Toronto Marlies Top Cleveland Monsters in First Half Of Back-To-Back

The Toronto Marlies defeated the Cleveland Monsters 4-1 on Friday night in the first half of a back-to-back. The Marlies are now 8-3-0-0 against North Division opponents and 7-3-1-0 when playing on the road.  

In the first, it was Toronto who opened the scoring. Adam Gaudette scored on the power-play at 11:03 to give the Marlies the early lead. Gaudette currently is tied for second in the league in goals with 12.  

During the second period, both teams exchanged chances but the score remained 1-0 heading into the third.

In the final period, Cleveland responded with a goal on the power-play by Emil Bemstrom to tie the game at one. Shortly after, Toronto responded with a power-play goal by Nick Abruzzese at 7:55 to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. Abruzzese now has 11 points (5G, 6A) in 17 games. Both Alex Steeves and Joseph Blandisi potted an empty netter before the game was done to make it 4-1 and secure the win.  

Joseph Woll stood tall in the Marlies crease stopping 20 of the 21 shots he faced in his first start of the season.

Toronto returns to action November 26th for the second half of a back-to-back against the Cleveland Monsters. Puck drop is at 4:00pm on the Toronto Maple Leafs app and AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto: A. Gaudette (12) PP (M. Abramov), N. Abruzzese (5) PP (N. Hoefenmayer, J. Blandisi), A. Steeves (6) EN (L. Shaw), J. Blandisi (3) EN (M. Pietroniro, N. Hoefenmayer)
Goaltender: J. Woll (20/21) W

Cleveland: E. Bemstrom (8) PP (J. Dunne, J. Marchenko)
Goaltender: P. Cajan (24/26) L

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ON THE SCORESHEET

• Adam Gaudette opened the scoring on the power play at 11:03 of the first period. He has points (4-2-6) in five consecutive games. Gaudette is tied for second in the League in goals (12).
• Nick Abruzzese scored at 7:55 of the third period. He has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games. He has 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists) in 17 games this season.
• Alex Steeves scored on the empty net at 18:44 of the third period.
• Joseph Blandisi scored on the empty net at 19:43 of the third period and earlier picked up the secondary assist on Abruzzese’s third period goal. He has seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 14 games this season.
• Mikhail Abramov had the lone assist on Gaudette’s second period power play goal. He has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in eight games.
• Noel Hoefenmayer recorded the primary assist on Abruzzese’s third period. He has 13 points (2 goals, 11 assists) in 15 games this season.
• Logan Shaw picked up the lone assist on Steeves’ third period goal. He has 20 points (7 goals, 13 assists) in 17 games this season.
• Matteo Pietroniro registered the primary assist on Blandisi’s third period goal.
• Joseph Woll stopped 20 of 21 shots he faced in his first start of the season. This was his first start since March 17, 2022 due to injury.

TEAM NOTES

• Following a tripping call, Toronto’s Adam Gaudette was awarded a penalty shot at 3:30 of the first period and was stopped by Cleveland’s Pavel Cajan. Toronto was last awarded a penalty shot on May 2, 2021 against Belleville.
• The Marlies went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill and 2-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 11-3-1-0 when scoring on the power play and 5-3-1-0 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill. Toronto has had seven multi-power play goal games this season.
• Toronto had a 28-21 edge in shots in all situations. Adam Gaudette led the Marlies with six shots on goal. Toronto is 6-2-0-0 when outshooting their opponent. Toronto held Cleveland to four shots in the first period, the fewest allowed in a period this season.
• The Marlies are 8-3-0-0 against North Division opponents and are 1-0-0-0 against the Cleveland Monsters.

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POSTGAME QUOTES

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HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On tonight’s game:
We’ve been talking a lot lately about our consistent starts which we again had a good first period and now it’s piecing together the second period and coming out and making sure that the game’s not in question. We start gaining even more momentum and push in the second and I thought our team did a good job of that today.

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On Joseph Woll’s first start this season:
Impressive. He had some big saves. There was one in the second where he had to push hard to get to the far post on the wrap. Couple of glove saves. He’s an impressive goaltender and to have been out as long as he’s had with his injury, throughout the summer and to miss training camp to come in here today and do what he did was really impressive.

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JOSEPH WOLL (20 SAVES, FIRST START OF THE SEASON)

On his game tonight:

It was awesome. Just to be back out there with the team and get back into the swing of playing hockey was really fun … Just going out and being able to play hockey and getting out of the training mindset and just letting myself play. We have a really good group of guys and just to be around them on a day-to-day basis is awesome.

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On the team effort in front of him:
I was thinking in the locker room after the game (that) I’ve been here a few years and that was probably one of the most complete games I’ve seen us play as a team. To come out and have it be my first game and the guys play like that is pretty special.

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UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

November 26 vs. Cleveland – 4:00 p.m.
December 3 vs. Syracuse – 4:00 p.m.
December 4 vs. Belleville – 4:00 p.m.
December 7 vs. Belleville – 7:00 p.m.
December 9 at Syracuse – 7:00 p.m.