Marlies<\/a> nullified the first penalty of the game and, from that point, gradually gained a foothold in the contest.\u00a0They should have broken the deadlock at the midway mark when Reese Johnson escaped down the right side and made the smart choice to shoot low for a far-pad rebound. The puck fell perfectly for Marc Johnstone, who should have finished the chance.<\/p>\nThe Marlies edged into a narrow lead late in the frame by giving the Monsters a taste of their own medicine. From either side of the ice, Alex Nylander and C\u00e9dric Par\u00e9 hunted down a dump in behind the Cleveland net. Combined, they forced Stanislav Svozil into a turnover before Par\u00e9 sent the puck into the slot for Jacob Quillan. Ivan Fedotov came flying out of his crease, but Quillan calmly shifted the puck to his left and finished in behind the netminder.<\/p>\n
Second Period <\/p>\n
The opening to the middle frame replicated the first period. Hildey rejected Roman Ahcan after the Monsters forward drove inside the dots past a desperate dive from Henry Thrun.<\/p>\n
The Marlies were far more of a threat offensively in the second half of the period. They couldn\u2019t extend their advantage, however, as Johnson, Nylander, and Thrun didn\u2019t capitalize on Grade-A chances.<\/p>\n
There were other potential swing moments in the middle frame: Mikael Pyyhti\u00e4 was robbed by Hildeby from point-blank range, setting in motion a breakaway for Logan Shaw. Toronto\u2019s captain never appeared to be in comfortable control of the puck before firing a shot wide.<\/p>\n
A lapse by Dakota Mermis allowed Williams to escape on a breakaway, but Chas Sharpe closed down enough to slash the Monsters forward as he shot, allowing Hildeby to make the shoulder save. The Marlies\u2019 goaltender then stood tall on the resulting penalty kill, including a save off his helmet to keep the Toronto lead intact through 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
In total, Hildeby turned aside six high-danger chances in a frustrating period for the Monsters\u2019 shooters.<\/p>\n
Third Period <\/p>\n
In a wild start to the final frame of regulation, Hildeby robbed Cleveland three times inside the opening minute as Hunter McKown and Justin Pearson (x2) couldn\u2019t finish high-danger chances. Dakota Mermis also produced a big shot block after a mistake by Noah Chadwick with only 90 seconds played. Hildeby then produced another 10-bell save, this time on Mikael Pyyhti\u00e4 from the slot, as the Marlies held on by the skin of their teeth.<\/p>\n
When Toronto scored just 30 seconds later, it should have been a backbreaker for the Monsters. Ryan Tverberg engineered an offensive-zone entry through the neutral zone before pulling up and finding William Villenueve at the point. The defenseman sent the puck to the net and was rewarded with a huge rebound off the goaltender\u2019s pads. Luke Haymes was alert, making a diving effort to slide the puck into the net.<\/p>\n
The Marlies were comfortable after the goal and seemed to have the game in hand until Haymes took a stick penalty in the Cleveland zone. By his own admission post-game, it was a bad penalty to take, and it cost the Marlies dearly. Luca Del Bel Belluz produced a perfect shot to break Hildeby\u2019s shutout bid and halve the deficit.<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s lone chance to reestablish a two-goal lead arrived at the midway mark. Logan Shaw\u2019s lack of finish on a breakaway proved to be a turning point.<\/p>\n
Cleveland\u2019s tying goal was highly avoidable from Toronto\u2019s perspective. The Monsters dumped the puck in while outnumbered 3v2, but it didn\u2019t stop Zach Aston-Reese from winning the battle for the puck. The Marlies entered panic mode defensively, and Jordan Dumais got a shot off from the slot. Hildeby made the initial save but could do nothing to stop an unmarked Aston-Reese from burying the rebound.<\/p>\n
The Haymes-centered line responded brightly, as Tverberg came close to scoring twice and drew a penalty in the process. Toronto\u2019s lone power play of the game (shocking when you consider Cleveland\u2019s brand of hockey) was pretty much a non-event. The second unit was thrown out late in the sequence, generating one chance for Tverberg, but it was a missed opportunity in the end.<\/p>\n
A single shot on goal was recorded in the final four minutes of regulation as both teams seemed to settle for securing a point.<\/p>\n
Overtime\/Shootout <\/p>\n
The Marlies played an almost perfect overtime frame, although it was extremely boring and frustrating for the home fans. The Monsters didn\u2019t register a shot on goal and relied on Fedotov to bail them out.<\/p>\n
Quillan orchestrated a partial breakaway and looked set to win the game before Fedotov produced a brilliant double save. Toronto also couldn\u2019t make a late power play count, so the skills competition determined the fate of the extra point.<\/p>\n
The Marlies were one save away from victory, but they ultimately fell short in the shootout after scoring twice, with Cleveland winning it in the fifth round.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Post Game Notes <\/p>\n
\u2013 This was the fourth time in five games that a Marlies game required overtime. They\u2019ve lost all four. Still, Toronto extended its point streak to seven games (3-0-4) and sits fourth in the North Division with just one game this weekend before the All-Star break.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a learning league and a development league, but that is four games now that we\u2019ve given up the extra point,\u201d said Gruden. \u201cWe\u2019ll keep working on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 John Prokop has featured in just 20 games this season due to a variety of ailments. In a game where the Marlies struggled defensively at times, he looked steady and composed on the backend. His breakout plays were solid, and it was an encouraging overall performance from a player whom I\u2019ve had no strong opinions toward this season, one way or another.<\/p>\n
\u2013 His work off the puck and gaining the zone doesn\u2019t often end up on the scoresheet, but this was another excellent performance from Ryan Tverberg. I\u2019ve been impressed this year by the growth in his consistency game to game.<\/p>\n
\u2013 I\u2019ve made no bones about my feelings on the development plan for Jacob Quillan (and Easton Cowan) this season. It was no surprise to see Quillan on the scoresheet, although he unsurprisingly showed signs of rust at times.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Injury Updates: Artur Akhtyamov (illness, day-to-day); Matt Benning (lower body, day-to-day); Travis Boyd (lower body, day-to-day); Cade Webber (upper body, day-to-day).<\/p>\n
\u2013 Tuesday\u2019s lineup vs. Cleveland:<\/p>\n
Forwards
Groulx \u2013 Shaw \u2013 Lettieri
Par\u00e9 \u2013 Quillan \u2013 Nylander
Barbolini \u2013 Haymes \u2013 Tverberg
Pezzetta \u2013 Johnstone \u2013 Johnson<\/p>\n
Defensemen
Thrun \u2013 Chadwick
Mermis \u2013 Sharpe
Prokop \u2013 Villeneuve<\/p>\n
Goaltenders
Hildeby
Peksa<\/p>\n
Post-Game: John Gruden <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOur first five minutes of every period were not very good, but I thought we rebounded from it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-464210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}