Marlies Rally, But Fall in OT

January 21, 2009

Toronto Plays In League Leading 14th Overtime Game

(GRAND RAPIDS, MI) – It just wouldn’t be a game on this road trip if it didn’t go to overtime tied 2-2.

Justin Abdelkader scored his second power play goal of the game with 1:57 left in overtime, as the Griffins beat the Marlies 3-2 in Grand Rapids on Wednesday night.

Francis Pare had the other Griffins goal, while Mark Bell and Bates Battaglia scored for Toronto.
Abdelkader opened the scoring early on the power play when the puck came to him on the side of the net, and he fired it into the wide open side of the goal past Justin Pogge. Three minutes later, Darren Haydar set up Pare for a 2 on 1 to make it 2-0. The game stayed that way well into the third period. Toronto had to spend a lot of time killing penalties through the game.

Bell got Toronto on the board when he let a snap shot go from the face-off dot, which sailed over the shoulder of Jimmy Howard. It was his fourth goal in as many games. With just over four minutes left in the third, Battaglia cut in from the right circle, and lifted the puck over Howard on the short side to tie the game 2-2.

The Marlies had a chance to win the game on the power play in overtime when Ville Leino was called for hooking on a Jiri Tlusty chance, but were stopped by Grand Rapids. Then, on the Griffins OT mad advantage, Mattias Ritola snapped a one time shot that snuck through the pads of Pogge, and Abdelkader tapped the puck in behind the net minder for the OT winner.
Grand Rapids was 2 for 10 on the power play, while Toronto was 0 for 3. Pogge made 27 saves, while Howard stopped 24.

Prior to the game, the Maple Leafs and Minnesota Wild made a trade sending Robbie Earl to Houston in exchange for Oshawa native Ryan Hamilton. He’s expected to join the team in time for Friday’s game in Syracuse.

SOURCE: torontomarlies.com