The Marlies definitely had a swagger about them heading into their second game in as many nights against the Manitoba Moose; and for good reason. Following last night’s 7-2 win, the Marlies looked poised to head back home with two consecutive wins. With a strong performance from their special teams, and a stellar debut from Michael Garteig between the pipes, the Marlies cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Moose.
The Marlies were gifted an early opportunity as the Moose took back-to-back penalties, giving Toronto a two-man advantage. Leading goal scorer Trevor Moore got things started, finishing off a beautiful passing play from Jeremy Bracco and Sam Gagner to get the Marlies on the board. 13 seconds later, the Marlies capitalized on the power play again as Moore sent a cross-crease pass right on the tape of Chris Mueller who made no mistake burying his 12th of the season. Rasmus Sandin added the extra assist on the goal. The Marlies outshot the Moose 10-7 in the opening frame and held a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Just under two minutes into the middle frame Carl Grundstrom extended the Marlies lead to 3-0, firing a sharp shot from the top of the faceoff circle past Manitoba goaltender, Mikhail Berdin. Josh Jooris and Sam Jardine assisted on Grundstrom’s eighth of the season. Later in the frame, at 13:43, the Marlies again found success on the power play as Bracco fed a pass into the crease where Mueller was ready to tap it home. Gagner had the extra assist on the goal. With two goals in each frame, the Marlies held a 4-0 lead heading into the third period.
Michael Garteig made some highlight reel saves throughout the first 40 minutes of play to keep the Moose off the board, but at 4:07 of the third, Michael Spacek solved the Marlies netminder and spoiled his chance of a shutout. Past the halfway mark of the frame, the Marlies were able to restore their four-goal lead as Jorris had the puck go in off his skate. The goal was initially called off, but after a quick review the call was turned over and the goal was upheld.
Five Marlies had multi-point nights in tonight’s 5-1 win, including Sam Gagner who picked up three assists in the contest. Garteig earned his first career AHL win, turning away 26 of 27 shots faced, and the Marlies went 3/6 on the power play and were a perfect 6/6 on the penalty kill.
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