Toronto Marlies Top Milwaukee Admirals In Tuesday Showdown

The Toronto Marlies wrapped up their five-game home stand with a 3-2 win against the Milwaukee Admirals on Tuesday night. Toronto improves to 3-1-1-0 on the season.

In the first period, Nick Abruzzese scored his first of the season 7:57 into the opening frame. Shortly after, Kyle Clifford added another for the home side at 9:14, giving the Marlies a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.

In the middle frame, Milwaukee responded as Joakim Kemell and Zach L’Heureux both scored to tie the game at two.

In the third period it was Alex Steeves who broke the deadlock with his second of the season with just 4:29 remaining. Keith Petruzzelli stopped 20 of 22 shots for his first victory of the season.

The Marlies head out on their Royal Road Trip, making their first stop in Belleville on Friday night. Puck drop is at 7:00pm on AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Milwaukee: J. Kemell (1) (D. Gurianov), Z. L’Heureux (1) (M. Jankowski, A. Angello)
Goaltender: T. Grosenick (27/30) L

Toronto: N. Abruzzese (1) (R. Tverberg, W. Lagesson), K. Clifford (1) (M. Ellis, J. Blandisi), A. Steeves (2) (M. Kokkonen)
Goaltender: K. Petruzzelli (20/22) W

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ON THE SCORESHEET

• Nick Abruzzese opened the scoring at 7:57 of the first period. This was his first goal of the season. He has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games.
• Kyle Clifford scored at 9:14 of the first period. He has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games.
• Alex Steeves scored the game-winning goal at 15:31 of the third period. He has four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in five games this season.
• Ryan Tverberg recorded the primary assist on Abruzzese’s first period goal. He has assists (2) in consecutive games.
• William Lagesson had the secondary assist on Abruzzese’s first period goal. This was his first point as a Marlie. He had 32 points (10 goals, 22 assists) in 65 games this past season with Chicago (AHL).
• Max Ellis registered the primary assist on Clifford’s first period goal. He has assists (4) in four consecutive games.
• Joseph Blandisi picked up the secondary assist on Clifford’s first period goal. He has recorded six points (2 goal, 4 assists) in four consecutive games.
• Mikko Kokkonen had the lone assist on Steeves’ third period goal.
• Keith Petruzzelli 20 of 22 shots he faced in his first win of the season.

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TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play. Toronto is 2-1-0-0 when not scoring on the power play and 1-0-0-0 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Toronto had a 30-22 edge in shots in all situations. Logan Shaw led the Marlies with four shots on goal. Toronto is 3-1-1-0 when outshooting their opponent.
• The Marlies are 1-0-0-0 against Central Division opponents and are 1-0-0-0 against the Admirals.

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POSTGAME QUOTES

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HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On tonight’s third period:

After we killed those two penalties off, it just shows the character of our guys. The ability to overcome something and good teams in the third period are usually at their best. Once we killed it, we were and I thought we played extremely well in the third period.

On Keith Petruzzelli:

He’s a young guy so for him to be in these situations (allowing two goals in the second period) is only going to help him. He looked really comfortable. I really liked how comfortable he looked in net and he made some really big saves.

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MAX ELLIS (1 GOAL)

On tonight’s game:
We did get off to a good start. There was a little bit of a lull in there but after that five-on-three penalty kill, we really rallied around it. Some huge blocks from the guys back there, some big saves from Keith and we just found our confidence to put it away after that.

On Keith Petruzzelli:

He was a brick wall back there. You feel confident when he’s back there in the net. He’s steady, he’s calm. He’s just going to make that save for you. It’s a big confidence booster when he’s back there.

MATTEO PIETRONIRO

On the penalty kill:

Your back’s against the wall and we came together and we knew we were going to kill it. When you kill something like that, you have the momentum on your side so, it was obviously nice for us.

UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

October 27 at Belleville – 7:00 p.m.
October 28 at Belleville – 7:00 p.m.
November 3 at Laval – 7:00 p.m.
November 4 at Laval – 7:00 p.m.
November 8 at Milwaukee – 10:30 a.m.