The Marlies snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers affiliates) who made their once-per-season visit to Ricoh Coliseum. Breaking the early season four-game losing streak was quite uplifting to the team which won the Calder Cup only eight months ago.

Marlies Lines Saturday

Carl Grundstrom - Chris Mueller - Sam Gagner
Dmytro Timashov - Adam Cracknell - Jeremy Bracco
Mason Marchment - Josh Jooris - Trevor Moore
Griffen Molino - Colin Greening - J.J. Piccinich

Calle Rosen - Timothy Liljegren
Andreas Borgman - Vincent LoVerde
Sam Jardine - Jordan Subban

Jeff Glass started in net for the Marlies and Alexandar Georgiev started in net for the Wolf Pack. Eamon McAdam continued as the Marlies backup while Kasimir Kaskisuo is injured.

(Scratches/injured/not playing: Kyle Cumiskey, Andrew Nielsen, Rasmus Sandin, Emerson Clark, Adam Brooks, Rich Clune, Pierre Engvall, Ryan Sproul)

It is not yet clear what will happen with this year’s Maple Leafs first-round draft pick Rasmus Sandin. He still cannot play because of an injury to a finger. Where he will end up after that injury is much talked about, but still not clear beyond the fact the options include going back to Sweden and playing out this season in the SHL.

The Goals

First Period

The game got off to a quick start thanks to the Marchment - Jooris - Moore line. It was less than one minute in before the Marlies were up 1-0

Moore himself got off seven shots on goal in the game, with two of them going in the net, and more that were high-danger scoring chances after that thanks to great setups from his linemates. His second goal came about seven minutes later and Marchment set it up beautifully.

Moore is now at the top of the goal count for the Marlies with six in seven games.

Second Period

Almost exactly half way through the period we had some fisticuffs. Carl Grundstrom dropped the gloves to engage Brandon Crawley, however the fight quickly turned into a mess with everyone piling in on each other and then separated by the officials. Despite the gloves literally being dropped, no one actually wound up with a fighting major. However the Wolf Pack did wind up taking the brunt of it with Crawley sent to the box on a double minor for roughing.

Grundstrom padded his stats with a goal on the ensuing powerplay and improved his already impressive stat line for this season.

Grundstrom now has three goals and four assists in five games played.

Third Period

This period had some crazy plays, but no Marlies goals. Cracknell was notable for having great moves but not able to get the puck in the net.

The period ended with the Marlies taking a penalty and Molino and Moore getting a great short handed scoring chance. Then the Wolf Pack took a penalty and they did get the short handed goal. Surely one Jeff Glass would like to have back.

However, it was too late for them. The Marlies won the game 3-2.

Post-Game Thoughts

The Moore and Marchment high-octane line is finally back, and they are playing with that energy we remember from last season’s playoffs except now they have Jooris between them. Marchment said things worked out well in the first game with his new center. “He’s a good player and he works hard, so I’m happy he’s [here].” Marchment was playing in his second game of the season because an injury delayed his debut until last Friday’s game in Rochester. He said he is happy to be back and ready to go. “Having that time off, I got to work out a lot and get stronger. You’ve got to take the positives [from it].” Moore had seven shots on goal in the game.

Griffen Molino had a few good chances denied with setups passes missing him by inches, or shots that pinged on the post. It’s really bad luck he not only didn’t get a point in this game, but didn’t even have an official shot on goal.

We heard from the SB Nation L.A. Kings site that Subban’s skating was a weakness, and the more I watch him the more I am puzzled by it. He’s not slow once he gets going, but he seems to take a lot of inefficient short strides to accelerate. All the interviews they post with famous skating coach Barb Underhill indicate that is the opposite of how she thinks players should be moving up the ice.

Top 25 Under 25: #24 The Leafs got a Subban!

Perhaps that is something she can work on with him now that he’s here. This was my theory in the Top 25 post I wrote on Subban: whatever was holding back his game is something the Leafs organization believes they can use their resources to fix and turn him into a slightly above average player.

Here’s the game highlight pack.

Next Game

The Marlies next opponent is the Laval Rocket whom they face in a rare Tuesday night home game at 7:00 p.m. at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The Rocket have a similar record to the Marlies with 3 wins and 4 losses to start the season.

Toronto Marlies