TORONTO – Two weeks ago, the Toronto Marlies were in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins land. It took all of their might, but they took a 4-1 victory back to the Coca-Cola Coliseum. On Wednesday afternoon, it was a different story for the Penguins as they took a daytime game road win against the Marlies, 6-1.
Between the Pipes
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton- Joel Blomqvist: 15-7-4-0, 2.11 GAA, .920 Save Percentage
Toronto- Keith Petruzzelli: 6-7-2, 3.51 GAA, .868 Save Percentage
Toronto vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Game Recap
In the first period, Jonathan Gruden took a one-timer shot on Petruzzelli from the right face-off circle off a feed from Jonna Koppanen. That was the only scoring from either team during the opening frame.
Coming into the middle frame, Toronto quickly shut the door on a shut-out for Blomqvist when Dylan Grambell found the back of the net to make the score a 1-1 tie. Later into the frame, Jack St. Ivany took a shot on Petruzzelli for one of two goals scored in the game. St. Ivany scored off of a faceoff win for that goal.
Opening the final frame, Wilkes-Barre started opening up the goal total on the Marlies.
Defenseman Corey Andonovski took a wrist shot past Petruzzelli to make the game 3-1. Off of a feed from Jack Rathbone and Peter Abbandonato, Alex Nylander threw the puck to the back of the net to extend the lead 4-1 and gave the Penguins a cushion.
At this point, the Marlies pulled Petruzzelli for the extra attacker. With an empty net, Radim Zohorna took the opportunity and put the hammer to the nail for a score of 5-1. With 1:48 left in regulation, St. Ivany netted his second goal of the day to finish off the win with a score of 6-1.
Blomqvist made 16 saves on 17 shots. The Penguins now have a 25-16-6-1 record on the season and currently are holding third place in the Atlantic Division with 57 points.
Toronto’s Play
With only scoring one goal the entire game, and pulling the goalie within the final five minutes of the game, it leaves one to wonder, what went wrong?
This is the second consecutive game where the third place of the North Division team has a dropped a game drastically. Over the weekend, they played the Laval Rocket, where they dropped a game 7-1, and now today’s game, 6-1.
Between the Marlies, Rochester and Belleville, the standings are only separated by 1 point. All teams are in the thick of it right now and every point counts. Dropping games this drastically will only hurt the Marlies when it comes closer to playoff clinching.
Stat of the Game
Oh, and did we mention? This is win number 25 during the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ 25th anniversary season!
Up Next
The Penguins get a night off before their next game, which is Friday, Feb. 16, against the Rochester Americans at 7:05 p.m.
