Toronto Marlies Fall To Hershey Bears In Friday Night Matchup

The Toronto Marlies fell 4-3 to the Hershey Bears on Friday night. The Marlies are now 19-7-2-0 on the road this season.

In the first period, both teams exchanged chances, but neither team was able to break through.

In the second, it was the home side that got on the board first. Mason Morelli opened the scoring at 2:20, and Mike Sgarbossa tallied another for the Bears just 31 seconds later to make it 2-0. Mike Vecchione added another at 12:32 to give the Bears a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes of play.

In the third, the Marlies responded as Marc Johnstone notched his seventh of the season at 4:28 to bring the visitors within two. Hershey responded with another goal from Mason Morelli on the power play at 12:34. But, Toronto didn’t give up. Pontus Holmberg scored at 14:41, and Marc Johnstone added his second of the game at 19:51, but it wasn’t enough.

The Marlies continue their road trip through Pennsylvania on Saturday night as they visit the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Puck drop is at 7:05pm on AHLTV.

Game Notes: 

GAME SUMMARY    |    GAME SHEET  |      PHOTOS   |      SCRUMS

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto: M. Johnstone (7) (Unassisted) P. Holmberg (4) (N. Abruzzese, W. Villeneuve), M. Johnstone (8) (J. Blandisi, O. Centazzo)
Goaltender: K. Petruzzelli (27/31) L

Hershey: M. Morelli (10) (L. Day, M. Vecchione), M. Sgarbossa (19) (A. Ness), M. Vecchione (19) (J. Snively, M. Kim), M. Morelli (11) PP (C. McMichael, M. Sgarbossa)
Goaltender: Z. Fucale (22/24) W

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Marc Johnstone put the Marlies on the board unassisted at 4:28 and later scored at 19:51, both in the third period. This is his third multi-goal game of the season. He has 18 points (8 goals, 10 assists) 52 games this season.
• Pontus Holmberg scored at 14:41 of the third period. He has 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) in 21 games this season.
• Nick Abruzzese recorded the primary assist on Holmberg’s third period goal. He has 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists) in 55 games this season. He is tied fourth overall in assists (24) amongst rookies.
• William Villeneuve had the secondary assist on Holmberg’s third period goal. He has 17 points (2 goals, 15 assists) in 42 games this season.
• Joseph Blandisi picked up the primary assist on Johnstone’s second goal of the third period. He has 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 52 games this season.
• Orrin Centazzo registered the secondary assist on Johnston’s second of the third period. This is Centazzo’s first career AHL point.
• Keith Petruzzelli stopped 27 of 31 shots he faced.

TEAM NOTES

• Toronto was awarded a penalty shot at 4:51 of the third period. Kyle Clifford was stopped by Hershey on his second penalty shot this season. This was Toronto’s fifth penalty shot of the season (0/5) which ties the franchise record for number of penalty shots in one season (2006-07, 2018-19).
• The Marlies went 4-for-5 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play. Toronto is 10-8-0-0 when not scoring on the power play and 20-10-2-0 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Hershey had a 31-25 edge in shots in all situations. Alex Steeves led the Marlies with six shots on goal. Toronto is 16-8-2-1 when outshot by their opponent.
• The Marlies are 3-1-1-0 against Atlantic Division opponents and are 0-1-0-0 against the Bears this season.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On tonight’s game:
All of our guys know what our identity is and how we need to play. It wasn’t there until the third when we really found it. We were really skating well, executing our plan but we just needed some more consistency in the first two periods.

MARC JOHNSTONE (2 GOALS)

On tonight’s game:
They’re one of the top teams in the league. They’re really hard on pucks. They’re fast. We came out of the gates a little bit slow and found our game in the third and kind of put it to them, but it was a little too late. It was a good effort.

On what changed in the third period:

We started getting back to Marlies hockey – playing hard, getting pucks deep, getting on their D. No one likes to go in with someone on their back on the forecheck so, that’s what we did and we turned pucks over.

Game Preview:

The Toronto Marlies open the weekend with a game against the Hershey Bears on Friday night. This will be the first of two matchups between the two clubs this season.  

Currently, both teams sit toward the top of the Eastern Conference. Toronto is in first place with a 37-14-2-1 record for the season, while Hershey sits close behind in second with a 33-13-5-2 record.  

Both teams head into Friday’s game with a win. Toronto won 5-3 over the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday, while Hershey is coming off a 5-3 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Toronto has currently won four of their last five games.  

Players to look out for on the Marlies side include Max Ellis who has six goals in his last seven games, and Joseph Blandisi who has 32 points (11G, 21A) in 51 games. On the Bears side, Mike Sgarbossa leads the way with 49 points (18G, 31A).  

Puck drop is at 7:00pm on AHLTV.