Toronto Marlies Shutout Utica Comets In First Half Of Back-To-Back

The Toronto Marlies defeated the Utica Comets 4-0 on Friday night. This is the first half of a back-to-back between the two teams.

In the first period, Zach Solow opened the scoring at 9:27 with his sixth of the season. A few minutes later, Robert Mastrosimone added another for the visitors to give the Marlies a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.

In the second, Alex Steeves tallied his 17th of the year extending the Marlies lead to three. In the final frame, Ryan Tverberg, the AHL's Rookie of the Month for January, scored on the power play. Dennis Hildeby recorded his fourth shutout of the season, stopping 20 of 20 shots he faced.

The Marlies wrap up their Boat Show Road Trip with another game against the Comets on Saturday evening. Puck drop is at 5:00pm on AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto:  Z. Solow (6) (T. Niemelä, J. Slavin), R. Mastrosimone (3) (M. Lajoie, Z. Solow), A. Steeves (17) (D. Gambrell), R. Tverberg (8) PP (A. Steeves, T. Niemelä)Goaltender: D. Hildeby (20/20) W

Utica: No goalsGoaltender: A. Schmid (26/30) L

ON THE SCORESHEET

Zach Solow opened the scoring at 9:27 of the first period and later added the secondary assist on Mastrosimone’s first period goal. This was his first game-winning goal of the season. He had consecutive multipoint games (2-2-4). Solow has 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists) in 35 games this season.Robert Mastrosimone scored at 12:50 of the first period. He has seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 29 games this season.Alex Steeves scored at 8:21 of the second period and later added the primary assist on Tverberg’s third period power play goal. He has 35 points (17 goals, 18 assists) in 35 games this season.Ryan Tverberg scored on the power play at 10:44 of the third period. He has points (2-6-8) in six of his last seven games. Tverberg has 26 points (8 goals, 18 assists) in 25 games this season.Topi Niemelä recorded the primary assist on Solow’s first period goal and the secondary assist on Steeves’ third period goal. He has 24 points (6 goals, 18 assists) in 38 games this season.Josiah Slavin had the secondary assist on Solow’s first period goal. He has 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) in 39 games this season.Max Lajoie registered the primary assist on Mastrosimone’s first period goal. He has points (1-4-5) in four of his last five games. Lajoie has 17 points (2 goals, 15 assists) in 30 games this season.Dylan Gambrell picked up the lone assist on Steeves’ second period goal.Dennis Hildeby stopped all 20 shots he faced in his fourth shutout of the season.

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TEAM NOTES

The Marlies went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 1-for-6 on the power play. Toronto is 11-5-5-1 when scoring on the power play and 11-6-1-1 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.Toronto had a 30-20 edge in shots in all situations. Robert Mastrosimone led the Marlies with four shots on goal. Toronto is 12-11-4-1 when outshooting their opponent.The Marlies are 5-10-5-1 against North Division opponents and 2-0-0-0 against the Comets this season.Toronto is 5-2-1-0 on their annual Boat Show Road Trip. The club will face six different clubs in seven games and return to Coca-Cola Coliseum on Feb. 9.

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RECORD WHEN

Scoring first                                        18-3-4-1

Leading after 1st                                  12-2-2-0

Leading after 2nd                                  15-1-3-0

On the road                                        11-7-2-1

February                                              1-0-0-0

Friday                                                  4-3-1-1

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MARLIES LEADERS *Amongst active AHL players

Goals               18 (K. Bellows)

Assists            24 (J. Blandisi)

Points              36 (A. Steeves)

PPG                 5 (R. Tverberg)

Shots               113 (L. Shaw)

+/-                    +20 (M. Rifai)

PIMS                74 (K. Clifford)

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POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On what led to tonight’s win:Our start and our ability to bend and not break, I thought we did a really good job of managing our down times where our mistakes aren’t catastrophic. When our mistakes were there, we made up for them and we were on our edges and our details were good and our goalie was outstanding so, that helps. We didn’t really give them anything overly easy and we had some timely goals. We had big goals at the right time for momentum to shift. For me those three things were really important, and we ended that way as well.

UPCOMING GAMES:*All times Eastern Standard Time

February 3 at Utica – 5:00 p.m.

February 9 vs. Laval – 7:00 p.m.

February 10 vs. Laval – 4:00 p.m.

February 14 vs. WB/Scranton – 11:00 a.m.

February 16 at Belleville – 7:00 p.m.

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