Cleveland Monsters 2 – Marlies 1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Cleveland Monsters are the class of the North Division.\u00a0There is a reason why they hold a nine-point lead over the second-place Syracuse Crunch.\u00a0The Marlies had met the Monsters three times previously this season and lost all three games.\u00a0Cleveland won each game by just one goal, but in those games, they were the better team, and goaltending kept the Marlies in each game.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This game started differently as the Marlies dominated the first period.\u00a0They outshot the Monsters 11-5 in the period. But what was most impressive for the Marlies is that all five of Cleveland\u2019s shots came on the power play.\u00a0 At even strength, the Monsters did not register a single shot on goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately for the Marlies, they were unable to capitalize on any of the shots or scoring chances they had in the period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second period started as the first period ended, with the Marlies once again taking it to the Monsters.\u00a0That led to Jake Gaudette taking a tripping penalty on Max Ellis at 3:08 of the period.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
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On the power play, Kyle Clifford was battling two Cleveland players behind the Monsters\u2019 net and knocked the puck free to Dylan Gambrell.\u00a0Gambrell attempted a pass out front to Kieffer Bellows.\u00a0The puck would bounce off the skate of a Cleveland defender right back to Gambrell as he was making his way to the front of the net.\u00a0Gambrell would corral the puck, pivot, and fire it over goaltender Jet Greaves\u2019 right shoulder to open the scoring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lead would last just over three minutes for Toronto.\u00a0Marlie defenseman Matteo Pietroniro joined a rush and carried the puck into the Cleveland zone.\u00a0But, he attempted a cross-ice pass to Bellows that was picked off by Luca Del Bel Belluz.\u00a0Del Bel Belluz upped the puck to Carson Meyer sending him in one-on-one against Tommy Miller.\u00a0Meyer would fire a wrist shot just inside of the Toronto blue line that looked like it went right through the glove of Marlies\u2019 goalie Keith Petruzzelli into the net.\u00a0The replay showed Petruzzelli got the tip of the glove’s webbing on the puck but it wasn\u2019t enough to stop it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later in the second period, Gambrell would get the puck past Greaves, but a Cleveland defender would get his stick on it before it crossed the goal line. Then Clifford would find himself with a wide open net on a rebound but the puck would bounce over his stick out of danger. Those two close calls would come back to haunt the Marlies later in the game.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Marlies would outshoot the Monsters 16-11 in the period to give them a shot advantage of 27-16 over two periods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the first period was the best period Toronto has played against Cleveland this season, the third period was by far the worst.\u00a0They did not register their first shot on goal until almost the ten-minute mark of the period.\u00a0The Marlies would get credit for only three shots on net in the third.\u00a0I say \u201ccredited\u201d because I only saw one, and it was not a dangerous one.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The winning goal for Cleveland would come off of a turnover by Topi Niemela behind the Toronto goal.\u00a0Niemela would fan on an attempted pass around the boards behind Petruzzelli and the puck ended up on the stick of Roman Ahcan. Ahcan would find Cameron Butler alone in front of the net.\u00a0Petruzzelli would make a sprawling save on Butler, but the rebound went right to Jake Gaudet.\u00a0With Petruzzelli down and out, Gaudet had nothing but the net to shoot at.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Monsters would throw a blanket over the Marlies for the remainder of the period and pick up their fourth win over Toronto this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Related: Maple Leafs Sign William Nylander to Record-Breaking Contract<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Syracuse had the better scoring chances in the first period of this game but Marlies goalie Keith Petruzzelli was the better of the two goalies as the Marlies came out of the first period with a 2-1 lead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Joseph Blandisi got the Marlies on the board after Ryan Tverberg won a faceoff directly back to him in the Syracuse zone.\u00a0Blandis let rip a wrist shot from the faceoff circle to the left of Crunch goalie Matt Tomkins and beat him on the stick side at 6:43 of the first period.<\/p>\n\n\n After Kieffer Bellows took a hooking penalty at 13:30 of the period the Crunch capitalized on the power play. On the goal, a wrist shot from the point by Gage Goncalves was first tipped by Joe Carroll in one direction and then tipped again by Gabriel Dumont in another direction past Petruzzelli into the net. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Marlies would retake the lead on a power play of their own after Devante Stephens took a tripping penalty late in the first.\u00a0With one second left on the power play, Nick Abruzzese would one-time a pass from Alex Steeves past Tomkins from the face-off dot to the left of the Syracuse goalie with just one second left on the power play.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the shots being 9-7 in favour of the Marlies in the first period, Syracuse had the better scoring chances.