Toronto Marlies Top Belleville Senators In Final Game Of Regular Season

The Toronto Marlies defeated the Belleville Senators 7-2 on Sunday in their final game of the regular season. Toronto improves to 42-23-4-2 on the season and 8-4-0-0 against the Senators.

In the opening period, Toronto struck first with a power-play goal by Joseph Blandisi at 19:49 to take the early lead.  

In the second, the goals kept coming for Toronto. Marc Johnstone scored short-handed at 9:01 in the frame to extend Toronto’s lead to two. Less than a minute later, Joseph Blandisi earned his second of the night with a short-handed goal at 9:51 to make it 3-0 for the Marlies. Later, Alex Steeves scored his 19th of the season with a goal at 13:41 to make it 4-0. Shortly after, Nick Abruzzese added another for Toronto with a goal at 15:25 to make it 5-0 after 40 minutes.  

Just 20 seconds into the third, Belleville responded with a goal by Rourke Chartier to make it 5-1. Later, Semyon Der-Arguchintsev scored at 2:00 in the frame to make it 6-1 for the Marlies. Shortly after, Belleville added another with a goal by Ridly Greig at 5:37 to make it 6-2. Before the period was over, Radim Zohorna added a late goal at 19:59 to make it 7-2 and secure the win for Toronto.

The Marlies will kick off the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs at Coca-Cola Coliseum on April 27th. Puck drop will be at 7:00pm. Tickets are available now at Ticketmaster.ca.

SCORING SUMMARY

Belleville: D. Heatherington (5) (A. Crookshank), R. Greig (15) (R. Jarventie, J. Bernard-Docker)
Goaltender: M. Sogaard (12/17) L, L. Merilainen (14/16)

Toronto: J. Blandisi (14) PP (L. Shaw, N. Abruzzese), M. Johnstone (9) SH (L. Shaw), J. Blandisi (15) SH (W. Villeneuve, M. Johnstone), A. Steeves (19) (L. Shaw, W. Villeneuve), N. Abruzzese (16) (C. Dahlström), S. Der-Arguchintsev (12) (W. Villeneuve, P. Holmberg), R. Zohorna (12) (J. Benn)
Goaltender: E. Källgren (14/16) W

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ON THE SCORESHEET

• Joseph Blandisi opened the scoring on the power play at 19:49 of the first period and scored shorthanded at 9:51 of the second period. This was his sixth career AHL shorthanded goal. He has three goals in consecutive games. Blandisi has 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists) in 61 games this season.
• Marc Johnstone scored shorthanded at 9:01 of the second period and later had the secondary assist on Blandisi’s second period goal. This was his first career shorthanded goal. He has 22 points (9 goals, 13 assists) in 22 games this season.
• Alex Steeves scored at 13:41 of the second period. He has 51 points (19 goals, 32 assists) in 65 games with the Marlies this season.
• Nick Abruzzese scored at 15:25 of the second period and earlier had the secondary assist on Blandisi’s first period goal. He has points (1-3-4) in three consecutive games. Abruzzese is fourth overall amongst rookies in power play assists (17).
• Semyon Der-Arguchintsev scored at 2:00 of the third period. He has points (2-1-3) in three consecutive games. Der-Arguchintsev has 40 points (12 goals, 28 assists) in 50 games this season with the Marlies.
• Radim Zohorna scored at 19:59 of the third period. He has points (1-2-3) in three consecutive games. Zohorna has 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists) in 51 games this season.
• Logan Shaw recorded the primary assists on Blandisi’s first period goal and Johnstone’s and Steeves’ second period goals. This was Shaw’s eighth game this season recording three or more points. He has 69 points (21 goals, 48 assists) in 69 games this season.
• William Villeneuve had the primary assist on Blandisi’s shorthanded goal and the secondary assist on Steeves’ goal, both in the second period. He later added the primary assist on Der-Arguchintsev’s third period goal. This was his second career three assist game. Villeneuve is tied for sixth in assists (22) amongst all rookie defencemen.
• Carl Dahlström registered the lone assist on Abruzzese’s second period goal.
• Pontus Holmberg recorded the secondary assist on Der-Arguchintsev’s third period goal. He has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 38 games with the Marlies.
• Jordie Benn had the lone assist on Zohorna’s third period goal.
• Erik Källgren stopped 14 of 16 shots he faced.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill and 1-for-9 on the power play. Toronto is 30-9-3-2 when scoring on the power play and 21-7-2-2 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Toronto had a 33-16 edge in shots in all situations. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev led the Marlies with five shots on goal. Toronto is 20-10-1-1 when outshooting their opponent.
• The Marlies are 27-14-1-1 against North Division opponents and finish their regular season series 8-4-0-0 against the Senators.

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POSTGAME QUOTES

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HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On the response in today’s game:
We definitely needed it. I was happy and proud of the guys and how they attacked this game, played the right way. It was one of the better games in awhile where we consistently came out and were physical and hard to play against and chipped away at trying to break the team down and frustrate them. At the end of the day, create more opportunities with the puck to create more offence.

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On Joseph Blandisi returning from injury:

From a human element, it’s a personality and voice that we were missing, energy that we were missing. He brings a lot of it. He’s obviously a captain and leader of our group. He also demonstrates that on the ice – how passionate he is, how competitive he is. He gets under the skin of other opponents. He’s hard to play against and he makes really good plays with the puck as you saw tonight with his goal.

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On Logan Shaw’s production this season:
That’s the best kind of leader. Anytime you have your hardest worker, your smartest player, your most character person also go out there and put the puck in the net and lead offensively, that’s why he is as good as he is and why we had such a successful season as well.

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UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

Game 1 – April 27 vs. TBD – 4:00 p.m.
Game 2 – April 29 vs. TBD – 4:00 p.m.
Game 3 – TBD
*Game 4 – TBD
*Game 5 – May 7 vs. TBD – 4:00 p.m.