Belleville Senators 4, Marlies 2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This game had similarities with the Ottawa Senators and Maple Leafs game.\u00a0While each game got to 2-2 in different ways the winning goal by both Senators\u2019 teams had a bit of an aroma to them.\u00a0The Belleville goal was an attempted backhand pass across the crease by Zack Ostapchuck that bounced off of Marlies\u2019 goalie Luke Cavallin and into the Toronto net.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both games ended with an empty net goal by the Senators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In both games, the Toronto team outplayed, outshot, and out-chanced the Senators. However, they were undone by errors and came out on the losing end of a 4-2 score.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/oldprof.nhltradetalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/1.jpg\")
The Marlies opened the scoring at 3:27 of the first period when Logan Shaw and Kieffer Bellows broke in 2 on 1.\u00a0Shaw fed a nice saucer pass over to Bellows and Bellows found the five-hole on Senators\u2019 goalie Kevin Mandolese.\u00a0Matthew Highmore and\u00a0 Ostapchuck made it 2-1 Belleville at the end of the second period. Joseph Blandisi tied the game just 2:27 into the third period after Kyle Clifford beat out a Marlies\u2019 dump-in and fed the puck to Alex Steeves behind the Belleville net.\u00a0Steeves found Blandisi alone in front of Mandolese and Blandisi went backhand, forehand, backhand to beat Mandolese’s glove side. At 8:49 of the third, Ostapchuck scored the goal I wrote about earlier to give the Senators a 3-2 lead.\u00a0Roby Harventie would add the empty netter to round out the scoring.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cavallin, who the Marlies signed to an AHL contract in the Summer of 2022, was making his first Marlies and AHL start.\u00a0He was 9-3-2 with a 2.88 Goals-Against-Average and a 0.918 Save Percentage in 14 games with the ECHL\u2019s Newfoundland Growlers this season before being called up to the Marlies.\u00a0 Cavallin stopped 19 of 22 shots to take the loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cleveland Monsters 3, Marlies 2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
While the Marlies might have deserved a better fate than the 4-2 loss to Belleville, a 3-2 score while losing to the Cleveland Monsters probably flatters the Marlies.\u00a0Cleveland dominated the majority of this game.\u00a0While stats such as High-Danger Scoring Chances are not published for AHL games, I lost count of the dangerous chances early in the second period. By the time, they were about 10-3 for the Monsters.\u00a0Cleveland’s 33-26 shots in the game were also flattering to the Marlies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it weren\u2019t for the play of Dennis Hildeby, the score would have been a lot more lopsided.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cleveland opened the scoring when Mikko Kokkonen got his stick on an attempted pass from Owen Sillinger but could not control it and was bodied to the ice by Carson Meyer.\u00a0Corson Ceulemans picked up the loose puck and fired it past Hildeby.\u00a0The official scoring had the goal as unassisted, but both Meyer and Sillinger played key roles in the goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joseph Blandisi scored just 1:01 into the second period to tie the game up when he corralled his own rebound after Monsters\u2019 goalie Jet Greaves stopped his initial shot.\u00a0Blandisi brought the rebound from his forehand to his backhand before flipping it over a sprawling Greaves.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That tie lasted just 38 seconds when Hildeby whiffed on a shot from an angle by Trey Fix-Wolansky. I have to say I think it is only the second bad goal I can recall Hildeby allowing this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cleveland would go ahead 3-1 when Sillinger would get his stick on a shot\/pass from Cole Clayton and deflect it past Hildeby at 2:16 of the third period.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n