Toronto Marlies Top Rochester Americans In Saturday Showdown

The Toronto Marlies defeated the Rochester Americans 5-1 on Saturday evening in the second half of a home-and-home. Toronto improves to 34-13-2-1 for the season and 15-7-0-1 when playing at home.  

In the first, both teams exchanged chances, but the goalies stood tall to keep the score at zero heading into the second.  

In the second, Bobby McMann opened the scoring with a goal at 6:30 to give Toronto the early one goal lead.  

In the final frame, Toronto extended their lead to two with a goal by Marc Johnstone at 5:54. Shortly after, Bobby McMann earned his second of the night with a shorthanded goal at 7:26 to make it 3-0. Later, Kyle Clifford added another for Toronto with an empty net goal at 16:29 to make it 4-0 for the home team. Just 29 seconds later, Bobby McMann scored at 16:58 to earn the hattrick. McMann currently has eight goals through his last seven games. Before the period was over, Rochester responded with a goal by Filip Cederqvist at 17:51, but Toronto would hold onto the 5-1 lead to secure the win.

Keith Petruzzelli stood tall in the Marlies crease stopping 26 of the 27 shots he faced.  

The Toronto Marlies return to action on February 20th when they host the Utica Comets at Scotiabank Arena Puck drop is at 3:00pm on the Toronto Maple Leafs app, TSN, and AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Rochester: F. Cederqvist (4) (B. Warren, L. Weissbach)
Goaltender: M. Subban (25/29) L

Toronto: B. McMann (14) (M. Rifai, L. Shaw), M. Johnstone (6) (M. Hellickson), B. McMann (15) SH (Unassisted), K. Clifford (4) EN (Unassisted), B. McMann (16) (L. Shaw, N. Abruzzese)
Goaltender: K. Petruzzelli (26/27) W

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ON THE SCORESHEET

• Bobby McMann recorded his first career AHL hat trick. He opened the scoring at 6:30 of the second period, added a shorthanded goal at 7:26 and a goal at 16:58, both in the third period. He has eight goals through his last seven games.
• Marc Johnstone scored the game-winning goal at 5:54 of the third period. He has 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists) in 47 games this season.
• Marshall Rifai recorded the primary assist on McMann’s second period goal. He has 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists) through 49 games.
• Logan Shaw had the secondary assist on McMann’s second period goal and the primary assist on McMann’s third period goal. This was his 14^th multipoint game of the season. He is tied for third overall in points (17-40-57) in the AHL.
• Matthew Hellickson picked up the lone assist on Johnestone’s third period goal. He has three assists in 24 games this season.
• Nick Abruzzese registered the secondary assist on McMann’s third period goal. This was Abruzzese’s 50^th AHL game. He is tied for fifth overall in points (15-21-36) amongst AHL rookies.
• Keith Petruzzelli stopped 26 of 27 shots he faced. He is 11-5-0-0 this season with a 3.05 goals against average and a 0.899 save percentage.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play. Toronto is 9-7-0-0 when not scoring on the power play and 17-8-0-1 when not scoring on the power play.
• Toronto had a 30-27 edge in shots in all situations. Bobby McMann led the Marlies with six shots on goal. Toronto is 15-7-0-0 when outshooting their opponent.
• The Marlies are 22-9-0-1 against North Division opponents and 3-3-0-1 against the Rochester Americans.

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POSTGAME QUOTES

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HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On today’s game:
There were good chunks of yesterday’s game where the effort was good, we just weren’t executing or thinking through our plan or just mentally sharp. Great response today by our team. We were willing to do a lot of the little things that we discussed before the game and put together sequences that we were looking for that we had seen this season and a great, great game by Keith.

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On the penalty kill (7/7):

John Snowden delivered a really good pre-scout before, challenged them again to have a really high expectation for themselves and keep setting the bar high and they certainly did that tonight.

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MATTHEW HELLICKSON (1 ASSIST)

On today’s game:
It says a lot speaking to the depth of our team. We have a lot of really great players on this team that know how to come in and out of the lineup and play hard. No matter who’s in, who’s out, we know we can bring a really hard game, a really fast game. A win like this just really shows that.

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KEITH PETRUZZELLI (26 SAVES)

On today’s win:

It was a great bounce back win for the boys tonight. I thought we did a lot of the little things right. Our details were great and that’s what led us to victory. We had great structure and they had a hard time getting through it.

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UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

February 20 vs. Utica – 3:00 p.m. (Scotiabank Arena)
February 25 vs. Laval – 4:00 p.m.
February 26 vs. Syracuse – 4:00 p.m.
March 1 vs. Rockford – 11:00 a.m.
March 3 at Hershey – 7:00 p.m.