Marlies Eliminated from 2023-24 Postseason Play

The Toronto Marlies traveled to Belleville on Sunday in a do-or-die situation. After winning Game 2 of the best-of-three series 4-3 in overtime in Toronto on Friday, the winner of this game was going to move on to take on the first-place Cleveland Monsters while the loser was done for the season. 

The Marlies lost in overtime by a score of 4-3.

There Was Little Reason to Believe the Marlies Could Win Game 3

I had a bad feeling about this game even before it started. The Senators dominated Game 1, and the 3-1 score flattered the Marlies. In Game 2, the Senators hit iron five times. Toronto scored two goals on lucky bounces, including the overtime winner. The Marlies were fortunate to be playing a Game 3. 

The Senators opened the score just 2:21 into the contest with a goal from an unlikely source. Bokonji Imama beat Dennis Hildeby with a wrist shot from the faceoff dot to Hildeby’s right, putting the Senators up 1-0. It was only Imama’s fourth goal in 56 games this season and the first postseason goal of his seven-year AHL career.  

Marshal Rifai scored his third goal of the playoffs with a one-time slapshot from the point one minute into the second period. All three of Rifai’s goals came from a long distance. They may have exposed a weakness of Senators’ goalie Mads Sogaard, who might have trouble tracking the puck on long shots.  

Josh Currie and Rourke Chartier scored one minute apart midway through the second period. Their goals put the Senators up 3-1. The feed for the game came from Belleville, and the announcers declared the game over at this point. They then started telling fans when and where they could purchase tickets for the next round. 

However, the Marlies Mount a Comeback

Logan Shaw got one of those goals back on the penalty kill. Kyle Clifford won a battle for the puck just inside the Toronto blue line and poked the puck out of the zone. There Shaw picked it up and skated it into the Belleville zone. Shaw used a Senators’ player as a partial screen and caught Sogaard moving the wrong way. His wrist shot beat Sogaard on his stick side from just inside the Belleville blue line.  Once again a shot from a long way out beat Sogaard.