Game Recap

It was a record night for Garret Sparks as the Marlies downed the Rocket 3-0 in Laval on Wednesday night.

Sparks made 18 saves in the victory, earning his eleventh career shutout which ranks him first all-time in Marlies history. It’s also his second shutout and fifth win in six starts this season. Following the game, he holds a goals against average (GAA) of 1.52 and a .942 save percentage (SV%).

The Marlies flew out of the gate in tonight’s game as Colin Greening opened the scoring just 3:42 into the first period. Greening collected a long bounce pass off the end boards from Vincent LoVerde and was able to tuck it past Charlie Lindgren for his fourth on the season.

Colin Greening turned on the jets to make it a 1-0 game in Laval.#MarliesLive pic.twitter.com/LjdjfOi0Dk — Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) November 1, 2017

Seven minutes later, Andreas Johnsson also scored his fourth of the season as he ripped a shot top shelf on the power play. Nikita Soshnikov had his second assist of the game on the goal and the Marlies took a 2-0 lead to the intermission.

Both teams played a tight checking second period, and it wasn’t until there was less than a minute left that Johnsson scored his second power play marker of the game after a great passing display from Mason Marchment and Chris Mueller.

Mason Marchment finds Andreas Johnsson driving to the net and he makes no mistake for his second tonight.#MarliesLive pic.twitter.com/x5mIYYagEc — Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) November 2, 2017

The Marlies controlled much of the third period, which was scoreless, holding Laval to just five shots in the final frame on route to the 3-0 victory in the first ever visit to Place Bell.

Johnsson now leads the Marlies in goals with five on the season, while Soshnikov takes over the team lead in assists with six.

Wednesday’s game marked the second time this season that the Marlies have scored multiple goals on the power play as Toronto has now converted 13.8% of the time. The Marlies were perfect while shorthanded and now have an 84.8% success rate on the penalty kill.

With the win, the Marlies improve to 7-3-0-0 on the season and are now 4-1-0-0 on the road. The Rocket fall to 5-4-2-0 and are 3-3-0-0 at their new home.

The Marlies road trip continues on Saturday when they visit the Hershey Bears. Puck drop for that game is scheduled for 7:00 on AHL Live.

Game Notes

GAME SUMMARY GAME SHEET

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto: C. Greening (4) (N. Soshnikov, V. LoVerde), A. Johnsson (4) PP (N. Soshnikov), A. Johnsson (5) PP (M. Marchment, C. Mueller)

Goaltender: G. Sparks (18/18)

Laval: None

Goaltender: C. Lindgren (29/32)

FROM THE SCORESHEET

Colin Greening opened the scoring for the Marlies at 3:42 of the first period with his fourth of the season.

Andreas Johnsson scored Toronto’s second of the period at 10:35 and later registered a power play goal at 19:05 of the third period. Johnsson has seven (5 goals, 2 assists) points this season.

Nikita Soshnikov recorded the primary assist on Greening’s opening goal and later added the lone assist on Johnsson’s first period goal.

Vincent LoVerde registered the secondary assist on Greening’s first period goal.

Mason Marchment assisted on Johnsson’s second period goal for his sixth (4 goals, 2 assists) point of the season.

Chris Mueller had the secondary assist on Johnsson’s second period goal. Mueller has six points (1 goal, 5 assists) this season.

Garret Sparks stopped all 18 shots on net for his 11th shutout as a Marlie. Sparks is now 5-1-0-0 on the season with a .942 Save Percentage and a 1.52 Goals Against Average.

NOTABLES

Garret Sparks is now the all-time shutout leader with 11 for the Toronto Marlies.

Toronto went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 2-for-5 on the power play.

Toronto had a 32-18 edge in shots in all situations.

Kerby Rychel led the Marlies with five shots on goal.

The Marlies are 3-1-0-0 against North Division opponents this season.

TEAM LEADERS

Goals: A. Johnsson (5)

Assists: N. Soshnikov (6)

Points: B. Smith (8), N. Soshnikov (8)

PPG: A. Johnsson (2), K. Rychel (2), D. Timashov (2)

Shots: N. Soshnikov (27)

+/-: T. Dermott (+7), B. Smith (+7)

PIMS: T. Dermott (18)

POSTGAME QUOTES

On tonight’s game:

I thought it was a much better game for our guys today in all areas. You get a shutout, you’re successful on the power plays. I thought we moved the puck a lot better today. We created some opportunities for ourselves that way. We kept control of the game a bit better. It wasn’t perfect by any means, especially at times at the end of the first and through the second period. But Sparks was good today as well, kept it out and another great game from him. So all around it was good effort from our guys, a nice response on the road against a team that just took two points from us in our building.

– Head coach Sheldon Keefe

NEXT GAME:

November 4 at Hershey – 7:00 p.m. ET

November 5 at Lehigh Valley – 5:05 p.m. ET

November 8 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton – 7:05 p.m. ET

November 10 at Binghamton – 7:05 p.m. ET

November 11 at Binghamton – 7:05 p.m. ET

Game Preview

The Toronto Marlies and Laval Rocket will meet for the second half of a home-and-home Wednesday night, with the Marlies looking to rebound from a 3-2 loss to Laval on Saturday.

The trip marks the Marlies first time ever playing at Laval, the new AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens.

The Marlies enter the game sitting in first place in the North Division with a record of 6-3-0-0 for a points percentage of .667. The Rocket currently rank third in the division and are 5-3-2-0 on the season.

In Saturday’s game, the Marlies fell 3-2 in a close, hard-fought contest that went down to the wire.

As the teams prepare to face each other again, one key for the Marlies will be limiting Laval’s power play opportunities. The Rocket have converted on 22.9% of their opportunities, putting them fourth in the league in power play goals. Additionally, Laval are tied for the league lead in goals scored with 38 over 10 games.

The Marlies will look to counter Laval’s power play with a strong penalty kill unit that has an 83.7% success rate.

Ben Smith enters the game leading the Marlies offensively this season with eight points (3G, 5A) in nine games. Mason Marchment has the team lead in goals, as he notched his fourth of the season in Saturday’s game against Laval.

For Laval, Daniel Carr and Chris Terry lead the Rocket in goals with six, while Terry and Matt Taormina are tied for the lead in points with 11 apiece.

Puck drop for tonight’s game is scheduled for 7:30 and you can catch all the action on AHL Live and Marlies Radio.

Follow us on Twitter for live updates and highlights throughout the game, as well as pre- and post-game coverage from Laval

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