Toronto Marlies Top Grand Rapids Griffins in First Half of Back-to Back

The Toronto Marlies topped the Grand Rapids Griffins 7-3 on Friday night. Toronto improves to 6-3-2-0 on the season.

In the first period, Josiah Slavin got the visitors on the board first, just 7:15 into the frame. Later, Dmitry Ovchinnikov scored his first of the season at 16:22 to give the Marlies a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.

In the second period, Tim Gettinger brought the Griffins within one with a power play goal at 7:04. But before the period was over Ovchinnikov and Nick Abruzzese both tallied goals for the Marlies giving them a 4-1 lead after two.

In the final frame, Kieffer Bellows scored just 1:21 into the period to extend the Toronto lead. Grand Rapids responded, though, with goals from Zach Aston-Reese and Amadeus Lombardi. But, Alex Steeves added an empty net goal at 18:32 to make it 6-3. Before the game was over, Ovchinnikov scored his third goal of the game, earning himself his first career AHL hat trick.

Alex Steeves extended his point streak to eight games (7G, 4A), while Max Lajoie and Nick Abruzzese both had three points in the victory. Keith Petruzzelli stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced in the victory.

The Marlies wrap up their Royal Road Trip on Saturday with the second half of the back-to-back against the Griffins. Puck drop is at 7:00pm on AHLTV.