The Toronto Maple Leafs may have won, but the Marlies didn’t.
The Toronto Maple Leafs farm club had all the comforts of home ice when they laced up on Saturday afternoon at Coca-Cola Coliseum. They were taking on the Utica Comets in Game 2 of their best-of-five game series. Unfortunately, they got squashed and it wasn’t pretty.
Thanks to their regular season record, where the Marlies finished first in the North Division, the team received a bye into the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. The Comets, who placed fourth in the division at the conclusion of the regular season had to topple the fifth place Laval Rockets to earn the opportunity to face the Marlies.
Game 1 in Toronto showed that the Marlies were rusty. Utica scored two unanswered goals in the first period and then again two minutes into the second. Down 3-0 in the game, Greg Moore’s squad found their legs. They battled back to tie the game before the end of the frame. Each team then scored a pair of goals in the third period to send the game to overtime. Joseph Blandisi was the overtime hero, scoring the game winner.
Unsurprisingly, the Marlies’ point machine, Logan Shaw, was outstanding. He scored two goals and was credited with an assist on the overtime winner.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Stole All the Marlies Goalies!
Even though Toronto came away with the victory, they still gave up five goals. Unfortunately, that didn’t improve in Game 2. Utica scored seven goals to route the Marlies by five goals in the game.
Moore has had to rely on goaltender Keith Petruzzelli to keep pucks out of the Marlies’ net. Through two games, he’s now given up 12 goals. In Game 2 he allowed seven in 26 shots. That was enough to earn the hook and be replaced for the final 11 minutes of the third period by backup Dennis Hildeby.
Both Petruzzelli and Hildeby are rookies in the AHL. During the regular season, Petruzzelli played 25 games and had a record of 13 wins and eight loses. In that span he had a 2.90 goals-against average with a save percentage of 0.909.
Hildeby is a new addition to the team. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL entry draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Hildeby joined the Marlies just three weeks ago. His debut was played on Apr. 10, coincidentally against the Comets. They lit the 21-year-old up, scoring five against him. Hildeby’s only other regular season game was played on Apr. 15. He split the game with Petruzzelli. Neither goalie looked very sharp. Hildeby allowed three goals and Petruzelli four.
Is goaltending a concern for the Marlies? It’s by far their biggest problem.
It’s a problem brought on by the Toronto Maple Leafs success. Since Leafs stopper Matt Murray has been injured, it’s meant that the team has needed Joseph Woll to join the big club in his place. Woll may not have factored into the Leafs clinching their first playoff series win in 19 years, but he did spend 20 minutes between the pipes in the Leafs opening game. Woll gave up a goal when he came in to relieve Ilya Samsonov after he gave up six goals.
Having Woll with the Toronto Maple Leafs means that he’s unavailable to the Marlies. Even though he’s not dressing for the games, the same is true about Erik Källgren. He has been travelling with the Toronto Maple Leafs in case either Samsonov or Woll gets hurt. Unfortunately, it has been at the expense of the Marlies and their hopes to claim the Calder Cup.
Moore has a very difficult decision to make ahead of Game 3. He will need to choose his starter with the team headed to Utica. At this point, it doesn’t appear that he has any good options available. Game 3 will be played at Adirondack Bank Center at 7 pm on May 3.