The AHL’s Battle of Ontario took place on Saturday in downtown Toronto as the Belleville Senators paid a visit to the Marlies for a matinee battle at Coca-Cola Coliseum. They did so amidst a playoff run all but established with just 23 games left.
With thanks to the heroics of in overtime, the Marlies came back from behind the defeat the Senators by a 7-6 final. Along with the game-winning goal, the Marlies saw action from Egor Korshkov who scored his 14th of the regular season, the goal contributing to the overtime victory.
As well, the game was impacted by 24-year-old forward Mason Marchement, who entering the Family Day game on Monday, had eight goals in five games, a bright light for the Marlies. Marchement currently has 18 points through 24 games. With the Toronto Maple Leafs currently taken by bumps and bruises, both players were summoned on Sunday ahead of their game just down the road in Buffalo.
This left the Toronto Marlies with two large gaps to fill in on short notice as the Toronto Marlies, managed by head coach Greg Moore, look to clinch a spot in the league’s Eastern Conference. This would bring us forward to the Monday matinee at Scotiabank Arena where the Toronto Marlies played host to Binghamton in hopes of drawing another inch closer.
They certainly did just that at the home of the Leafs on this holiday Monday as Kasimir Kaskisuo got the nod for Toronto while Cory Schneider was in net for the Devils. While Marchement and Egor Korshkov have carried the load for the Toronto Marlies, so has Pontus Aberg who returned on Monday from the NHL.
Aberg, 26-years-old, is second in goals on the Toronto Marlies with 16 goals and 22 assists, this making for a total of 38 points. Just ahead of him is Kenny Agostino, the driving leader in the afternoon battle. Agostino leads the team in goals with 23 goals and 40 points.
Entering Monday’s game, the Marlies were riding on a four-game win streak and while they hit the ice looking to extend it, these hopes were briefly withheld by the Devils. After a pair of beautiful saves through the first eight minutes to keep the game tied scoreless, Jesper Boqvist scored his fifth of the season, this giving Binghamton the early 1-0 lead. That brings Boqvist to six points and four goals scored in his last three games.
That trail didn’t last for long for the red-hot Marlies on the Maple Leafs ice as Pontus Aberg, in his first game back, put the puck past Schneider to tie the game up at one. The goal, banked in on the power play, puts him another goal closer to Kenny Agostino. It was his 17th goal of the season with assists from Joseph Duszak and Tanner MacMaster. That puts him four ahead of Mason Marchement while bumping him three goals above Egor Korshkov.
While the first period only saw two goals, the Devils finished leading in shots, 11-9 after twenty minutes of play. Just one minute into the second, Agostino returned to his form by lighting the lamp for the Toronto Marlies, this putting his team up ahead 2-1. The goal, his 23rd of the season, was assisted by Aberg and Tanner MacMaster.
Just four minutes following the goal, the Toronto Marlies were handed the power play and while the team could not leap any further, a number of shots were taken on by Schneider. On home ice so far this season, the Toronto Marlies are 17-8-0-0, this being done through 26 games.
10:56 into the second, the Toronto Marlies would take the edge on the Devils with a 5-4 man advantage on a Binghamton penalty, their second of the game. While unable to get anything going, Cory Schneider got busy as Toronto filled the offensive zone.
With six minutes left to play, Teemu Kivihalme got called for slashing, this giving the Devils a man advantage, an opportunity Binghamton didn’t miss. That would see Brett Seney tie it with his 18th goal of the regular season. The goal, scored on the power play, was assisted by Boqvist and Nathan Bastian.
At 17:43 and the Marlies and Devils knotted up at two, Scott Pooley was called for slashing, this once again giving way to the Devils. That would lead to a goal from Julian Melchiori, his fourth of the season with two minutes left. The goal, scored on the power play, would put the Devils up ahead 3-2.
A final Binghamton rush would close the period with Toronto now trailing. The second saw three goals scored and the Devils leading in shots, 29-16 after forty. With thew third and final period now underway at Scotiabank Arena, the Marlies would be quick to lose one with Joseph Duszak being called for hooking.
