The Marlies and Rocket met for the second time this week on Friday night with the Marlies looking to extend their streak to three in a row in their last visit to Place Bell this season.

Dmytro Timashov got things going just past the halfway mark of the opening frame, batting the puck out of the air into the back of the Laval net. Defenceman Kristians Rubins, who was making his debut with the Marlies tonight, picked up his first point recording the primary assist on Timashov’s goal. Michael Carcone added the secondary assist. The Rocket doubled up on the Marlies in shots on goal in the opening frame 14-7, but the Marlies held onto their 1-0 lead heading into the second period.

At 6:34 of the middle stanza the Marlies capitalized on a man-advantage as Michael Carcone held the puck just inside the face-off circle before picking the top corner with a rocket of a shot. Timothy Liljegren and Gabriel Gagne assisted on the power play goal. The Rocket continued to test Michael Hutchinson as they looked to cut their deficit, but the Marlies net minder was stellar and turned away all 14 shots he faced in the second. The Marlies held a 2-0 lead heading into the final frame.

The Rocket were desperate to get something going in the third period and opted to pull Michael McNiven from the goal late in the frame in favour of an extra attacker. That opened the door for Pierre Engvall who jumped out all alone and found the empty net to seal a 3-0 win for the Marlies. Michael Hutchinson earned the shutout with a 42-save performance.

The Marlies will head home to host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Sunday for a 4:00PM start at Coca-Cola Coliseum.

Game Notes:

GAME SUMMARY | GAME SHEET | PLAYOFF PRIMER

SCORING SUMMARY



Toronto: D. Timashov (10) (K. Rubins, M. Carcone), M. Carcone (15) PP (T. Liljegren, G. Gagne), P. Engvall (16) EN (C. Greening, R. Sandin)

Goaltender: M. Hutchinson (42/42)

Laval: No goals

Goaltender: M. McNiven (21/23)

ON THE SCORESHEET

Dmytro Timashov scored at 11:51 of the first period. This was his second game-winning goal of the season. Timashov has nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in his last nine games.

scored at 11:51 of the first period. This was his second game-winning goal of the season. Timashov has nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in his last nine games. Michael Carcone scored on the power play at 6:34 of the second period and earlier registered the secondary assist on Timashov’s first period goal. Carcone has nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in his last eight games.

scored on the power play at 6:34 of the second period and earlier registered the secondary assist on Timashov’s first period goal. Carcone has nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in his last eight games. Pierre Engvall scored an empty net goal at 18:39 of the third period. Engvall has 27 points (16 goals, 11 assists) through 56 games this season.

scored an empty net goal at 18:39 of the third period. Engvall has 27 points (16 goals, 11 assists) through 56 games this season. Kristians Rubins recorded the primary assist on Timashov’s first period goal. This was his first AHL-career point in his first AHL game.

recorded the primary assist on Timashov’s first period goal. This was his first AHL-career point in his first AHL game. Timothy Liljegren had the primary assist on Carcone’s second period power play goal. Liljegren has 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in 29 games.

had the primary assist on Carcone’s second period power play goal. Liljegren has 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in 29 games. Gabriel Gagne picked up the secondary assist on Carcone’s second period power play goal. Gagne’s recorded assists in three consecutive games.

picked up the secondary assist on Carcone’s second period power play goal. Gagne’s recorded assists in three consecutive games. Coling Greening recorded the primary assist on Engvall’s empty net goal in the third period. Greening has 14 points (4 goals, 10 assists) through 59 games.

recorded the primary assist on Engvall’s empty net goal in the third period. Greening has 14 points (4 goals, 10 assists) through 59 games. Rasmus Sandin registered the secondary assist on Engvall’s empty net goal in the third period. Sandin has 14 points (6 goals, 9 assists) in 31 games this season.

registered the secondary assist on Engvall’s empty net goal in the third period. Sandin has 14 points (6 goals, 9 assists) in 31 games this season. Michael Hutchinson stopped all 42 shots he faced in his second shutout of the season. This is the most shots Hutchinson has faced for Toronto this season. Hutchinson’s record with the Marlies is now 10-3-3-0 on the season with a .913 Save Percentage and a 2.59 Goals Against Average.

stopped all 42 shots he faced in his second shutout of the season. This is the most shots Hutchinson has faced for Toronto this season. Hutchinson’s record with the Marlies is now 10-3-3-0 on the season with a .913 Save Percentage and a 2.59 Goals Against Average.

OF NOTE…



The Marlies’ away record is 17-8-2-3. Toronto has outscored their opponent 119-95 on the road.

Toronto is 17-6-3-1 since January 4 and have outscored their opponents 88-71, facing 13 different teams. In 21 of 27 games, Toronto has earned a point (38).

Toronto went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and 1-for-4 on the power play. Toronto’s power play on the road is second (25.5%) in the AHL with the most power play goals-for (35).

Laval had a 42-24 edge in shots in all situations. This is the second most shots Toronto has allowed this season. Nicholas Baptiste, Adam Brooks and Dmytro Timashov led the Marlies with three shots on goal.

and led the Marlies with three shots on goal. The Marlies are 22-13-6-3 against North division opponents and 6-2-1-0 against the Laval Rocket. This is Toronto’s fourth over time against Laval. Toronto has outscored Laval 21-16 through eight games.



