Toronto Marlies Open 8-Game Road Trip With Win Over Rochester

The Toronto Marlies opened their eight-game road trip with a 7-5 win over the Rochester Americans on Saturday night. Toronto has now won five in a row and improves to 16-7-0-1 against North Division opponents.  

Late in the first, it was Rochester who opened the scoring with a goal by Jiri Kulich at 17:31. Shortly after, Toronto responded with a goal by Logan Shaw at 18:26 to tie the game at one apiece. Shaw finished the game with five points (1G, 4A), and currently has 13 points in his last five games.

In the second, Rochester regained the lead with an early goal by Mason Jobst at 0:19 in the frame. Minutes later, Toronto responded with a goal by William Villeneuve at 4:36 to once again tie the game and make it 2-2. Later, Rochester added another goal by Mason Jobst at 12:56 to take the lead heading into the third.  

In the final frame, the goals kept coming. Just 35 seconds in, Jeremy Davies scored to extend Rochester’s lead to two. Shortly after, Toronto responded with two goals by Marc Johnstone at 4:58 and 13:21 to tie the game at four. Johnstone’s goal at 4:58 marked his first career AHL goal. Less than a minute later, Mason Jobst added another for Rochester at 14:07 to regain the lead and make it 5-4.  

Before the period was over, Toronto added three unanswered goals. Late in the 3rd, Noel Hoefenmayer scored at 16:02 to once again tie the game. With just nine seconds remaining, Nick Abruzzese scored his 10th goal of the season to give the Marlies a 6-5 lead. Joey Anderson added an empty net goal with two seconds left, sending the Marlies home with a 7-5 victory.”  

Joseph Woll stopped 28 of the 33 shots he faced for his 10th consecutive win this season.

The Marlies return to action on January 18th when they visit the Belleville Senators. Puck drop is at 7:05pm on AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto: L. Shaw (13) (N. Hoefenmayer, N. Abruzzese), W. Villeneuve (2) (J. Anderson, L. Shaw), M. Johnstone (1) (N. Abruzzese, J. Blandisi), M. Johnstone (2) (M. Abramov, J. Blandisi), N. Hoefenmayer (10) (L. Shaw), N. Abruzzese (10) (L. Shaw, J. Anderson), J. Anderson (14) EN (M. Kokkonen, L. Shaw)
Goaltender: J. Woll (28/33) W

Rochester: J. Kulich (7) (L. Weissbach, L. Pilut), M. Jobst (4) (M. Mersch, J. Davies), M. Jobst (5) (L. Pilut, A. Bjork), J. Davies (4) (M. Mersch, A. Bjork), M. Jobst (6) (A. Bjork, M. Mersch)
Goaltender: M. Subban (26/32) L

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ON THE SCORESHEET

• Logan Shaw scored at 18:26 of the first period. He recorded the secondary assist on Villeneuve’s second period goal and assists on Hoefenmayer, Abruzzese and Anderson’s third period goals. He has points (3-10-13) in five consecutive games. Shaw’s assist in the second period was his 200^th career AHL point. This was his first career five-point game.
• William Villeneuve scored at 4:36 of the second period. He has two goals and seven assists in 25 games this season.
• March Johnstone scored at 4:58 and 12:31 of the third period. This was his first career AHL goal. He has two goals and eight assists in 10 games this season.
• Noel Hoefenmayer scored recorded the primary assist on Shaw’s first period goal. He has 26 points (9 goals, 17 assists) through 33 games this season.
• Nick Abruzzese scored the game-winning goal at 19:51 of the third period. He also had the secondary assist on Shaw’s first period goal and the primary assist on Johnstone’s third period goal. He has two goals and five assists through his last four games. Abruzzese is fifth overall amongst rookies in points (10-16-26).
• Joey Anderson scored on the empty net at 19:58 of the third period and earlier registered the primary assist on Villeneuve’ second period goal and the secondary assist on Abruzzese’s third period goal.
• Joseph Blandisi picked up the secondary assists on both of Johnstone’s third period goals. He has 22 points (9 goals, 13 assists) in 32 games this season.
• Mikhail Abramov recorded the primary assist on Johnston’s second third period goal.
• Mikko Kokkonen had the primary assist on Anderson’s empty net goal in the third period.
• Joseph Woll stopped 28 of 33 shots he faced. He is 10-0-0 this season with a 2.50 goals against average and a 0.926 save percentage.

TEAM NOTES

• Toronto is on their annual Boat Show Road Trip which includes eight games from Jan. 14 to Jan. 29.
• The Marlies went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play. Toronto is 5-5-0-0 when not scoring on the power play and 13-5-0-1 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Toronto and Rochester both recorded 33 shots on net. Noel Hoefenmayer led the Marlies with five shots on goal. Toronto is 2-0-0-0 when recording the same number of shots as their opponent.
• The Marlies are 16-7-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 2-2-0-1 against the Americans this season. Toronto and Rochester have both scored 17 goals through five games.

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POSTGAME QUOTE

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HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On tonight’s game:
We had our responses when being scored against. The bench never felt flat, never felt desperate or out of control. I thought the last four periods going into this game our team had been controlling the game better, we had good structure. Rochester definitely challenges you in the sense of how fast they play, their speed and skill and how much they play through the middle of the rink. Joe Woll did a great job of answering the bell when needed. We kept finding answers to get back to our game and find momentum again.

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On Marc Johnstone recording his first career AHL goal:

We’ve ben waiting for him to put a puck in the net for quite awhile, not due to a lack of chances or ability but he’s had some good looks that just haven’t hit the back of the net. There are other areas of the game where he just does so much for us but we’re really proud and happy for him to get those.

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On Logan Shaw’s five-point game:
He finds a way to always have an impact in different ways and I think he impacted every square inch of the rink tonight. He’s our captain for a reason. He leads the team and the group as a whole just never quit, never gave up on this one.

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NICK ABRUZZESE (GAME-WINNING GOAL)

On Marc Johnstone’s goal:

I don’t think there’s a guy that anyone’s wanted to score for as long as I can remember more than him. He’s someone who just comes to the rink everyday and lays it all on the line. I think he perfectly embodies the type of game that we try to play. To see him get rewarded not only once but twice and they ended up being two huge goals, we were really happy for him.

On the come back win:

We’ve just got a really close group. Just a never say die attitude. It was a back-and-forth game, so many twists and turns. We score, they score. It’s just the character of the guys in the room. We always have the belief that we’ll win any game we play in.

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MARC JOHNSTONE (1^st CAREER AHL GOAL)

On the support from his teammates on his first goal:

It just means a lot. Everyone was so excited so, it makes it a special moment for me. Everyone talks about never forgetting your first, I won’t forget it because everyone made it so special.

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UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

January 18 at Belleville – 7:05 p.m.
January 20 at Belleville – 7:05 p.m.
January 21 at Laval – 3:00 p.m.
January 24 at Abbotsford – 7:00 p.m. (PST)
January 25 at Abbotsford – 7:00 p.m. (PST)