Moments later, after Duszak returned, the Devils were all but done as Marian Studenic doubled Binghamton’s lead. The goal, his fifth of the season, was assisted by Fabian Zetterlund and centreman Nate Schnarr.
Fast forward three minutes later, Josh Jacobs would be called for high sticking, this handing the Marlies a needed chance on the power play. Despite a high volume of chances, Toronto was unable to get anything by Schneider.
After a scrum formed in front of the net, Agostino was sent off for a penalty after being called for goaltender interference. That allowed the Devils to dominate with a pair of shots on Toronto’s net, but just wide.
That would leave things off to the final six minutes in downtown Toronto where Cory Schneider became busy once again with a huddle of traffic as the Marlies pushed for a comeback. Looking at the AHL standings, the Toronto Marlies sit fourth in the North with 57 points, just four short of Utica.
With 1:10 left on the clock, the Toronto Marlies would call for a timeout, but following a conversion in the Binghamton zone, Egor Sharangovich would end it with an empty netter. The goal, his sixth of the season, would be assisted by Studenic and Schmelzer. With 17 seconds to go, Nate Schnarr would be handed the penalty, this giving Toronto one last chance on Binghamton.
As the final rush commenced for Toronto, the clock died down and the game siren sounded. This would see the Marlies fall short by a 5-2 final at the hands of their opponents. Luckily for the hometown hockey club, they meet again for game two on Wednesday as they look for revenge while salvaging the victory.
The Devils would finish the game leading Toronto in shots by seven, 40-33. The three stars, sponsored by Molson, would be presented after the game, Brett Seney being named number three with his 18th goal in the Monday night victory. Julian Melchiori would be named at number two with his fourth of the season in the Marlies 5-2 loss. Jesper Boqvist would be awarded number one with a goal and an assist in the Devils 5-2 win. With that in mind, the Devils leap to sixth in the North, but jump up in points to 54 under Syracuse.
After the game, The Puck Authority spoke with 27-year-old forward Kenny Agostino who said when asked about his performance and chemistry on the ice with both Aberg and MacMaster, “Yeah, I think we generated a lot of chances, you know, obviously, they don’t all go in, but all in all, you know, you create scoring chances, it’s positive.”
Head coach Greg Moore then followed, discussing the pace of play in his team’s losing effort where he said of the impact the Marlies have experienced given two key absences in both Marchement and Korshkov, “I’d agree and disagree. Effort was there, maybe not as consistent as we’d like to see. We kind of relied on playing a little bit slower than we had in the last 4-5 games, six games and we didn’t take advantage of transition. They played really well against us, they got a lot of pucks towards our net with a lot of bodies. We had a hard time clearing out the front. I thought Kas played great. He saw a lot of rubber, but gave us a chance to hang in there and there was a portion of time in the second period where we were up 2-1, but we weren’t winning the game. We were winning the game, but we weren’t winning the game. We were being outshot or out-chanced probably 2-1. Just need a little more compete, a little more effort, 50/50 battles in our D-zone and then playing slow just killed us. We had to play a little faster.”
When asked about the chemistry shown between Tanner MacMaster, Pontus Aberg and Agostino, head coach Greg Moore said of the constant effort that the three men are making to perform and win games, “Yeah, they played pretty well. They had a good game. It’s hard to evaluate and stick on a couple guys or a line when we needed more out of the entire team. When we did play slow, we didn’t build or possess the puck the way we wanted to. We didn’t get into the types of regroups that we had in the past that we had success structurally against this type of defence. And then the times where we could have taken advantage and transitioned a little bit quicker when they had line changes or they were tired in the O-zone, we wore them down. We just didn’t make the right decisions at the right times.”
Kaskisuo would finish the day having made 35 saves on 39 shots. Toronto is back in action on Wednesday morning at 11:00am as they look to bounce back with a win over Binghamton while sending the Devils to the exits defeated. The game can be seen on AHL TV and Leafs Nation Network, meanwhile, it can be heard on TSN Radio 1050 Toronto.