It is difficult enough to make the playoffs in the American Hockey League. It makes it more difficult when you struggle to beat the teams in your own division, especially when the schedule is heavily weighted divisionally. 

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Teams Ahead of the Toronto Marlies

Three teams are ahead of the Toronto Marlies in the AHL’s North Division. These are the Cleveland Monsters, the Syracuse Crunch, and the Belleville Senators. The Marlies played four games against those teams this past week. Two were against the Crunch, one against the Monsters, and one against the Senators. 

Toronto managed just one win in those four games. Despite carrying the play for most of the game and outshooting Cleveland 46 to 29, the Marlies lost 4-3 in overtime to the Monsters last Wednesday. They then went zero for two against the Crunch on the weekend, losing 3-2 in Syracuse on Friday and 4-2 back home in Toronto on Saturday. The Marlies did manage to eke out a 3-2 win over the Senators in a morning game in Toronto this Wednesday.  

In twelve attempts this season, the Marlies have not won a single game against either the Cleveland Monsters or the Syracuse Crunch. They are 0-5-1 against Syracuse and 0-4-2 versus Cleveland. The most disappointing thing is from watching those games neither the Crunch nor the Monsters appear to be better, or more talented teams than the Marlies. The Marlies just seemed to find a way to lose each of those games.  

Technically they have a winning record against the Senators at 4-3-2 but in reality, they won four and lost five of the nine games they played against Belleville. 

The Marlies Have a Strange Schedule

For whatever reason the Marlies have a strange schedule. Not only is it unbalanced outside of the division, but it is not even balanced within the North Division. The Marlies have played Belleville nine times this season and still have one more meeting against them in April. Toronto has played the Rochester Americans just twice to this point of the season and will face them four more times. That’s a total of only six games, four fewer than they play against Belleville. In the two games to date, the Americans have won them both in overtime. 

The Marlies have had great success against the two teams they have to beat to make the postseason. (Five of the seven teams in the North Division will make the playoffs.) They are 4-2-0 versus the sixth-place Laval Rocket and 2-0-1 against the seventh-place Utica Comets. 

North Division Standings

Teams	Games Played	Points
Cleveland Monsters	55	72
Syracuse Crunch	54	69
Belleville Senators	55	61
Toronto Marlies	53	59
Rochester Americans	53	58
Laval Rocket	55	54
Utica Comets	52	53

Individual Performances

With the Marlies only scoring ten goals in the four games this past week, there weren’t a lot of points to go around. The top point-getter in the four games was 33-year-old enforcer Kyle Clifford. Clifford led the team with two goals and four assists for a total of six points.

Clifford now has ten goals and 26 points in 43 games for the Marlies this season. He has played 753 regular season games and 65 playoff games in the NHL in his career and has two Stanley Cup rings. I can’t help but wonder if, in the Maple Leafs’ search for tough physical fourth-line players who can play a regular shift and not hurt the team while they are on the ice, they are ignoring one right in their own system.

Four players were tied for second in points for the Marlies this week. They were Joe Blandisi (2 G, 1 A), Dylan Gambrell (1 G, 2 A), Zach Solow (1G, 2A), and Logan Shaw (3 A). Blandisi has taken a five-point lead over Alex Steeves in the scoring for the Marlies with 20 goals and 28 assists for a total of 48 points. Kieffer Bellows remains the top goal scorer with 22 goals. 

After making his AHL debut for the Marlies the previous week, Johnny Tychonick scored his first goal and added an assist to give him two points on the week. 

Dennis Hildeby started three of the four games posting a 1-1-1 record and allowing nine goals on 91 shots to post a 0.901 save percentage for the week. His overall record in his rookie season stands at 14-8-6 in 29 games with a 0.913 save percentage and a 2.35 goals-against-average. 

Luke Cavallin gave up three goals on 19 shots in the 4-2 loss to the Crunch. In five starts since being called up from the Newfoundland Growlers, Cavallin has a record of 1-2-2 with a 3.17 GAA and a 0.870 SV%.

What’s Next?

The Marlies travel to Springfield Massachusetts to play the Springfield Thunderbirds at 7:00 pm tonight. After that, they get a five-day break before playing three games in three days the following weekend.  It is getting down to nitty-gritty time as only 19 games remain in the regular season for the Marlies. 

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