Toronto Marlies Top Rochester Americans In Final Matchup Of Regular Season

The Toronto Marlies defeated the Rochester Americans 6-3 on Sunday evening in their final matchup of the regular season. Toronto improves to 4-3-0-1 against Rochester and 24-9-0-1 against North division opponents.  

In the opening period, Bobby McMann scored at 4:50 in the frame to give Toronto the early 1-0 lead. Later, Bobby McMann added his second of the night with a power-play goal at 18:37 to extend Toronto’s lead to two heading into the second.  

In the second, Zach Solow earned his first as a Marlie at 8:15 to extend Toronto’s lead to three. Shortly after, Rochester responded with a goal by Lukas Rousek at 11:02 to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes of play.

Early in the third, Rochester added another with a goal by Linus Weissbach at 4:06 to keep within one. Just over a minute later, Pontus Holmberg scored on the power-play at 5:24 to once again extend Toronto’s lead to two. Later, Rochester responded with a late goal by Isak Rosen at 17:09 to make it 4-3. Shortly after, Pontus Holmberg potted the empty netter to earn his second of the night and make it 5-3 for Toronto. Holmberg has points (5-2-7) in six consecutive games. Before the period was over, Bobby McMann scored on the empty net at 19:37 to earn the hat trick and secure the win for Toronto. This marked McMann’s fifth multi-goal game of the season – three which have been against Rochester.

Erik Källgren stood tall in the Marlies crease stopping 32 of the 35 shots he faced.

The Marlies return to action on March 17th when they play the Charlotte Checkers at Scotiabank Arena. Puck drop is at 1:30pm on the Toronto Maple Leafs app and AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto: B. McMann (19) (M. Johnstone, R. Zohorna), B. McMann (20) PP (L. Shaw, F. Král), Z. Solow (1) (J. Blandisi, K. Clifford), P. Holmberg (6) PP (N. Abruzzese, L. Shaw), P. Holmberg (7) EN (M. Hellickson), B. McMann (21) EN (L. Shaw, M. Hellickson)
Goaltender: E. Källgren (32/35) W

Rochester: L. Rousek (14) (B. Biro, L. Pilut), L. Weissbach (18) (M. Mersch, M. Jobst), I Rosen (10) (L. Rousek, J. Davies)
Goaltender: M. Houser (14/18) L

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ON THE SCORESHEET

• Bobby McMann picked up his second hat trick of the season. He scored five-on-five at 4:50 of the first period, on the power play at 18:37 of the first period and on the empty net at 19:37 of the third period. This was his fifth multigoal game of the season – three which have been against Rochester. He has 13 goals in his last 10 games.
• Zach Solow scored at 8:15 of the second period. This was his first goal with the Marlies. He has 42 points (14 goals, 28 assists) in 42 games with Newfoundland (ECHL).
• Pontus Holmberg scored on the power play at 5:23 of the third period and on the empty net at 17:59 of the third period. He has points (5-2-7) in six consecutive games. Holmberg has 15 points (7 goals, 8 assists) in 25 games with the Marlies.
• Marc Johnstone recorded the primary assist on McMann’s first period goal. He has 20 points (8 goals, 12 assists) in 56 games this season.
• Radim Zohorna had the secondary assist on McMann’s first period goal. He has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games. Zohorna has 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists) in 44 games this season.
• Logan Shaw picked up the primary assist on McMann’s first period power play goal, the secondary assist on Holmberg’s third period power play goal and the primary assist on McMann’s third period goal. This was his 12^th multi-assist game of the season. Shaw has 61 points (18 goals, 43 assists) in 56 games this season.
• Filip Král registered the secondary assist on McMann’s first period power play goal. He has five points (2 goals, 3 assists) in 19 games this season.
• Joseph Blandisi had the primary assist on Solow’s second period goal. He has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in his last eight games.
• Kyle Clifford recorded the secondary assist on Solow’s second period goal.
• Nick Abruzzese registered the primary assist on Holmberg’s third period goal. He is tied for fourth overall amongst rookies in points (15-27-42).
• Matthew Hellickson had the lone assist on Homberg’s third period goal and the secondary assist on McMann’s third period goal. He has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in 28 games this season.
• Erik Källgren stopped 32 of 35 shots he faced.

TEAM NOTES

• Toronto reached 40 wins for the 10^th time in franchise history.
• Logan Shaw is the 13^th Marlie to record 60 points in a single season.
• The Marlies went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill and 2-for-5 on the power play. Toronto is 28-8-2-1 when scoring on the power play and 19-5-0-1 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Rochester had a 35-20 edge in shots in all situations. Bobby McMann led the Marlies with seven shots on goal. Toronto is 18-9-2-1 when outshot by their opponent.
• The Marlies are 24-9-0-1 against North Division opponents and finish their regular season series 4-3-0-1 against the Americans. Toronto outscored Rochester 30-27 through eight games.

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POSTGAME QUOTES

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HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On today’s game:
Our focus and our approach today was that it was a playoff game. Last game against this opponent, opportunity to close out the series against them. Also, if there was a tiebreaker against them of any kind to make sure that we have that in hand and just for us as a group, establishing a mindset and a feeling that when teams play against us here down the stretch that it’s going to be hard. Our team came out and had a great start. We were more physical and just the energy and the spirit that the team played with today was just fun to see.

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On Bobby McMann returning from injury:

It was as if he never stopped playing which was really good to see that somebody can be out of lineup as long as they are with an injury and come back with tons of confidence. A lot of that is just because of how hard he works and how disciplined he is off the ice but also great job by our team, our staff, our medical team, our development coaches and our strength coaches, everybody that goes into helping these players return and be able to step into a game like this after an injury and have an impact, it’s really impressive with the resources that we have.

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BOBBY McMANN (2^nd CAREER HAT TRICK)

On the message leading into the quick start:

We just rolled our momentum from that previous game. Guys played hard at the end of that game. It was a quick turnaround here and we knew that they were coming off a couple of games so, the start was big for us and we were able to execute.

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On battling the pressure from Rochester in the second period:

That’s what we’re going to need coming down the stretch going into playoffs is that die hard mentality where you’re getting in front of shots, lots of guys blocking shots, getting in lanes, playing hard, getting pucks out and that’s what’s going to make it in the long run and have us win games down the stretch.

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On Erik Källgren:

He’s excellent. He’s in spots, he’s reading the play really well. Guys go backdoor and he’s there with his chest, not even just a glove or anything. He’s fully in position so, it’s a lot of confidence having him back there and it’s easy to play.

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UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

March 17 vs. Charlotte – 1:30 p.m.
March 18 vs. Charlotte – 4:00 p.m.
March 22 vs. Milwaukee – 7:00 p.m.
March 24 at Cleveland – 7:00 p.m.
March 25 vs. Cleveland – 4:00 p.m.