Toronto Marlies Fall To Belleville Senators in First Half of Back-to-Back

The Toronto Marlies fell 2-1 to the Belleville Senators in overtime on Friday night. Toronto falls to 3-1-2-0 on the season.

In the first period, both teams exchanged chances, but both goaltenders stood tall as the score remained 0-0 after 20 minutes of play. In the middle frame, it was Topi Niemelä who broke through for the Marlies on the power play, scoring his second of the season at 6:51.

In the third period, the Senators responded with a power play goal of their own from Roby Jarventie at 16:23 to tie the game at one. 60 minutes wasn’t enough as the game went to overtime. In the extra frame, the Senators completed the comeback thanks to Jacob Larsson who scored just 43 seconds into the frame to secure the win for the home side.

The two teams meet again on Saturday night in Belleville. Puck drop is at 7:00pm on AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto: T. Niemelä (2) PP (W. Villeneuve, A. Steeves)
Goaltender: D. Hildeby (31/33) OT/L

Belleville: R. Jarventie (1) (M. Guenette, M. Highmore), J. Larsson (1) (M. Highmore)
Goaltender: M. Sogaard (42/43) W

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ON THE SCORESHEET

• Topi Niemelä opened the scoring on the power play at 6:51 of the second period. He has four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in five games this season. This was his second power play point (1-1-2).
• William Villeneuve recorded the primary assist on Niemelä’s second period goal. This was Villeneuve’s first point of the season.
• Alex Steeves had the secondary assist on Niemelä’s second period goal. He has three points (2-1-3) in three consecutive games.
• Dennis Hildeby 31 of 33 shots he faced.

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies went 1-for-2 on the penalty kill and 1-for-6 on the power play. Toronto is 1-0-2-0 when scoring on the power play and 2-1-2-0 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Toronto had a 43-33 edge in shots in all situations. Nicholas Robertson led the Marlies with 11 shots on goal. Toronto is 3-1-2-0 when outshooting their opponent. This was Toronto’s second game this season recording 40 or more shots.
• The Marlies are 1-0-2-0 against North Division opponents and are 0-0-1-0 against the Senators. Toronto was 8-4-0 against Belleville last season, outscoring the Senators 43-40.
• Toronto is on its annual road trip during the Royal Winter Fair and will spend seven games on the road, returning to Coca-Cola Coliseum on Nov. 18.

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POSTGAME QUOTES

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HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On tonight’s game:

We had our chances to score. I don’t want them to worry about just the points. I liked the style of play. We had a lot of posts and a lot of possession time in their zone. These nights happen. You run into a hot goalie. We took a penalty with four minutes to go there, and they scored the power play goal which was kind of a freaky bounce and then we kind of fell asleep in the three-on-three. It’s a mistake that we’ll learn from, and the good thing is we get to go back tomorrow night.

On Dennis Hildeby:
I thought he looked incredible. It’s his second start in the AHL. I thought he looked comfortable, he looked a lot more comfortable than he did the first game he played and that’s a good sign for us.

UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

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. (CST)
November 10 at Grand Rapids – 7:00 p.m.