It was a late night for the Toronto Marlies on Friday, a rare 7:00 p.m. start at the Coliseum, playing against the Belleville Senators in the first game of a home-away series. It began with the Marlies falling behind 2-0 before they made a comeback to tie the game 3-3 by the end of the third period.

No one scored in overtime, so the game went all the way to a shootout with the Marlies' unbeaten record on the line. They came through and won it out, keeping that winning streak alive and leaving them as the only one of the 32 teams in the entire AHL that has not lost a game, with their first five all won in regulation time.

The Iowa Wild and the Utica Comets are now the only teams to have lost all their games to date in regulation time.

The Roster

So who has moved the Marlies to such lofty heights to start the season? Two goalies have been a huge part of this win streak: Artur Akhtyamov and Matt Murray. One of this duo have started each game so far this season, with Akhtyamov starting four and Murray starting two.

2024 T25U25: Artur Akhtyamov is #12
Time for goalie talk.
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Vyacheslav Peksa was the backup twice, though he has now been reassigned to the Marlies new ECHL affiliate, the Cincinnati Cyclones.

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And last season's star Denis Hildeby has returned from his time with the Maple Leafs and will likely get in some Marlies games soon.

Here was the roster for Friday night's game:

Forwards:
Nick Abruzzese - Logan Shaw - Alex Nylander
Roni Hirvonen - Joe Blandisi - Alex Steeves
Nikita Grebenkin - Cedric Paré - Ryan Tverberg
Robert Mastrosimone - Jacob Quillan - Zach Solow

Defence:
Marshall Rifai - Nicolas Mattinen
Cade Webber - Topi Niemelä
Mikko Kokkonen - Tommy Miller
(Answer to a future trivia question: Tommy Miller is the only Marlies player to have a single-digit jersey number this season, wearing #8)

Goalies:
Artur Akhtyamov
Matt Murray

Those lines have had only minor shuffles over the games played so far this season. The forwards in particular have been quite consistently setup that way, with Gruden continuing his plan to try and have four lines that he can reliably give ice time shifts, including the fourth line.

Kyle Clifford has yet to play, still recovering from an injury during the Leafs pre-season, but I would assume when he does come back it will shake up the forward group a little bit, but there's no recent update on when he might be back.

Friday's Game

The man of the night was the Captain, Logan Shaw, scoring first a short-handed goal to tie up the game 2-2.

Then getting the winning goal in the shootout.

But we can't forget about the goal by GREB! Tip-in on a power play? Very JvR. I love him already!

I have been really impressed by how he can counter breakaways and chase down pucks by instantly turning on the jets as needed, and when he does it's amazing to watch his stride and acceleration, and how often he does beat an opposing player chasing the puck. This guy is fast, and he's now up to five points in six games.

Tverberg talked about Grebenkin after Sunday's game and added that he tells jokes and is comic relief for the team. "He's a really funny guy. I ask him how he is today and he says 'I'm very very excellent nice.'"

The whole line of Abruzzese - Shaw - Nylander has been amazing this season and were the ones relied on to tie up the game near the end of the third period.

This one is from last Sunday, but I'll still throw it in here to show how much Nylander has added to the power play. He's in that "you don't leave him uncovered on the power play" territory of players because his shot is a dagger. He leads the team with five goals in six games.

The Marlies penalty kill also continued with success through this game at 100%, a record tied only by the Rockford Ice Hogs this season, though they have only played three games so far to the Marlies six.

Post Game

John Gruden had noted for the first four games that his team was winning despite struggling in the first period, and that their wins were admirable, but "not according to the recipe" of their game plan. Last Sunday, the Marlies stormed out of the gate and finally had a fantastic start and saw it through to the end of the game, but yesterday it was back again to having a rough first period and having to claw their way back into the game. "I think again our third period was our best period, and we were fortunate enough to come away with a win," he said.

Cade Webber said he expected the rematch game tonight is going to be as difficult to win, commenting on the Senators that "they're hard to play against. They're physical, they get pucks behind us, they're a good tracking team and they transition fast. We've got to limit our mistakes."

We will see tonight if the Marlies can keep their unbeaten streak alive when they face the Senators again this evening, this time in Belleville, at 7:00 p.m.

After tonight's game they will return to Toronto for some practice sessions before heading out on a long road trip as the Royal Winter Fair takes over the Coliseum for a few weeks. The team will make their way to Cleveland to play the Monsters (Columbus Blue Jackets affiliates) next Saturday, then after a brief stop back home they will head all the way down to Charlotte to play two games the following weekend against the Checkers (Florida Panthers affiliates) and then head back to play in Cleveland again.

Their next home game will be in 20 days on Saturday November 16.

Here's the game highlights pack.

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