The Toronto Marlies took home a 4-3 overtime win in Game Two of their best-of-three series with the Belleville Senators on Friday night. The series is now tied at 1.
Joseph Blandisi opened the scoring less than a minute into the first period, giving the Marlies a quick 1-0 lead. Kyle Clifford added a second Toronto goal just over three minutes into the second period. Donovan Sebrango added the first Sens goal at 9:50 in the second. Marshall Rifai scored the Marlies third goal just over six minutes later, restoring the Marlies two goal lead.
Garret Pilon scored twice – at 19:13 and 19:40 in the second and third periods – to tie the game at three and force overtime. Dylan Gambrell scored 50 seconds into the extra frame, securing the 4-3 victory.
After the game, Gambrell admitted he wasn’t even sure he had scored.
“I couldn't see anything,” Gambrell said.“I saw Blender coming running to jump at me so then I knew.”
Dennis Hildeby stopped 31 of 34 shots, including 14 of 15 in overtime. Joseph Blandisi said Hildeby has been integral to the team alls eason.
“Yeah, posts are his friends because he takes up the whole net. So, they're missing wide or going to hit the post,” Blandisi said. “He's been our rock the whole season. I think he's our MVP and you're able to see it day in and day out, so I think with him back there we've got so much trust in him and gives us a lot of confidence playing in front of him.”
The Marlies will play the third and final game of their series on Sunday in Belleville. Head Coach John Gruden said the team can pick up where they started on Friday.
“Well, I mean that first ten minutes were pretty good. We got in a little bit of trouble, we started forcing things in the middle of the ice,” Gruden said. “They can generate on our turnovers. We have to prevent that from happening again. All in all, I like where our mindset is. They understand what it's going to take. It's going to be an exciting game.”
Puck drop on Sunday is at 3:00pm in Bellville on AHLTV.
Game notes:
SCORING SUMMARY
Belleville: D. Sebrango (1) (R. MacKinnon), G. Pilon (1) PP (J. Larsson, W. Bongiovanni), G. Pilon (2) PP (W. Bongiovanni, J. Larsson)
Goaltender: M. Sogaard (24/28) OT/L
Toronto: J. Blandisi (1) (K. Clifford, M. Pietroniro), K. Clifford (1) (J. Blandisi, M. Rifai), M. Rifai (2) (Z. Solow, T. Miller), D. Gambrell (1) (J. Blandisi)
Goaltender: D. Hildeby (31/34) W
ON THE SCORESHEET
- Joseph Blandisi opened the scoring 59 seconds into the first period. He later had the primary assist on Clifford’s second period goal and the lone assist on Gambrell’s overtime winner. This was his second career three-point playoff game.
- Kyle Clifford scored at 3:07 of the second period and earlier added the primary assist on Blandisi’s first period goal.
- Marshall Rifai scored at 16:24 of the second period and earlier picked up the secondary assist on Clifford’s second period goal. He has points (2-1-3) in consecutive games.
- Dylan Gambrell scored 50 seconds into overtime. This was his first career game-winning goal in the Calder Cup playoffs.
- Matteo Pietroniro recorded the secondary assist on Blandisi’s first period goal.
- Zach Solow had the primary assist on Rifai’s second period goal. He has assists (2) in consecutive games.
- Tommy Miller registered the secondary assist on Rifai’s second period goal. This was Miller’s first game since February 23 due to injury.
- Dennis Hildeby stopped 31 of 34 shots he faced in his first AHL playoff win.
- Toronto is 15-7 overall in overtime and 11-2 at home. Dylan Gambrell’s overtime goal at 50 seconds is the second fastest in franchise history. Colin Greening scored 45 seconds into overtime on Apr. 26, 2017.
- The Marlies were 2-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play.
- Belleville had a 34-28 edge in shots in all situations. Kieffer Bellow and Dylan Gambrell led the Marlies with three shots on goal.
MARLIES PLAYOFF LEADERS *Amongst active AHL players
Goals 2 (M. Rifai)
Assists 2 (J. Blandisi, Z. Solow)
Points 3 (J. Blandisi, M. Rifai)
PPG 0 (None)
Shots 5 (D. Gambrell)
+/- +3 (D. Gambrell)
PIMS 15 (K. Clifford)
HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN
On Blandisi coming back after the empty net miss to set up the game winner:
His teammates were there to pick him up. We said, even between periods, he played an outstanding game. If he doesn't play that outstanding game, we're not in the position to begin with. We believed in him, we believe in him as a leader. For him to come out the way he did, I mean, he created all of that. Good for him and I'm glad, it couldn't have happened to a better guy.
On tonight’s game:
I think we just had to reset. We had the game kind of in control. The penalties in there -- our guys are playing physical – the way it happened, took a little bit of our momentum away. At the end of the day our guys played extremely hard and they came out in overtime with a couple of really good shifts and we were fortunate to get out of there with a huge win.
JOSEPH BLANDISI (1 GOAL, 2 ASSISTS)
On tonight’s game:
We had to leave it all on the line. Took more than 60 minutes, obviously. It was on me, should've been in the first 60. But everybody is able to bail each other out, that's why I love playing for this team. There's so much good character in that dressing room and we got each other's backs so, I really felt that tonight personally.
On Dennis Hildeby:
Posts are his friends because he takes up the whole net. So, they're missing wide or going to hit the post. He's been our rock the whole season. I think he's our MVP and you're able to see it day in and day out. I think with him back there we've got so much trust in him and gives us a lot of confidence playing in front of him.
DYLAN GAMBRELL (OVERTIME WINNER)
On what was said during intermission before overtime:
It was just coming together, rallying for each other. We have a great group in the locker room. Really tight group. So, it's easy for us to come together and rally and play for each other.
On if he knew he scored in overtime:
I hadn’t, I couldn't see anything. I saw Blandisi coming running to jump at me so then I knew.
UPCOMING GAMES:*All times Eastern Standard Time
April 28 at Belleville – 3:00 p.m.
