The view from left field

ROCHESTER AMERICANS (22-15-2-1 – 47 Points) vs.
TORONTO MARLIES (21-12-2-1 – 45 Points)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2022

	1	2	3	OT	FINAL
ROCHESTER	1	1	0	–	2
TORONTO	1	2	2	–	5

GAME SUMMARY    |    GAME SHEET |    PHOTOS    |      SCRUMS

SCORING SUMMARY

Rochester: B. Murray (8) PP (E. Prow, L. Weissbach), P. Tischke (1) (A. Ruotsalainen, P. Krebs)
Goaltender: M. Robson (26/30) L   

Toronto: A. Biega (1) (S. Der-Arguchintsev), M. Hollowell (3) (S. Der-Arguchintsev, K. Rubīns), N. Robertson (1) (S. Der-Arguchintsev, A. Suomela), J. Anderson (14) PP (B. McMann, J. Duszak), N. Robertson (2) EN (Unassisted)
Goaltender: M. Hutchinson (30/32) W    

ON THE SCORESHEET

• Alex Biega opened the scoring at 6:47 of the first period. This was his first goal of the season. He has five points (1 goal, 4 assists) in 16 games with the Marlies.
• Mac Hollowell scored at 10:42 of the second period. He has points (1-1-2) in his last two games played. Hollowell has 13 points (3 goals, 10 assists) in 22 games this season.
• Nick Robertson scored the game-winning goal at 16:52 of the second period and later added an empty-net goal at 17:42 of the third period. The game-winning goal was his first of the season. He has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in four games.
• Joey Anderson scored on the power play at 13:23 of the third period. This was his fifth power play goal of the season.
• Semyon Der-Arguchintsev had the lone assist on Biega’s first period goal and later added the primary assists on Hollowell and Robertson’s second period goals. He has points (2-3-5) in his last three games. This was his first three-point game with the Marlies.
• Kristiāns Rubīns recorded the secondary assist on Hollowell’s second period goal. He has five points (1 goal, 4 assists) in 27 games with the Marlies this season.
• Antti Suomela picked up the secondary assist on Robertson’s second period goal. He has points (3-1-4) in four consecutive games. Suomela has 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists) in 19 games this season.
• Bobby McMann collected the primary assist on Anderson’s third period power play goal. He has 14 points (10 goals, 4 assists) in 27 games this season.
• Joseph Duszak registered the secondary assist on Anderson’s third period goal. This was his 14^th power play assist.
• Michael Hutchinson stopped 30 of 32 shots he faced.

OF NOTE

• The Marlies are on a five-game point streak (4-0-1-0) heading into the AHL All-Star break.
• Toronto went 2-for-3 on the penalty kill and 1-for-4 on the power play. Toronto is 14-7-1-0 when scoring on the power play and 9-6-2-1 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
• Rochester had a 32-31 edge in shots in all situations. Mac Hollowell and Nick Robertson led the Marlies with four shots on goal. Toronto is 14-8-2-1 when outshot by their opponent.
• The Marlies are 11-7-1-1 against North Division opponents and 2-1-0-0 against the Americans. Toronto’s last game against Rochester was on Nov. 5 in a 4-1 road win. Toronto has outscored Rochester 12-10 through three games.

AT THE HALFWAY MARK

• Toronto is 21-12-2-1 (45 points) midway through the season and have outscored their opponents 120-119. The club is 2^nd in the North Division and tied for 10^th overall in the league.
• Toronto collected their most wins in a single month in January (8-3-1-0) which included a season-high six-game winning streak.
• The Marlies have recorded five or more goals in 11 games (9-0-1-1).
• Four goaltenders – Erik Källgren, Michael Hutchinson, Keith Petruzzelli and Joseph Woll – have picked up wins for the Marlies. Källgren leads all Marlies goaltenders in wins (12), save percentage (0.912) and goals against average (2.82).

RECORD WHEN Scoring first                            15-1-1-1 Tied after 1                              5-2-0-0 Leading after 2                        15-1-2-1 At home                                   10-5-1-1 February                                  2-0-0-0 Saturday                                  7-4-1-0 3 goal game                             5-2-0-0

MARLIES LEADERS *Amongst active players Goals               14 (J. Anderson) Assists            25 (J. Duszak) Points              31 (B. Seney) PPG                 5 (J. Anderson) Shots               82 (A. Steeves) +/-                    +12 (B. Seney) PIMS                55 (R. Clune)

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH GREG MOORE

On the team’s four game winning streak heading into the break:

The team has put in a lot of work since the beginning of the season. I would say the last month or so in terms of our process, the starts to games, the maturity we’re starting to build in playing with leads or even coming back in games late in the third. There’s a lot of pieces right now that are coming together. We’re putting in the work and we’re getting the results.

On Michael Hutchinson:

He did great. He competed really hard, kept us in there in the first period. I felt as a team we built and got better slowly as the game went on. Second period was much better than the first. Hutch had some real timely saves to give our team confidence.

On Nick Robertson:
To be able to return after being out for so long and have such an impact this quickly is because of how hard he works off the ice and on the ice. He took his return to play very seriously. He was ready when the challenge came to return and we’re seeing the fruits of that labour.

MICHAEL HUTCHINSON

On today’s game:
It was kind of a strange start to the game. I felt like we were controlling a lot of in-zone time in their end, but the shot clock didn’t really reflect that. We had some good scoring chances there, we just missed the net. Then they had a few shots on their power play and after that they were really funneling pucks to the net and really crashing the net for rebounds. The shots add up pretty quick that way but it’s fun playing those games as a goalie because you’re always involved in the game and you’re into it early.

On Mac Hollowell’s performance:

It was awesome, I thought he played unbelievable all night tonight. Right from the get-go he was talking to me on our puck protections and exchanges behind the net. He was very vocal out there which was nice to see, especially a guy who was in and out of the lineup right now, and then the third period, everyone is talking about the fight, but he blocked one almost with his face on a seam pass. That’s a huge block right there in a tight game. He was doing all the little things tonight as well as being able to contribute on the scoresheet and have a good fight which is always nice to see when both guys come away unscathed, but it was good momentum for us.

UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time

February 16 vs. Utica – 7:00 p.m.
February 18 at Belleville – 7:00 p.m.
February 19 vs. Belleville – 4:00 p.m.
February 21 vs. Laval – 3:00 p.m. (Scotiabank Arena)
February 23 vs. Laval – 7:00 p.m.