Admit It: Maple Leafs Keefe Deserves Credit For His Recent Moves<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nGame One: Rochester Americans 2 – Marlies 1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n There were a couple of lineup notes to start this game.\u00a0With the Maple Leafs running short of defensemen, they had called up Maxime Lajoie and Marshall Rifai. That left the Marlies short two players on the backend.\u00a0As a result, the Marlies had two new defensemen in their lineup.\u00a0They were Jonny Tychonick and Matt Anderson. Tychonick signed an AHL contract with the Marlies in March of 2023 and was playing for the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL. Anderson had been signed to a PTO on February 18th of this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 23-year-old Tychonick was the Ottawa Senators’ 2018 second-round draft pick but was never signed by the Sens.\u00a0The six-foot 185-pound lefthander from Calgary Alberta had played 45 games with the Growlers this season scoring six goals and adding 35 assists for 41 points.\u00a0He was chosen to be part of the 2023-24 ECHL All-Star game.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 24-year-old Anderson was never drafted in the NHL and was playing with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL before signing the PTO with the Marlies. The 5-foot-11 and 200-pound lefty had 14 goals and 49 points in 103 games in the ECHL over the past two seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Head Coach John Gruden Put His Team’s Lineup in a Blender<\/h3>\n\n\n\n With the Marlies only managing to score seven goals in the last three games, Head Coach John Gruden decided to put the lines in a blender to start this game.\u00a0The changes worked to a certain point, but they also didn\u2019t work.\u00a0The Marlies were the dominant team in this game.\u00a0They outshot the Americans by a whopping 53 to 26.\u00a0I had the prime scoring chances at 16 to 8 for Toronto.\u00a0However, they were only able to get one shot past Rochester goalie Devon Levi.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That goal was started by newcomer Anderson when he pinched to keep a puck in the Americans\u2019 zone and bumped it up to Kieffer Bellows along the boards to the left of Levi.\u00a0Bellows found Dylan Gambrell alone in front of Levi.\u00a0Gambrell went from his forehand to his backhand before flipping the puck over a sprawling Levi to give the Marlies a 1-0 lead at 11:13 of the first period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Americans would tie the game up on the power play early in the second period.\u00a0Dennis Hildeby would get a piece of a one-timer by Mason Jobst in the slot between the two faceoff circles but not enough of it as it fluttered by him into the net.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Related: Great News for Maple Leafs: Joseph Woll Will Soon Be Playing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Marlies Simply Could Not Beat Devon Levi<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Despite the Marlies firing 40 shots at Levi in the last two periods and overtime and out-chancing Rochester 12-3 the rest of the way, Toronto could not beat Levi again. The score remained 1-1 until 4:41 of overtime.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the overtime, the Marlies had four excellent chances to end the game. Twice Levi stoned Joseph Blandisi on what looked like sure goals. However, a turnover by a tired Blandisi after missing one of those chances ultimately decided the game.\u00a0Blandisi put the puck right onto Rochester defenseman Jeremy Davies\u2019 stick in the Marlies\u2019 zone.\u00a0Hildeby had no chance to react on the play before the puck was by him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Marlies blew a chance to move ahead of the Americans into fourth place in the North Division. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Game Two: Marlies 4, Laval Rocket 1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n This can be a funny game at times.\u00a0After losing to the Rochester Americans in a game they should have won the Marlies were severely outplayed in this game by the Rocket. However, because of a stellar performance by Joseph Woll, they came away with the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n