The Toronto Marlies wrapped up a five-game homestand and began their annual three-week November vacation last weekend, splitting games against Hershey and Belleville
Friday – Toronto 5, Hershey 3
Toronto’s last game of their homestand opened up with some bad blood. After Ryan Chesley sent Henrik Rybinski into the board with a questionable hit, Landon Sim came to his defence, dropping the gloves for the fourth time in his last five games. A streaking Borya Valis put the Marlies up 1-0 midway through the first period, after a pass-redirect from Matthew Barbolini sent him off to the races to rip a wrist shot top-shelf past Cal Petersen.
Penalty trouble punished the Marlies in the second period, as the Bears scored powerplay goals early and late. An awkward crease deflection tied the game for Hershey a minute into the frame, while a loose puck in the slot gave them the go-ahead goal with two minutes remaining. There wasn’t a lot that Samuel Hlavaj could do about either goal.
The special teams that took away from Toronto in the second were more helpful in the third. Valis struck a again a minute into an early powerplay, splitting the Hershey defence on a carry-in and slipping home his second of the evening. The Bears almost immediately took another penalty, and on that powerplay, Ryan Tverberg tipped in some service to the netfront to give Toronto the lead once again. Hershey were able to respond with eight minute remaining in regulation, but took a tripping penalty during the following shift. On the ensuing powerplay, Vinny Borgesi set up Logan Shaw for a one timer, and while that was stopeped by Petersen, Shaw took a second slapshot to retake the lead for good. A long-distance empty netter from Philippe Myers locked in the game with a minute and a half remaining.
Sunday – Belleville 4, Toronto 1
While Friday was a back-and-forth game that the Marlies were able to get just enough out of to win, this game wasn’t particularly close. With Marc Johnstone in the box and Belleville having already taken seven of the game’s first eight shots, Kasper Haulttuen ripped a wristshot from the left hashmark past Artur Akthyamov halfway through the first period. Just sixteen seconds later, the Senators struck again, with Blake Montgomery rushing down the wing and taking his own shot from about the same area to put Toronto heavily on their heels early.
The Marlies were outshot 12-2 in the first period. With three and a half mintues left in the second and Ryan Tverberg in the box, Halttunen scored his second of the night, another wrist shot from just to the right of the left hashmark. With Cade Webber in the box early in the third period, Halttunen scored again on the powerplay, again from the left hashmark, though this time he had the courtesy of mixing in a one timer. Tverberg broke up Jackson Parsons’ shutout a few minutes later with a nifty drive to the paint off the rush, but that’s all Toronto had left in them, taking just three more of their 15 total shots in the final 15 minutes.
Notes
- Good for Landon Sim for sticking up for his teammate in the Friday game, but he’s going to start picking his spots soon. The AHL has a soft-cap on fighting majors, suspending players for every fight after their tenth. Sim has already dropped the gloves five times in eleven games this season, including four in his last six games. His single-year record is eight in 54 games in his last year of junior. I know that this is going to be a part of his role if he is going to have success at the pro level, but finding a balance is key. Last week came with a concern too. This is a player I really want to like, but they need him closer to his playoff energy than this.
- Speaking of playoff energy compared to present results, do we start to worry a little about Artur Akthyamov yet? Through six apperances he’s posted a 0.867 save percentage, on track for the worst season in his pro career by a good margin. My guess he’ll bounce back to some degree, but he certainly hasn’t looked like someone ready to put pressure on the veterans above him with the Leafs.
- Cade Webber got into the action for the first time this season, struggling a bit to keep up in his first game but faring a little better against Belleville. Webber has had less and less opportunity afforded to him with each year since being acquired from Carolina in 2024, and it feels like this year will be his last real opportunity to leave an impression beyond his size on the organization.
- A productive weekend for Ryan Tverberg, who was the only Marlie to pick up a goal in both games. Logan Shaw and Philippe Myers both had points in each contest. Tverberg started out the season slow with two points in his first nnine games, so one hopes this can be a step in the right direction for him.
- It felt like Toronto kept getting beat in the same way on both nights. On Friday, Hershey flooded the crase and the Marlies didn’t do a good enough job of supporting Hlavaj. On Sunday, it felt like the left hash was easy money for the Sens,, who didn’t necessarily focus their efforts there but made the most of them.
Less than ideal on Sunday, to say the least
Coming Up Next
| Date | Time | Opponent (Affiliate, Record) |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, Nov 4 | 7:00 p.m. | vs. Hamilton Hammers (NYI, 3-7-2) |
| Saturday, Nov 6 | 8:00 p.m. | vs. Manitoba Moose (WPG, 8-4-0) |
| Sunday, Nov 7 | 7:00 p.m. | vs. Manitoba Moose (WPG, 8-4-0) |
The Hammers, again? You better believe it – Toronto faces their QEW buddies for what’s already the fifth time this season tonight. So far, it’s been very fruitful business for the Marlies to get these games in now, as they’ve banked four quick wins out of the gate, the last two of which being by multiple goals. Since the two teams last faced off in Week 4, Hamilton was able to string together a couple of wins aginst Laval and Hartford, though they lost their first game against the Rocket and got absolutely pumped (7-0) against Syracuse. Their most recent game, on Sunday, saw them lose 3-2 to Utica in a shootout after tying the game with three minutes left in regulation.
Manitoba, affiliates of the Winnipeg Jets, are familiar foes historically but not ones who have matched up with the Marlies yet this year. They’ll face each other four times throughout the year – twice now, and twice more in Toronto in March. Last year, the Moose won three of the four games in the season series. Manitoba sits in a comfy second seed in the Central Division right now, with themselves, Grand Rapids, and Milwaukee beginning to separate themselves from the pack. InStat has Manitoba tracked at about a 47% shot attempt share this season, near the bottom of the league, but they’ve made good on the chances they’ve gotten, and they’ve gotten stellar goaltending from Domenic DiVincentiis and Thomas Milic.
Fomer Maple Leaf Noah Gregor currently leads the Moose in points (14 in 12 games), and 2026 Marlies defenceman Henry Thrun is their top scoring blue liner (7 points in 12 games). Prospects like Brayden Yager (2023 1st), Colby Barlow (2023 1st), and Kevin He (2024 4th) will be of interest to fans, as will Brad Lambert (2022 1st), who cleared waivers on Wednesday afternoon.
Header photo from Flickr / Toronto Marlies. Analytics derived from personal tracking and/or data sourced from InStat.
