GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Toronto Maple Leafs will be making changes in their style and their system — and, they hope, their performance — now that they’ve fired coach Mike Babcock, general manager Kyle Dubas said Thursday.The changes won’t always be seamless and won’t necessarily yield immediate results, but Dubas is convinced the Maple Leafs…
Texas: M. Mersch (4) PP (E. Djuse, T. Kero), J. Nyberg (2) (J. Melnick, J. Robertson), A. Mascherin (1) (T. Kero, J. L’Esperance) Goaltender: J. Oettinger (20/24)
Toronto: P. Engvall (7) (P. Aberg, M. Hollowell), Egor Korshkov (8) SH (K. Rubins, P. Engvall), N. Baptiste (3) (T. MacMaster, J. Lindgren), M. Read (2) (T. Gaudet, M. Hollowell), Goaltender: M. Hutchinson (34/37)
ON THE SCORESHEET
Pierre Engvall scored Toronto’s first goal of the game at 9:09 of the first period and later added the secondary assist on Korshkov’s second period goal. This is his third straight multipoint (5-2-7) game.
Egor Korshkov scored 11 seconds into the second period. This was his second shorthanded goal this season. Korshkov has 11 points (8 goals, 3 assists) in 15 games.
Nick Baptiste scored at 8:56 of the second period. Baptiste has three goals in two games.
Matt Read scored the game-winning goal at 17:28 of the second period. Read has four points (2 goals, 2 assists) through four games this season.
Pontus Aberg registered the primary assist on Engvall’s first period goal. Aberg has points (1-3-4) in three consecutive games.
Mac Hollowell recorded the secondary assist on Engvall’s first period goal and the secondary assist on Read’s second period goal. These were his first two points with the Marlies this season through two games. Hollowell has five points (1 goal, 4 assists) in 11 games with Newfoundland (ECHL).
Kristians Rubins picked up the primary assist on Korshkov’s shorthanded goal in the second period. Rubins has four assists through 10 games this season.
Tanner MacMaster had the primary assist on Baptiste’s second period goal. He has seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) through 13 games.
Tyler Gaudet recorded the primary assist on Read’s third period goal. Gaudet has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) through 14 games this season.
Michael Hutchinson stopped 34 of 37 shots he faced. Hutchinson is now 1-0-0-0 on the season with a 0.919 save percentage and a 3.00 goals against average.
OF NOTE…
Toronto was 4-for-5 on the penalty kill and was 0-for-2 on the power play. Egor Korshkov scored Toronto’s third shorthanded goal of the season in the second period. This is the first time Toronto has not scored on the power play at home.
Texas had a 37-24 edge in shots in all situations. Kenny Agostino led the Marlies with five shots on goal.
The Marlies are 5-2-0-0 against Central Division opponents and are 2-0-0-0 against the Stars. This is the second of four games this season against Texas.
REGULAR SEASON LEADERS
Goals: P. Aberg, K. Agostino, E. Korshkov (8)
Assists: J. Bracco (11)
Points: P. Aberg, P. Engvall (16)
PPG: E. Korshkov (4)
Shots: P. Aberg (49)
+/-: P. Engvall (+11)
PIMS: G. Wilson (21)
RECORD WHEN…
The Marlies are 2-0-1-0 when trailing after the first period and 6-0-0-0 when leading after the second period.
Toronto is 4-2-1-1 when outshot by their opponent.
The Marlies are 2-0-1-0 in Sunday games and are 4-2-0-1 in November.
CURRENT POINT STREAKS
Pontus Aberg has points (1-3-4) in three consecutive games.
Nick Baptiste has goals (3) in consecutive games.
Pierre Engvall has points (5-2-7) in three consecutive games.
Egor Korshkov has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games.
Tanner MacMaster has points (1-2-3) in three consecutive games.
MARLIES UPDATES.
Pontus Aberg left today’s game against Texas at the end of the third period.
Darren Archibald (forearm strain) did not play in today’s game against Texas. He has not dressed since November 6 against Rockford.
Kevin Gravel (illness) did not dress in today’s game against Texas.
Timothy Liljegren (knee contusion) did not dress for today’s game against Texas. He left Toronto’s game in the first period against Grand Rapids on November 9.
Rasmus Sandin (rib contusion) did not dress for today’s game against Texas. Heleft yesterday’s game midway through the second period.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
November 15: Recalled forward Scott Pooley from loan to Newfoundland (ECHL).
November 15: Reassigned defenceman Joseph Duszak by Toronto (NHL) to Newfoundland (ECHL).
November 12: Reassigned defenceman Joseph Duszak by Toronto (NHL) from Newfoundland (ECHL).
November 12: Reassigned defenceman Mac Hollowell by Toronto (NHL) from Newfoundland (ECHL).
November 12: Loaned goaltender Michael Hutchinson from Toronto (NHL).
November 12: Recalled goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo from loan by Toronto (NHL).
November 12: Recalled forward Nic Petan from loan by Toronto (NHL).
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH SHELDON KEEFE
On if the team received contributions from the full lineup: Yeah, offensively for sure. But our depth clearly wasn’t enough for us to fight the fatigue that we had throughout the game today. It really showed in the third period. It’s been a really long week for our team. We had four really long practice days this week that I thought were really important days for our team to take some steps. I thought we saw signs of that here but I thought the combination of that and the fact that we went with five defencemen yesterday and lost Sandin who has played so much for us and is so valuable, and everybody else is playing so much more on both nights here. I think it took its toll, so I think we’re going to give our guys a bit of a pass for a lot of the stuff in the game today.
On Michael Hutchinson’s first start with the Marlies: He was great all game. He battled all game, he was solid for us there. I don’t think there was anything he could do on the goals. He made some big saves at key times when we were sloppy in front of him, so it was really nice and I’m really happy for him, and the guys are all happy for him to get that win.
On the team’s home record: No matter where we are, we have to pick up points. We’ve had a good start to the season here for sure, but you look around in the division and there’s a lot of really good hockey teams in our division, and they’re not all going to make the playoffs. So, it’s going to be a battle all the way through. Even though it’s early here, you’ve got to collect points when you can. We’ve been fortunate enough to do that while really not quite yet finding our game and fighting injuries and all of those types of things. Today our injury list is at six guys, and that’s been a problem for us. But the fact that we’ve been able to collect points keeps us in the fight.
NEXT GAME:
November 20 vs Laval – 7:00 p.m. ET November 23 vs Manitoba – 4:00 p.m. ET November 24 vs Manitoba – 4:00 p.m. ET November 29 at Rochester – 7:05 p.m. ET November 30 vs Utica – 1:30 p.m. ET (Scotiabank Arena)
The view from left field 