\u00a0All seven of their shots were of the High Danger calibre.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toronto fired 10 shots at the Tomkins before the Crunch got their first shot on the net in the second period.\u00a0Unfortunately for Toronto, Tomkins stopped all 10 of the shots and Syracuse scored on their one shot on a goal I am sure Petruzzelli would like to have back.\u00a0It was a clear, non-screened shot from the face-off dot to the left of Petruzzelli by Jack Finley that went between Petruzzelli\u2019s right arm and leg.\u00a0Petruzzelli was square to the shooter on the shot.\u00a0He just missed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Marlies carried the play for most of the second and outshot the Crunch 21-9 in the period but failed to beat Tomkins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Carroll would score two goals in 1:36 early in the third period to put Syracuse up 4-2.\u00a0Bellows would draw the Marlies to within one when he accepted a pass from Tverberg at the Syracuse blue line, took a couple of strides into the zone and fired a shot that Tomkins missed glove-side at 14:13 of the third. The Crunch would restore the two-goal lead just 1:40 later when Cole Koepke beat Marshall Rifai to a puck in the Toronto zone in between the face-off dots and one-time it past Petruzzelli in one motion. Koepke would add an empty-net goal with six seconds left in the game to finish out the scoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After blowing a 2-1 first period and going into the third tied at two, the Marlies would give up four goals in the third period to lose their sixth game in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Sunday rematch the Syracuse Crunch would pick up where they left off in the third period by scoring two goals on their first three shots in the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Waltteri Merela would open the scoring for the Crunch after walking around Kyle Clifford after Max Lajoie and Topi Niemela both got caught up the ice. Merela would beat Marlies starter Luke Cavallin’s glove side at 3:48 if the first.\u00a0They would add to the lead a little less than five minutes later when Maxim Groshev was allowed to walk out of the corner to the left of Cavallin.\u00a0Groshev was surrounded by Joe Blandisi, Ryen Tverberg, Kieffer Bellows and Max Lajoie when he let a shot go from the face-off dot that trickled through Cavallin into the net.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toronto outplayed Syracuse for most of the first period and outshot them 12-6 but would go into the first intermission down 2-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One oddity in the period was a three-man breakaway by Logan Shaw, Alex Steeves, and Blandisi that failed to score when Crunch goalie Hugo Alnefelt stopped a Steeves\u2019 shot. I don\u2019t recall seeing a three-man breakaway before.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n Bellows scored goals at 11:01 and 17:33 of the second period to tie the game at two.\u00a0After giving up six goals in the previous two periods to the Crunch the Marlies would not only shut Syracuse out in the second period, they would limit the Crunch to just two shots.\u00a0Toronto managed just six shots themselves but would score on two of those shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n As they did in the Saturday game, the Marlies and the Crunch would go into the third period tied 2-2.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toronto started the 3rd with 1:26 left on the power play from a hooking penalty on Syracuse\u2019s Merela with 34 seconds left in the second and had three shots on net with the man advantage but would fail to score.\u00a0Once Merela\u2019s penalty expired the next six minutes were spent almost exclusively in the Toronto zone.\u00a0The Crunch had the next six shots on goal and ended up beating Cavallin to go up 3-2 with just eight seconds left on a power play of their own after Ryan Tverberg took a two-minute tripping penalty at 8:41 of the period.\u00a0Joe Carrol, who was the Marlies’ killer on Saturday with two goals in the third period, did it again.\u00a0This time he cashed in on a rebound of a Gage Goncalves shot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n That goal seemed to ignite the Marlies as they would take over the play following the Syracuse goal.\u00a0At the 12:50 mark of the period, Gabriel Fortier took a high-sticking penalty giving the Marlies another chance with the extra attacker.\u00a0This time they would be successful on the power play as Steeve\u2019s one-timed a set-up pass from Niemela past Alnefelt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That would conclude the scoring in regulation and the two teams went to overtime. At the 2:49 mark of the OT, Logan Shaw won, but lost, a faceoff in the Toronto end.\u00a0Shaw got his stick on the puck and drew it back toward Cavallin.\u00a0But, Carroll once again killed Toronto as he stepped forward and batted the puck past Cavallin.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was Carroll\u2019s fourth goal in either the third period or overtime in the two games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the seven-game losing streak the Marlies have fallen to fifth place in the AHL\u2019s North Division two points behind the fourth-place Rochester Americans and only one point up on the sixth-place Laval Rocket.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nSyracuse Crunch 6 – Marlies 3<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Syracuse Crunch 4 – Marlies 3 Overtime<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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