After a rough stretch last weekend, the Marlies needed a clean response, and they got one Friday night with a 5-3 win over the Hershey Bears in a game that turned into a special teams showcase.
It was a back-and-forth night from the start, with the eight combined goals broken up by power-play chances, one empty-netter, and only two even-strength goals. Sammy Hlavaj handled the crease for Toronto, while Cal Petersen was in net for Hershey. The Bears also had a couple of familiar faces in Justin Holl and Joey Anderson, both former Leafs.
The Marlies’ offense was led by Borya Valis, who scored twice for his first and second goals of the season. Both came after a run of missed looks in recent games, and the first was one of the game’s two even-strength goals. The second arrived on the power play with a little help from the Bears.
Ryan Tverberg added his third goal of the season, tipping in a shot that started with Brisson and picked up a touch from Aatu Räty along the way before Tverberg got the final deflection. Logan Shaw then delivered the goal that swung the game, snapping home a rebound from distance for his own power-play marker and the Marlies’ 4-3 lead.
Afterward, Tverberg laughed about Shaw’s finish from that far out, saying "The double one-timer. We were talking about it. It's like something out of a video game."
Coach Sullivan also singled out Shaw’s value across every situation. "He's all situations, right?
If we're up one, we're down one, power play, penalty kill, a big faceoff that I need on the right side, he's coming in there. He understands all of the situations, so it's very hard to look down the bench and look for who's the best option that I have at that point and not see Logan Shaw there, and then obviously the big goal that he scores in the power play, like, it was a good rotation.
It wasn't really his spot that we had set up in our pre-scout, but they had made a good move motion from it and he scores a big goal for us."
The result came after a frustrating weekend against the Rockford IceHogs, a series that ended with the Marlies taking just one standings point from an overtime loss. That matchup also came without Vinni Lettieri, who was up with the Maple Leafs when he scored in Toronto’s 7-2 win over Edmonton.
Now the Marlies turn to a busy stretch away from home. They play in Belleville today against the Senators, then in Hamilton on Wednesday against the Hammers.
After that, they head to Winnipeg next weekend to face the Moose, then move on to the Atlantic Division for games against the Syracuse Crunch and Providence Bruins. Toronto will then host back-to-back games against the Chicago Wolves on November 21 and 22, the first meeting between the teams since the Marlies beat them to win the Calder Cup last season.
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