Toronto Marlies Fall To Syracuse Crunch In First Of Home-And-Home

The Toronto Marlies fell 4-3 to the Syracuse Crunch on Friday night. Toronto is now 8-6-3-1 on the season.

In the first period, it was the home team that struck first, as Mitchell Chaffee scored on the power play to give the Crunch a 1-0 lead. With just 2 seconds remaining in the period, Shawn Element scored again for Syracuse, giving them a 2-0 lead at the break.

In the second, the Crunch added another from Gage Goncalves to give them a three goal lead after two periods of play.

In the third Toronto managed to break through. Pontus Holmberg score two power play goals in the final frame. Robert Mastrosimone scored his first professional goal before the game was over, but it wasn’t enough. Syracuse added an empty net goal to take home a 4-3 victory. Despite the loss, Alex Steeves extended his point streak (11G, 8A) to 12 games.

The two teams meet again on Saturday afternoon at Coca-Cola Coliseum. Puck drop is at 4:00pm on the Toronto Maple Leafs app and AHLTV.

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto:  P. Holmberg (4) PP (N. Abruzzese, T. Niemelä), P. Holmberg (5) PP (A. Steeves, T. Niemelä), R. Mastrosimone (1) (J. Slavin, T. Niemelä)
Goaltender: D. Hildeby (22/25) L

Syracuse: M. Chaffee (6) PP (J. Thompson, G. Dumont), S. Element (2) (J. Thompson, W. Merelä), G. Goncalves (4) (P. Myers, M. Chafee), D. Walcott (8) EN (G. Dumont, S. Day)
Goaltender: M. Tomkins (28/31) W

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ON THE SCORESHEET

• Pontus Holmberg put the Marlies on the board at 8:21 and scored his goal of the game at 18:24, both in the third period on the power play. He has seven points (5 goals, 2 assists) eight games with the Marlies this season.
• Robert Mastrosimone scored at 19:51 of the third period. This was his first professional goal.
• Nick Abruzzese recorded the primary assist on Holmberg’s first third period goal. He has 14 points (3 goals, 11 assists) in 18 games this season.
• Topi Niemelä had the secondary assists on all three goals scored against Syracuse. He has 12 points (2 goals, 10 assists) in 16 games. He is the second Marlies defenceman with a three-assist game this season. Niemelä has 12 points (2 goals, 10 assists) in 16 games this season.
• Alex Steeves picked up the primary assist on Holmberg’s second third period goal. He extends his AHL leading 12-game point streak (11-6-17).
• Josiah Slavin registered the primary assist on Mastrosimone’s third period goal. He has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in 17 games this season.
• Dennis Hildeby stopped 22 of 25 shots he faced. He leads AHL goaltenders in goals against average (1.63) and is tied for the lead in save percentage (0.935).

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TEAM NOTES

• The Marlies went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill and 2-for-6 on the power play. Toronto is 3-2-2-1 when scoring on the power play and 4-3-3-0 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill. This was Toronto’s third multi-power play goal game of the season.
• Toronto had a 31-26 edge in shots in all situations. Pontus Holmberg led the Marlies with six shots on goal. Toronto is 7-4-2-1 when outshooting their opponent.
• The Marlies are 3-2-3-1 against North Division opponents and are 0-1-0-0 against the Crunch.

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POSTGAME QUOTES

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HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN

On tonight’s game:

We knew they were going to come out hard. They’re a heavy team. They like to keep pucks going along the wall. They’re hard to handle for our D. For the most part, we came out well early. We had a couple of breakdowns at the wrong time, giving up that goal with 1.5 seconds to go and we don’t get the puck out from the wall and it ends up at back of our net. We didn’t give them much but Dennis was great and we had some good performances. When we get opportunities to score goals, we’ve got to get inside a little bit more and can’t be afraid to put pucks on net. I think that will allow us more second chance opportunities but I thought we battled back obviously. But it’s tough to come back against a team like this down 3-0 going into the third.

UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

December 2 vs. Syracuse – 4:00 p.m.
December 5 vs. Grand Rapids – 7:00 p.m.
December 10 vs. Grand Rapids – 4:00 p.m.
December 15 at Providence – 7:00 p.m.
December 17 at Hartford – 3:00 p.m.