Belleville: G. Pilon (5) (W. Bongiovanni), W. Bongiovanni (9) (A. Kaliyev, L. Thomson)
Goaltender: H. Shepard (30/33) L
Toronto: V. Lettieri (4) (L. Shaw, M. Benning), M. Benning (2) (L. Haymes, M. Barbolini), L. Haymes (3) (B. Valis)
Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (30/32) W
- Vinni Lettieri put the Marlies on the board at 4:32 of the second period. He has 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists) in 24 games this season.
- Matt Benning scored at 11:28 of the second period and earlier had the secondary assist on Lettieri’s goal. This was his second multi-point game of the season, both against Belleville. He has 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in 15 games this season.
- Luke Haymes scored the game-winning goal at 15:48 of the third period and earlier had the primary assist on Benning’s second period goal. This was his first professional game-winning goal. He has nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 26 games this season.
- Logan Shaw recorded the primary assist on Lettieri’s second period goal. He is second all-time amongst Marlies in assists (115). Shaw has 19 points (10 goals, 9 assists) in 29 games this season.
- Matthew Barbolini registered the secondary assist on Benning’s second period goal. He has nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in 25 games this season.
- Borya Valis picked up the lone assist on Haymes’ third period goal. He has 10 points (6 goals, 4 assists) in 27 games this season.
- Artur Akhtyamov stopped 30 of 32 shots he faced. He is 9-6-0 this season with a 3.14 goals against average and a 0.893 save percentage.
| TEAM NOTES Toronto is 23-17-2-1 at Scotiabank Arena and 9-7-1-0 on Boxing Day. Toronto is 3-4 against Belleville on Boxing Day at Scotiabank Arena and has been outscored 17-15.The Marlies were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 0-for-5 on the power play. Toronto is 8-9-1-0 when not scoring on the power play and 9-3-0-0 when not allowing a goal on the penalty kill.Toronto outshot Belleville 33-32 in all situations. Bo Groulx and Borya Valis led the Marlies with four shots on net. Toronto 6-5-1-0 when outshooting their opponent.The Marlies are 8-6-0-1 against North Division opponents and are 4-3-0-1 against the Senators this season. |
| RECORD WHEN Not scoring first 6-9-1-1 Trailing after 1st 6-8-1-0 Leading after 2nd 10-0-0-0 At home 7-5-0-1 December 5-4-0-0 Friday 2-4-0-0 MARLIES LEADERS *Amongst active players Goals 12 (B. Groulx) Assists 18 (J. Quillan) Points 23 (J. Quillan) PPG 2 (T. Boyd, B. Groulx, V. Lettieri, L. Shaw) Shots 68 (B. Groulx) +/- +7 (J. Quillan) PIMS 47 (R. Parsons) |
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN
On today’s game:
We didn’t give them much. They had their pushes which teams always do but I thought we did a good job of keeping them to the outside, keeping the shots to the outside and not give them two or three whacks after their initial attempt. There was a lot of improvements in that regard. We were just a lot cleaner, so it was good.
On Matt Benning:
What makes him so special is that he just keeps everything at an even keel regardless of what kind of shift he’s had. He’s got all those great pro traits that a defenceman has and he settles things down too. He can sense that we’re getting a little too squirrely or that we’re trying to do too much on the backend and you can see that he hits a reset. He’s an extension of (the coaching staff) which helps us immensely as coaches. He’s a veteran and he means a lot to our team.
UPCOMING GAMES:
*All times Eastern Standard Time
December 27 at Utica – 6:00 p.m.
December 30 at Cleveland – 6:30 p.m.
January 1 vs. Syracuse – 2:00 p.m.
January 3 vs. Rochester – 4:00 p.m.
January 4 vs. Lehigh Valley – 4:00 p.m.
