Toronto Marlies Fall To Cleveland Monsters in Sunday Showdown

November 26, 2023

The Toronto Marlies fell 4-3 to the Cleveland Monsters on Sunday afternoon at Coca Cola Coliseum. Toronto is now 10-5-1-2 on the season.

Zach Solow opened the scoring for the Marlies with his first goal of the season just over 7 minutes into the first period. Carson Meyer added the Monsters first goal eight minutes later, tying the game at one after 20 minutes of play.

The Monsters took their first lead of the game just under four minutes into the second period with a goal from Kent Johnson. Pontus Holmberg tied the game at two for the Marlies 1:52 into the third period. Dylan Gambrell added the third Marlies goal eight minutes later. The Monsters quickly answered with a goal from Emil Bemstrom, tying the game at three.

The game remained tied through 60 minutes, pushing the game to overtime. The teams traded chances in the extra frame before Emil Bemstrom potted the game winner for the Monsters with just under 40 seconds remaining.

With the goal and an assist on Dylan Gambrell’s third period goal, Zach Solow picked up his first multi-point game of the year. After the game, Logan Shaw said it was nice to see Solow score.

“He’s just awesome to be around. Obviously very nice to see him get rewarded tonight,” Shaw said. “He works hard every night. He’s bringing the energy on the bench and the dressing room. The way he plays, he plays the right way, he moves his feet, he forechecks, he backchecks, he plays physical. And he gets under opponents’ skin, which is obviously part of his game. It was nice to see him get rewarded tonight.”

Sunday marked the Marlies’ annual Hockey Fights Cancer night. Both Shaw and Gruden remarked after the game how special it is to celebrate such an important cause, “It means a lot to be the people that have to battle through that and the adversity, it’s good to see that they can come and enjoy [the game] and the support that they get,” Gruden said. “It’s a cause that is, that you need to be aware of. I appreciate what our players did for the families today.”

“Really happy that we get to be a part of that. What they fight for, what they go through is a lot more than anything that we could imagine,” Shaw added. “What Blender said going into the third period – what those families go through, what they fight for, the least we could do is try to fight for it a little bit in the third, try to give them a game. And we did.”

“Having a kid as well. It’s kind of, it touches you. It gets your heartstrings moving a little bit. It’s just nice to be a part of making them smile, making them have a good day.”

The Marlies will be back on the road on Friday against the Syracuse Crunch at 7:00pm. The game can be seen live on AHLTV.

Game notes:

SCORING SUMMARY

Cleveland: C. Meyer (8) (T. Fix-Wolansky), K. Johnson (5) PP (S. Svozil), E. Bernstrom (8) (Unassisted), E. Bernstrom (9) (T. Fix-Wolansky)
Goaltender: J. Greaves (22/25) W

Toronto: Z. Solow (1) (T. Niemelä, M. Lajoie), P. Holmberg (3) (T. Miller, L. Shaw), D. Gambrell (2) (Z. Solow, N. Abruzzese)
Goaltender: M. Jones (30/34) OT/L

ON THE SCORESHEET

  • Zach Solow opened the scoring at 7:18 of the first period and later added the primary assist on Gambrell’s third period goal. This was Solow’s first goal of the season.
  • Pontus Holmberg scored at 1:52 of the third period. He has five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in seven games with the Marlies this season.
  • Dylan Gambrell scored at 10:12 of the third period. He has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games.
  • Topi Niemelä recorded the primary assist on Solow’s first period goal. He has nine points (2 goals, 7 assists) in 15 games.
  • Max Lajoie had the secondary assist on Solow’s first period goal. He has five assists in 14 games this season with the Marlies.
  • Tommy Miller picked up the primary assist on Holmberg’s third period goal. He has four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in 15 games this season.
  • Logan Shaw registered the secondary assist on Holmberg’s third period goal. He has 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists) in 14 games this season.
  • Nick Abruzzese recorded the secondary assist on Gambrell’s third period goal. He leads all active Marlies in points (3-10-13).
  • Martin Jones stopped 30 of 34 shots he faced.

TEAM NOTES

  • The Marlies went 5-for-6 on the penalty kill and 0-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 5-4-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 4-2-3-0 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
  • Cleveland had a 34-25 edge in shots in all situations. Marshall Rifai led the Marlies with four shots on goal. Toronto is 1-2-1-0 when outshot by their opponent.
  • The Marlies are 3-1-3-1 against North Division opponents and are 0-0-1-1 against the Monsters.

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On today’s game:

We weren’t executing at a high rate. Wasn’t our best. We came out in the third period with a purpose. We were doing things right. Because of that we got a lot more done. Think it was evident. We gave ourselves a chance for the two points.

LOGAN SHAW (1 ASSIST)

On today’s performance:
It was okay. We did stick to it and have a good third period but I wouldn’t say it was a good game for us. It was nice to make sure we were still in the game at the end and gave ourselves a chance and Jones played great but I wouldn’t say we are very happy or pleased with the weekend. Friday night, we played a much better overall game and we deserved to win that one. Tonight was a little bit less of that but we stayed in the fight and that’s a sign of a good team.

On the power play:

It’s on us as players to make the plays and it just hasn’t been working for us yet this year but we have the personnel and coaching to get it done and it’s just at the end of the day going to have to come down to us outworking the PKs and stick with the game plan and let our skill take over.

UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

December 1 at Syracuse – 7:00 p.m.
December 2 vs. Syracuse – 4:00 p.m.
December 5 vs. Grand Rapids – 7:00 p.m.
December 10 vs. Grand Rapids – 4:00 p.m.
December 15 at Providence – 7:00 p.m.

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