Toronto Marlies Top Lehigh Valley Phantoms In Shootout

The Toronto Marlies defeated the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday night. Toronto has won three of their last four games.

In the first period, Kieffer Bellows opened the scoring just over four minutes in with his 17th of the season. Bobby Brink tied the game with just under two minutes remaining in the opening frame.

In the second, Robert Mastrosimone scored his second of the year, followed by a power play goal from Kyle Clifford to give the Marlies a 3-1 lead after two periods of play.

In the third, the Phantoms tied the game at three with two power play goals. In overtime, both teams exchanged chances, but a shootout was needed. Both Alex Steeves and Logan Shaw scored in the shootout to secure the win for the Marlies. Keith Petruzzelli stood tall, stopping 30 of 33 shots he faced, and helped secure the shootout victory.

The Marlies return to action on Sunday when they visit the league-leading Hershey Bears. Puck drop is at 5:00pm on AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto:  K. Bellows (17) (R. Tverberg, M. Rifai), R. Mastrosimone (2) (J. Slavin, M. Kokkonen), K. Clifford (8) PP (J. Blandisi, M. Lajoie)Goaltender: K. Petruzzelli (30/33) W

Lehigh Valley: B. Brink (2) (S. Tuomaala, A. Ginning), B. Brink (3) PP (C. Marody, E. Andrae), W. Allison (8) PP (E. Andrae)Goaltender: P. Gahagen (27/30) SO/L

ON THE SCORESHEET

Kieffer Bellows opened the scoring at 4:13 of the first period. He has points (2-2-4) in three consecutive games. Bellows has 31 points (17 goals, 14 assists) in 29 games this season.Robert Mastrosimone scored at 7:16 of the second period. He has five points (2 goals, 3 assists) in 26 games this season.Kyle Clifford scored on the power play at 11:39 of the second period. He has points (3-1-4) in his last three games. Clifford has 15 points (7 goals, 8 assists) in 27 games this season.Ryan Tverberg registered the primary assist on Bellows’ first period goal. He has points (1-5-6) in four consecutive games. Tverberg has 24 points (7 goals, 17 assists) in 22 games with the Marlies.Marshall Rifai recorded the secondary assist on Bellows’ first period goal. He has 10 points (1 goal, 9 assists) in 25 games this season.Josiah Slavin had the primary assist on Mastrosimone’s second period goal. He has 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) in 36 games this season.Mikko Kokkonen picked up the secondary assist on Mastrosimone’s second period goal. He has nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 33 games this season.Joseph Blandisi recorded the primary assist on Clifford’s second period power play goal. He has 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists) in 36 games this season.Max Lajoie had the secondary assist on Clifford’s second period power play goal. He has 15 points (2 goals, 13 assists) in 27 games this season.Keith Petruzzelli stopped 30 of 33 shots he faced. This was his second shootout win of the season.

IN THE SHOOTOUT

Alex Steeves – Goal (2023-24: 2/2)Kieffer Bellows – No goal (2023-24: 1/2)Logan Shaw – Goal (2023-24: 2/3)

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TEAM NOTES

Toronto is 2-1 in shootouts this season.The Marlies went 2-for-4 on the penalty kill and 1-for-5 on the power play. The Marlies have recorded a power play goal in nine of their last 10 games (27.7). Toronto is 10-5-4-1 when scoring on the power play and 8-7-5-0 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.Lehigh Valley had a 33-31 edge in shots in all situations. Kieffer Bellows and Robert Mastrosimone led the Marlies with four shots on goal. Toronto is 6-3-1-0 when outshot by their opponent.The Marlies are 7-2-0-0 against Atlantic Division opponents and finish their regular season series 1-1-0-0 against the Phantoms.Toronto is 3-2-0-0 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                                       16-3-4-1

Tied after 1st                                      4-5-2-1

Leading after 2nd                              13-1-3-0

On the road                                        9-7-1-1

January                                              4-4-1-0

Saturday                                             6-3-2-0

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MARLIES LEADERS *Amongst active AHL players

Goals               17 (K. Bellows)

Assists            21 (J. Blandisi)

Points              34 (A. Steeves)

PPG                 4 (A. Steeves, R. Tverberg)

Shots               105 (L. Shaw)

+/-                    +18 (J. Blandisi)

PIMS                72 (K. Clifford)

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POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On the fourth line:They do a lot of things right. They play 200 feet. They create a lot. Sometimes they don’t get rewarded by being on the scoresheet but they do a lot to wear on the teams and they’ve been playing well. Glad to see they go rewarded with a goal from Mastro tonight.

On Keith Petruzzelli:He battled hard. That’s two in a row for him now. I thought he looked comfortable, he looked solid in net and that’s good to see moving forward.

KIEFFER BELLOWS (1 GOAL)

On tonight’s game:We came out flying. We were really responsible defensively. It’s the main key to our game. We just kept it simple. We got pucks deep. We let our forecheck game really determine those first 10, 15 minutes. It really helped elevate us for the rest of the game.

On Lehigh Valley tying the game in the third period:When you go up, you don’t want to have them tie the game. We trusted in the system that we have. Everyone was playing well. Especially KP behind us, he was staying strong, made some big saves, really kept us in the game. A heck of a game.

UPCOMING GAMES:*All times Eastern Standard Time

January 28 at Hershey – 5:00 p.m.January 31 at WB/Scranton – 7:05 p.m.February 2 at Utica – 7:00 p.m.February 3 at Utica – 5:00 p.m.February 9 vs. Laval – 7:00 p.m.

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