Toronto Marlies Visit Laval Rocket For Two Straight

The Toronto Marlies topped the Laval Rocket 7-4 on Wednesday night. The Marlies have now won four straight games.

In the first period, it was the visitors who opened the scoring, as Matteo Pietroniro scored his first AHL goal to get the Marlies on the board. In the final minute of the period, Anthony Richard scored on the power-play for the Rocket to tie the game at one.

In the second, the goals just kept coming. Nick Abruzzese scored on the power-play just 56 seconds into the frame to give the Marlies a 2-1 lead. The Marlies power-play has now scored a goal in each of the team’s eight games this season. A few minutes later Gabriel Bourque scored for the Rocket, tying the game at two. Just over two minutes later Jesse Ylönen scored on the power-play to give the Rocket their first lead of the game.

But, less than two minutes later, Logan Shaw tied the game at three with a power-play goal of his own. A couple minutes later, Adam Gaudette tallied his third of the year. Before the period was over, Shaw tallied his second of the game, a shorthanded goal at the 12 minute mark, giving the Marlies a 5-3 lead.

Late in the final frame, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard scored with 1:42 left to play to bring the Rocket within one. But, Joseph Blandisi and Joey Anderson both potted empty net goals to send the Marlies home with a 7-4 victory.

Logan Shaw finished the game with four points (2G, 2A), while defenceman Mac Hollowell has three assists. Keith Petruzzelli held it down in the Marlies crease stopping 42 of the 46 shots he faced.

The Marlies and Rocket will meet again on Friday night at 7:00pm at Place Bell. The game will be available to watch on AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto: M. Pietroniro (1) (A. Steeves, A. Gaudette), N. Abruzzese (3) PP (L. Shaw, M. Hollowell), L. Shaw (2) PP (M. Hollowell, A. Steeves), A. Gaudette (4) (M. Hollowell, S. Der-Arguchintsev), L. Shaw (3) SH (N. Hoefenmayer), J. Blandisi (1) EN (M. Abramov, M. Rifai), J. Anderson (7) EN (L. Shaw, N. Abruzzese)
Goaltender: K. Petruzzelli (42/46) W

Laval: A. Richard (5) PP (C. Schueneman), G. Bourque (5) (M. Stephens, O. Leskinen), J. Ylonen (2) PP (J. Barron, X. Simoneau), R. Harvey-Pinard (3) (J. Teasdale, B. Gignac)
Goaltender: C. Primeau (24/29) L

‍

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Matteo Pietroniro put the Marlies on the board at 4:40 of the first period. This was his first career AHL goal.
• Nick Abruzzese scored on the power play at 56 seconds into the second period and later added the secondary assist on Anderson’s empty net goal in the third period. He has five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in eight games this season.
• Logan Shaw scored on the power play at 8:12 and shorthanded at 12:05 of the second period. He also added the primary assists on Abruzzese’s second period goal and Anderson’s third period goal. This was his first career four-point game. His shorthanded goal was the game-winning goal.
• Adam Gaudette scored on the power play at 10:46 of the second period and earlier had the secondary assist on Pietroniro’s first period goal. He has six points (4 goals, 2 assists) in seven games this season.
• Joseph Blandisi scored his first of the season on an empty net at 18:46 of the third period.
• Joey Anderson scored at 19:48 of the third period on the empty net. This was his seventh goal in eight games this season and is tied for the AHL lead in goals.
• Alex Steeves recorded the primary assist on Pietroniro’s first period goal and the secondary assist on Shaw’s second period power play goal.
• Mac Hollowell registered three assists in the second period. This was Hollowell’s first career three-assist game. He also has recorded five assists through two games.
• Semyon Der-Arguchintsev picked up the secondary assist on Gaudette’s second period goal. He has points (1-4-5) in four consecutive games.
• Noel Hoefenmayer had the lone assist on Shaw’s second period shorthanded goal. He has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in seven games this season.
• Mikhail Abramov registered the primary assist on Blandisi’s third period goal. He has three assists in four games this season.
• Marshall Rifai recorded the secondary assist on Blandisi’s third period goal. He has three points (1 goal, 2 assists) through seven games.
• Keith Petruzzelli stopped 42 of 46 shots he faced. This was his fifth consecutive win this season.

‍

TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies went 3-for-5 on the penalty kill and 2-for-4 on the power play. Logan Shaw picked up Toronto’s second shorthanded goal of the season. Toronto is 6-2-0-0 when scoring on the power play and 3-2-0-0 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Toronto has recorded a power play goal in each of their first eight games of the season, extending a franchise record to open the season.
• Laval had a 46-31 edge in shots in all situations. Logan Shaw led the Marlies with six shots on goal. Toronto is 2-1-0-0 when outshot by their opponent.
• The Marlies are 5-1-0-0 against North Division opponents and 1-0-0-0 against the Laval Rocket.

‍

POSTGAME QUOTES

‍

HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On tonight’s game:

We’re fortunate and happy with a victory. This is a tough building to play in. There’s a lot of emotional swings throughout the game. The fans are always into it and bring a lot of energy. Their team feeds off of that. Sometimes playing here can feel hectic. At the end of the day, we’ve got to give up a lot less. Keith Petruzzelli played really well today and kept us in the game and gave us a chance to keep battling back and find a way to win. If we’re looking at a process and what we want to look like and how we want to play as a team, we’ve got to make sure we bring a better effort and a better execution on Friday to make sure that we give ourselves a better chance to win.

LOGAN SHAW (2 GOALS, 2 ASSISTS)

On tonight’s game:

First of all, Keith (Petruzzelli) played one heck of a game and we wouldn’t have won that without him. I think it all goes to the big saves he made the whole game to give us the opportunity to do what we did. Power play made a few adjustments, it worked well and we got rolling. I had a few lucky bounces but you’ve got to take those when you get them. It was nice to cash in on the opportunities. We got scrambly in the third. It was just all Keith. Keith had a heck of a game.

On the pressure faced in the third period:
The ebbs and flows, it’s going to happen all year, whether it’s game to game or period to period. You’ve just got to try to bend and don’t break as much as you can. Sometimes it’s hard when you’re sitting back. The big thing on the bench for us is trying to calm down everybody, stay relaxed with the puck and just try to keep going north. We had a couple of plays where we were coming back in our own end where we didn’t have to which puts us in a tough situation. We found a way to come out on top and that’s the biggest thing. Whether it’s the battles in net and the defence getting pucks out, us getting pucks in, it’s the big thing for tonight to take away from this game and the only thing we want to take is we found a way to do it. It wasn’t pretty but it’s going to happen throughout the year.

UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

November 4 at Laval – 7:00 p.m.
November 5 at Belleville – 7:05 p.m.
November 11 at Grand Rapids – 7:00 p.m.
November 12 at Grand Rapids – 7:00 p.m.
November 18 at Belleville – 7:05 p.m.