The Toronto Maple Leafs American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Toronto Marlies captured three out of four games over a busy six-day run to climb into third place in the North Division. More importantly, they are 12 points above the cut line for the 2024-25 Calder Cup Playoffs. Things are starting to look good for the playoffs for the Marlies.
Game One: Marlies 5, Syracuse Crunch 4 OT
The Marlies seemed to be in complete control of this game, leading 4-1 at the midway point of the third period. But three goals by the Crunch in the latter half of the period sent the game into overtime. Logan Shaw gave the Marlies the win at 1:42 of overtime with an unscreened wrist shot from the faceoff dot to the left of Syracuse goalie Matt Tomkins that beat him cleanly.
Related: NHL Rumors: Hughes, Team USA, McAvoy, Bruins, 4 Nations
Five different Marlies figured into the scoring, including two defencemen. Shaw, Miko Kokkonen, William Villeneuve, Joe Blandisi, and Roni Hirvonen each potted a goal. Dennis Hildeby picked up the win despite giving up four goals on 28 shots.
Game Two: Belleville Senators 5, Marlies 3
In this game, the Senators built up a 3-0 and 4-1 lead. Goals by Hirvonen, Jacob Quillan, and Blandisi pulled the Marlies within a goal before Donovan Sebrango scored into the empty net to seal the win for Belleville. Hirvonen had three points (one goal and two assists) in the losing effort. For the third game in a row, Hildeby gave up four goals. This time, it was on 25 shots.
Game Three: Marlies 3, Belleville Senators 2
Alex Steeves led the way with two goals, including the overtime winner, in a tight battle with the Belleville Senators. Artur Akhtyamov earned the first-star honours as he stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced in a game that saw Belleville outshoot Toronto 33-22. Matthew Barbolini scored the other Marlies’ goal.
Game Four: Marlies 7, Laval Rocket 2
This wild game saw 87 minutes in penalties, including two fights, three misconduct penalties, and a five-minute major to Matthew Barbolini for a shoulder-to-the-head hit on Rafael Harvey-Pinard. The Marlies dominated the game on the scoreboard. Goals by Shaw, Alex Nylander, and Cedric Pare in the first ten minutes of the game gave the Marlies a 3-0 lead. Jared Davidson and Joshua Roy pulled the Rocket to within one in the second period, but Toronto broke the game open with four unanswered goals in the third period.
Special teams played a key role in the victory. The Marlies scored three goals on the power play, two at 5-on-3. They also scored two goals into the empty net, including a shorthanded empty-net goal. Cedric Pare (two goals and an assist), Steeves (one goal and two assists), and Shaw (one goal and two assists) all had three-point games. Nylander added a goal and an assist. Hildeby broke his string of three games of allowing four goals per game by stopping 20 of the 22 shots he faced.
The AHL announced on Tuesday that Barbolini was suspended for two games for the head hit on Harvey-Pinard.
Individual Marlies Highlights
Steeves scored his 27th, 28th, and 29th goals of the season. He leads the AHL in goals by four goals over Isak Rosen of the Rochester Americans. Steeves has done that while playing five fewer games than Rosen. Steeves added two assists to give him five points in the four games. He sits in third place in overall AHL scoring with 46 points, just two points behind first-place Andrew Poturalski of the San Jose Barracuda. It was announced on Tuesday that Steeves had been rewarded for his play with a call-up to the Maple Leafs.
Related: What Is Mitch Marner’s Future With the Maple Leafs?
Shaw and Quillan also knotted five points over the four games. Each player had two goals and three assists. Five other players had four points each. They were Hirvonen (two goals and two assists), Blandisi (two goals and two assists), Nylander (one goal and three assists), and Villeneuve (one goal and three assists).
Despite not posting good numbers, Hildeby picked up two wins in his three games. He gave up 10 goals in just over 178 minutes to post a 3.36 goals-against average (GAA) and a .867 save percentage (SV%). In 15 games this season, Hildeby has a record of 9-4-2 with a 2.70 GAA and a .899 SV%. The one great game that Akhtyamov played raised his record to 10-4-3 in 19 appearances with a 2.66 GAA and a .904 SV%.
What’s Next for the Marlies?
The Marlies’ schedule doesn’t get any easier. They play three games in three days this coming weekend, with travel between each game. They travel to Syracuse to take on the Crunch with a 7:00 p.m. game on Friday before skipping across to Rochester for a 5:00 p.m. Saturday game against the Americans. They then return to Toronto and host the Manitoba Moose on Sunday. That game begins at 4:00 p.m.
Related: 7 Cool Things About Jarome Iginla: Calgary Flames Hall of Famer
The Marlies get two days off before hosting the Laval Rocket one more time on Wednesday morning at 11:00 am. That game is one of the special “School-Day” games. If I were a parent of younger students, I might want to keep my child away from that game, given the last encounter between these two teams.
[Note: I want to thank long-time Maple Leafs fan Stan Smith for collaborating with me on this post. Stan’s Facebook profile can be found here.]
