Toronto Marlies Top Rochester Americans In Home Opener

The Toronto Marlies defeated the Rochester Americans 3-1 on Saturday evening in the Marlies home opener.

The Amerks’ opened the scoring in this one, as Lukas Rousek scored just under 10 minutes into the first. Both teams exchanged plenty of chances in the 2nd period, but the score remained 1-0 after 40 minutes.

In the third period, it was Nick Robertson who opened the scoring for the Marlies on the power-play. Alex Steeves followed up on his two-point performance from Friday, by adding another goal on the power-play in the middle of the third period. Adam Gaudette tallied his first as a Marlie with an empty net goal in the final minutes.

The Marlies return to action next Saturday Oct. 22nd and Sunday Oct. 23rd with a back-to-back series against the Grand Rapids Griffins at Coca-Cola Coliseum. Puck drops at 4:00pm.

SCORING SUMMARY

Rochester: L. Rousek (1) (F. Cederqvist, M. Jobst)
Goaltender: U. Luukkonen (37/39) L

Toronto: N. Robertson (1) PP (S. Der-Arguchintsev, M. Hollowell), A. Steeves (2) PP (S. Der-Arguchintsev, W. Villeneuve), A. Gaudette (1) EN (M. Rifai)
Goaltender: K. Petruzzelli (25/26) W

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ON THE SCORESHEET

• Nick Robertson put the Marlies on the board at 6:16 of the third period. This was the Marlies’ first power play goal of the season. He has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games.
• Alex Steeves scored the game-winning goal on the power play at 11:57 of the third period. He has points (1-2-3) in consecutive games. He had four game-winning goals in the 2021-22 season.
• Adam Gaudette scored on the empty net at 19:43 of the third period. This was his first goal for the Marlies.
• Semyon Der-Arguchintsev recorded the primary assists on Robertson’s and Steeves’ third period power play goals. This was his ninth career multipoint game.
• Mac Hollowell had the secondary assist on Robertson’s third period goal.
• William Villeneuve registered the secondary assist on Steeves’ third period goal. This was his first professional point.
• Marshall Rifai picked up the lone assist on Gaudette’s empty net goal. This was his first professional point.
• Keith Petruzzelli stopped 25 of 26 shots he faced. This was fourth win for the Marlies.

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OF NOTE

• Toronto is 14-4-0 in home openers.
• The Marlies went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 2-for-4 on the power play. Toronto
• Toronto had a 40-26 edge in shots in all situations. Victor Mete and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev led the Marlies with seven shots on goal. Toronto last recorded 40 shots on net on Feb. 26, 2022 also against Rochester.

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POSTGAME QUOTES

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HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On the third period:

It’s early in the season and we’re learning a lot about our team. Yesterday was a challenging environment and the game was really fast. Even though there were some frustrating sequences throughout the game or even just having to kill a lot of penalties, I never felt at any point the bench got frustrated. We have a lot of mature guys in the room and a lot of NHL experience. And same thing today, first period was a little sleepy. We come out in the second period and we do really good job of playing in the offensive half of the rink and just applying a lot of pressure and getting more depth in the zone. The bench started to get louder and then in the third, it’s going and you could feel the energy just get stronger. That’s going to be something that we’ll be able to lean on throughout the year is our calm confidence. When things get tough, we can come out and still find a win.

On Semyon Der-Arguchintsev:

I thought it was a great weekend for him. He’s a young pro and it’s been the consistency in his play that has plagued him a little bit. You can see a lot of the special things he does on the ice, especially with the puck and now he proved tonight defensively how hard he can compete and battle. We’re really proud of the way he played this weekend.

UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

October 22 vs. Grand Rapids – 4:00 p.m.
October 23 vs. Grand Rapids – 4:00 p.m.
October 26 vs. Syracuse – 7:00 p.m.
October 28 at Syracuse – 7:00 p.m.
November 2 at Laval – 7:00 p.m.

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