to do it all the time and be consistent with it.” 

In the opening period, it was the home team who struck first. Nick Abruzzese scored at 3:04 in the frame to give Toronto the early 1-0 lead. Shortly after, Rochester responded with a goal by Kohen Olischefski at 9:00 to tie the game at one apiece. Before the period was over, Brett Murray scored at 18:16 to give the Amerks the 2-1 lead heading into the second.  

Late in the second, Rochester extended their lead to two with a goal by Isak Rosen at 18:58 to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes of play.  

In the third, Jiri Kulich added another for Rochester at 2:07 to take the 4-1 lead. Shortly after, Toronto responded with a goal by Joseph Blandisi at 7:56 to make it 4-2. Late in the frame, Kyle Clifford scored at 16:19 to keep the Marlies within one, but it was not enough.  

“I think everything we talked about leading up to this game, they showed us tonight,” said Forward Joseph Blandisi. “I think we didn’t really execute our plan for the first 40 minutes, and then you saw in the last 20 minutes, we wake up and we’re able to dominate the last period. I think that game definitely doesn’t scare me. It’s a long series and I think we’re going to get the better of them.” 

The Marlies return to action on May 13th when they host the Rochester Americans in Game Two of the North Division Final. Puck drop is at 4:00pm on the Toronto Maple Leafs app and AHLTV.  

GAME SUMMARY    |    GAME SHEET  |      PHOTOS   |      SCRUMS

SCORING SUMMARY

Rochester: K. Olischefski (1) SH (M. Jobst), B. Murray (2) (E. Prow, S. Malone), I. Rosen (2) PP (L. Weissbach, L. Pilut), J. Kulich (4) PP (M. Jobst, B. Murray)
Goaltender: M. Subban (20/23) W

Toronto: N. Abruzzese (1) (J. Blandisi, L. Shaw), J. Blandisi (2) (L. Shaw, M. Rifai), K. Clifford (4) (L. Shaw, M. Hollowell)
Goaltender: E. Källgren (16/20) L

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Nick Abruzzese opened the scoring at 3:04 of the first period. He has five points (1 goal, 4 assists) through five games.
• Joseph Blandisi scored at 7:56 of the third period and earlier had the primary assist on Abruzzese’s first period goal. He has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in five games.
• Kyle Clifford scored at 16:19 of the third period. He has points (4-2-6) in five consecutive games.
• Logan Shaw recorded the primary assists on Blandisi’s and Clifford’s third period goal and earlier had the secondary assist on Abruzzese’s first period goal. He has four goals and four assists through five playoff games.
• Marshall Rifai had the secondary assist on Blandisi’s third period goal.
• Mac Hollowell registered the secondary assist on Clifford’s third period goal. He has three assists through five games.
• Erik Källgren stopped 16 of 20 shots he faced.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies went 1-for-3 on the penalty kill and 0-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 2-1 when not scoring on the power play and 1-2 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Toronto had a 23-20 edge in shots in all situations. Alex Steeves led the Marlies with six shots on goal. Toronto is 3-2 when outshooting their opponent.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On taking away Rochester’s speed and transition:
We certainly didn’t do a good job of it. Too many turnovers in the middle of the rink, especially at the offensive blue line. We did fuel a lot of their offence. Unfortunately, we didn’t play the way we did against Utica. I think our tough lesson is, we’ve got to do it all the time and be consistent with it.

On takeaways for Game 2:
Getting back to consistency with what we know winning hockey is. There were spurts there in that game – a  little bit in the second, more so in the third, where the guys finally realize, okay well if we’re not going to play the right way, and we’ll get back to the plan, and they did that in the third and we got the ice tilted a little better. Now hopefully it’s just the belief in the room that we need to be doing that for 60 minutes for every game going forward.

JOSEPH BLANDISI (1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST)

On tonight’s game:
I think everything we talked about leading up to this game, they showed us tonight. I think we didn’t really execute our plan for the first 40 minutes, and then you saw in the last 20 minutes, we wake up and we’re able to dominate the last period. I think that game definitely doesn’t scare me. It’s a long series and I think we’re going to get the better of them.

On the pushback in the third:
We don’t quit on each other. We’ve got a good group in there. We know we weren’t happy with our first 40 like I said, and we believed in ourselves that we could come back in that game, and we were an inch short. I think, play a better 40 minutes and there’s a different result tonight.

UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

Game 2 – May 13 vs. Rochester – 4:00 p.m.
Game 3 – May 17 at Rochester – 7:05 p.m.
*Game 4 – May 19 at Rochester – 7:05 p.m.
*Game 5 – May 21 vs. Rochester – 4:00 p.m.

Pre Game:

The Toronto Marlies return to action on Thursday night as they host the Rochester Americans in Game One of Round Three of the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs. This will be the fourth postseason meeting between the two clubs, and the first since 2019. 

The regular season series between Toronto and Rochester was closely contested. The Marlies and the Americans met eight times and split the series 4-4. Toronto finished the regular season atop the North Division with a 42-24-4-2 record, while Rochester placed in third with a 36-27-6-3 record on the season. 

In the second round, The Americans battled back from a 2-0 series deficit to win their best-of-five series against the Syracuse Crunch 3-2. Meanwhile, Toronto won their best-of-five series against the Utica Comets 3-1 to advance to the third round. This marks their ninth Division Finals in franchise history. 

“Winning the series is a good thing,” said Marlies Forward Max Ellis. “We put a lot of effort into it, but I think there is a goal at the end of the road that we want to achieve, and everyone knows the job is not finished yet.” 

“We have confidence in ourselves that we can make a big push here,” said Head Coach Greg Moore. “That round has helped us believe in ourselves, and we’re excited to get on in the next round.” 

Players to look out for on the Marlies side include Logan Shaw, Kyle Clifford, and Joseph Blandisi who lead the way in the postseason with 5 points each. On the Amerks side, Michael Mersch leads his team with 7 points (4G, 3A). 

Puck drop is at 7:00pm on the Toronto Maple Leafs app and AHLTV.