The Toronto Marlies fell 4-3 in overtime to the Syracuse Crunch on Sunday afternoon at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Waltteri Merelä opened the scoring 3:48 into the first period. Maxim Groshev scored 8:21 in the first period, giving the Crunch a 2-0lead through 20 minutes of play. Kieffer Bellows closed the gap with two goals in the second, scoring at 11:01 and 17:33 to tie the game up at two through 40 minutes of play.
Joe Carroll scored just under nine minutes into the thirdperiod, but Alex Steeves tied the game four minutes later, forcing the game to overtime. Joe Carroll scored 2:49 into the extra period.
After the game, Head Coach John Gruden was proud of the team’s ability to battle back from an early two goal deficit.
“Never good that you're down two-nothing to start – I think that kind of made us play more urgent,” Gruden said. “I thought we played 55 pretty good minutes after that.Gave ourselves a chance to win. Unfortunately, didn't get the results. It's a step in the right direction. Have to think of the positives. Still a long season to go and it's a tight division.”
Kieffer Bellows picked up his second two-goal game of the season on Sunday afternoon. Bellows said he’s happy with where his game is trending.
“Yeah, I’m feeling good about it,” Bellows said. “Just trying to put pucks on net. Trying to help the team out in any way possible. I feel like there's more in my game that can also grow. I'm always trying to improve. Luckily, I play with great teammates and great line mates.”
The Marlies will be back in action on Friday night at Coca-Cola Coliseum against the Belleville Senators. The game will be on the Toronto Maple Leafs app and AHLTV.
Game notes:
SCORING SUMMARY
Syracuse: W. Merelä (3) (G. Dumont, Z. Massicotte), M. Groshev (9) (J. Finley, J. Carroll), J. Carroll (7) PP (G. Goncalves, D. Carlile), J. Carroll (8) (J. Finley)Goaltender: H. Alnefelt (24/27) W
Toronto: K. Bellows (13) (Unassisted), K. Bellows (14) (M. Lajoie), A. Steeves (12) PP (T. Niemelä, J. Blandisi)Goaltender: L. Cavallin (17/21) OT/L
ON THE SCORESHEET
Kieffer Bellows put the Marlies on the board unassisted at 11:01 and again at 17:33, both in the second period. He leads all Marlies in goals (14). Bellows’ unassisted goal was his 50th career AHL goal.Alex Steeves scored on the power play at 13:34 of the third period. He has 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in 26 games this season.Max Lajoie registered the lone assist on Bellows’ second period goal. He has 10 points (1 goal, 9 assists) in 21 games this season.Topi Niemelä picked up the primary assist on Steeves’ third period goal. He has 19 points (6 goals, 13 assists) in 29 games this season, leading all Marlies defencemen. Joseph Blandisi had the secondary assist on Steeves’ third period goal. He has 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) in his last 12 games. This was his 250th career AHL game.Luke Cavallin stopped 17 of 21 shots he faced.TEAM NOTES
The Marlies went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill and 1-for-5 on the power play. Toronto is 6-4-4-1 when scoring on the power play and 7-6-5-0 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.Toronto had a 27-21 edge in shots in all situations. Logan Shaw and Alex Steeves led the Marlies with five shots on goal. Toronto is 8-9-4-1 when outshooting their opponent.The Marlies are 3-8-5-1 against North Division opponents and are 0-3-1-0 against the Crunch.RECORD WHEN
Not scoring first 1-8-1-0Trailing after 1st 1-5-1-0Tied after 2nd 2-3-1-1At home 7-7-4-0January 0-2-1-0Sunday 4-1-2-0
MARLIES LEADERS *Amongst active AHL players
Goals 14 (K. Bellows)Assists 18 (N. Abruzzese)
Points 27 (A. Steeves)PPG 3 (N. Abruzzese, D. Ovchinnikov)Shots 90 (L. Shaw)+/- +14 (J. Blandisi)PIMS 55 (K. Clifford)
POSTGAME QUOTES
KIEFFER BELLOWS (2 GOALS)
On today’s game:Our guys fought hard tonight. We didn't give up even being down two-nothing. We kept the foot on the pedal. It's a disappointing loss. It's frustrating for the guys. We're all frustrated, we want to win. We want to pull some wins together. We've just got to look back on this game, check up what we did good, what we did bad and then put it behind us and focus on the next game.
On Luke Cavallin:Cavy did a fantastic job -- moves the puck really well. We always know we can use him in support whenever we need him. I thought he did a great job. I thought he was very strong in net. We knew we could rely on him when we needed a save.
UPCOMING GAMES:*All times Eastern Standard Time
January 12 vs. Belleville – 7:00 p.m.January 14 at Belleville – 2:00 p.m.January 20 at Charlotte – 4:00 p.m.January 21 at Charlotte – 1:00 p.m.January 24 at Cleveland – 7:00 p.m.