REGULAR SEASON LEADERS

Goals: C. Mueller (24)

C. Mueller (24) Assists: J. Bracco (43)*

J. Bracco (43)* Points: J. Bracco (59)

J. Bracco (59) PPG: C. Mueller (11)

C. Mueller (11) Shots: N. Baptiste (130)

N. Baptiste (130) +/-: C. Rosen (+10)

C. Rosen (+10) PIMS: M. Marchment (56)

*Indicates AHL-leading

RECORD WHEN…

Toronto is 26-6-1-1 when recording the first goal of the game.

The Marlies are 20-2-1-1 when leading after the first period and 23-0-1-1 when leading after the second period.

Toronto is 15-9-2-2 when outshot by their opponent.

The Marlies are 8-5-2-2 in Friday games and are 3-0-0-0 in March.

CURRENT POINT STREAKS

Michael Carcone has points (1-2-3) in consecutive games.

has points (1-2-3) in consecutive games. Gabriel Gagne has assists (3) in three consecutive games.

has assists (3) in three consecutive games. Timothy Liljegren has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games.

has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games. Tanner MacMaster has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games.

has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games. Dmytro Timashov has goals (2) in consecutive games.

has goals (2) in consecutive games. Rasmus Sandin has points (1-2-3) in consecutive games.

MARLIES UPDATES

Andreas Borgman (concussion) did not dress for tonight’s game. He left Toronto’s game following the first period on February 16 against Springfield.

(concussion) did not dress for tonight’s game. He left Toronto’s game following the first period on February 16 against Springfield. Frank Corrado (knee) did not dress for tonight’s game. He has not appeared for Toronto since February 5 against Belleville.

(knee) did not dress for tonight’s game. He has not appeared for Toronto since February 5 against Belleville. Mason Marchment (collarbone) did not dress for tonight’s game. He left Toronto’s game in the first period on February 1 against Laval and did not return.

(collarbone) did not dress for tonight’s game. He left Toronto’s game in the first period on February 1 against Laval and did not return. Chris Mueller (hamstring) did not dress for tonight’s game. He left Toronto’s game in the third period on February 10 against Belleville.

(hamstring) did not dress for tonight’s game. He left Toronto’s game in the third period on February 10 against Belleville. Calle Rosen (foot) did not dress for tonight’s game. He left Toronto’s game in the third period on February 22 against Syracuse.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

March 7: Returned forward Brady Ferguson on loan to Newfoundland (ECHL).

Returned forward Brady Ferguson on loan to Newfoundland (ECHL). March 7: Recalled forward Zach O’Brien from loan to Newfoundland (ECHL).

Recalled forward Zach O’Brien from loan to Newfoundland (ECHL). March 3: Recalled defenceman Kristians Rubins from loan to Newfoundland (ECHL).

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH SHELDON KEEFE

On Michael Hutchinson’s shutout performance:

It was required if we were going to have a chance in this game, we needed an effort like that by somebody. If it’s going to be one guy that has a great game, you need it to be our goaltender so he was outstanding for us. I don’t know if we would say that we’ve had our goalies steal a lot of games for us this season. It’s allowed to happen every now and again, certainly that was the case for us today

On the rest of the team’s performance:

We couldn’t move the puck from our own zone today. That was an issue for us. I thought our defence had a real hard time handling the pressure, forwards didn’t do a great job of being able to relieve that pressure by spending time in their end. It was just kind of a recipe for disaster there. Hats off to them, they played very hard, they played with a lot of confidence. They had 25-point shots tonight. The shots are inflated because of that, certainly territorially they took it to us and had the puck a lot more than we did and then anytime we had the real breakdowns Hutchy obviously was outstanding.

On special teams:

Our penalty kill has gotten better steadily. That’s no coincidence that says our goaltending has become more reliable and more consistent, that continued today. We got the edge in special teams and as it is even if we don’t get the Timashov goal in the first period, the special teams end up being enough for us and winning the game. We kind of expected that being the edge going in and we talked to our players about that and we got that edge which is one big positive coming out of the game. We’ll take our two points and head back home and recognize that we’ll have to be a lot better.

NEXT GAME:

.

March 10 vs Bridgeport – 4:00 p.m. ET

March 11 vs Belleville – 1:30 p.m. ET (Scotiabank Arena)

March 15 at Hershey – 7:00 p.m. ET

March 16 at Lehigh Valley – 7:05 p.m. ET

March 17 at WB/Scranton – 3:05 p.m. ET

Game Preview:

The Toronto Marlies and Laval Rocket square off again today for their final meeting in Laval and second last meeting of the regular season.

The Marlies jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the season series following Wednesday night’s win in Laval that saw rookie defenceman Rasmus Sandin provide the overtime heroics. The Marlies have seen continued success on the road this season, scoring 116 of their 201 goals on the road. They have a +21-goal differential away from the Coliseum and their power play on the road is second (25.6%) in the AHL with the most power play goals-for (34). With 71 points, the Marlies are four points back from second place in the North Division behind Rochester and four points ahead of both Utica and Belleville who are fighting for the fourth seed with 67 points apiece.

The Rocket picked up a point in Wednesday’s contest but have dropped their past two games and five of their last 10. They are currently sitting in seventh place in the North Division and 12th in the Eastern Conference with 58 points.

Players to watch: Jeremy Bracco (one goal, four assists) and Adam Brooks (two goals, two assists) both have points in four consecutive games. Dmytro Timashov picked up a goal in Wednesday’s game and has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his last eight games. Michael Carcone recorded an assist on Wednesday and now has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his last seven games. Laval’s Daniel Audette registered two goals on Wednesday, ending a six-game drought. He sits third in team scoring with 32 points.

Puck drops at 7:00 PM on AHLTV.

Head to Head (2018-19 Regular Season)

