Following tonight’s 3-2 shootout win over the Belleville Senators, the Marlies closed out their annual Boat Show road trip 3-1-0-1, collecting seven of a possible 10 points and outscoring their opponents 19-17.
Photo courtesy of Toronto Marlies
The Marlies were granted an early opportunity on the power play as Belleville’s Chase Balisy was called for tripping. The Marlies converted on the ensuing man-advantage as Dymtro Timashov found Chris Mueller at the side of the net who then fed a centring pass to Jeremy Bracco. Bracco made no mistake firing a one timer past Marcus Hogberg to open the scoring at 1:41. At 7:08, the Marlies struck again as Calle Rosen sent a long feed to Timashov as he and Tom Sestito jumped out on a 2-on-0. Timashov sent Sestito a saucer pass and he tapped home his first goal with the Marlies to make it 2-0. The Marlies outshot the Senators 9-6 in the opening 20 and held a 2-0 lead heading into the second period.
The Senators brought the score within one early in the second period as Logan Brown beat Michael Hutchinson with a wrist shot from an awkward angle. Andreas Englund and Drake Batherson assisted on the goal. The Senators peppered Hutchinson with 16 shots, but that would be the lone goal of the frame as the Marlies held a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
1:55 into the third frame, the Senators evened things up with a goal from Batherson. The score remained tied at the end of regulation resulting in 3-on-3 sudden death overtime. The extra time also didn’t yield a decision so the game went to a shootout.
Rudolfs Balcers shot first for the Senators and was stopped by Hutchinson. Jeremy Bracco was the first to go for the Marlies but Hogberg shut the door. Belleville’s second shooter, Drake Batherson beat Hutchinson to give the Senators an edge. Mason Marchment answered right back to even things up. Logan Brown shot third for the Senators and was stopped by Hutchinson, setting the stage for Gabriel Gagne. Gagne beat Hogberg and sealed a 3-2 win over his former team.
The Marlies will now have a few days off for the AHL All-Star break before returning home on February 1st to kick off a five-game home-stand
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