Nicolas Deschamps scored in his Marlies debut on Tuesday against his former club the Syracuse Crunch- Image Courtesy of Mike Ivall
TORONTO- The Toronto Marlies played three games this week, all at home, and were on the victorious side of two of them.
They hosted the Syracuse Crunch on Tuesday and came away with a 2-0 win as Nicolas Deschamps‘ scored his first goal with Toronto just hours after being acquired from the Crunch for Luca Caputi in an afternoon trade.
Then on Friday they picked up a second 2-0 victory against the Oklahoma City Barons, the first place team in the shared Western Conference.
The shutout streak came to an end however on Saturday when division rival Hamilton Bulldogs beat them 4-1.
The Marlies are now 19-13-5 and hold a four point lead atop the North Division.
Their next game is Tuesday against the St. John’s IceCaps. It’ll mark the start to a seven-game road trip that finishes in Hamilton against the Bulldogs on January 27th.
Here are the Toronto Marlies hot and cold performers for the week of January 2nd to January 8th.
Who’s Hot
Jussi Rynnas
Season Stats: 7-7-0 2.70 GAA .908 SV%
Put together back to back shutouts in Toronto’s victories against Syracuse and Oklahoma City. Before resting on Saturday he started three straight games for the first time since October 28th- November 3rd and he stopped 85 of 86 shots faced. Before his recent streak, he had started just once in 11 games.
Kelsey Wilson
Season Stats: 37 GP 3 G 7 A 10 PTS 44 PIM
Typically an energy/enforcer for the Marlies, head coach Dallas Eakins said that Wilson has the skill to score 20 goals if they needed him to. So when the Marlies regular producers went missing against the Crunch, Wilson scored once and set up another for a two point night; his second multi-point game of the season.
Mike Zigomanis
Season Stats: 34 GP 7 G 25 A 32 PTS 26 PIM
His team only scored five goals this week but he had two of them in one game, a victory against the Barons. Picked up an assist on the game-winning goal against the Crunch as well. Before being held off the scoresheet against Hamilton, he had six points in four games.
Who’s Cold
Juraj Mikus
Season Stats: 37 GP 0 G 5 A 5 PTS 22 PIM
Has the second most shots taken (56) of any D man on the Marlies but has yet to score a goal this season. He hasn’t picked up a point in 22 games even with some experimental time on the power play either.
Kyle Neuber
Season Stats: 25 GP 0 G 0 A o PTS 88 PIM
When Colton Orr cleared waivers and joined the Marlies, Neuber’s role as the fourth-line enforcer was taken away. He started the year in Reading and could go back there when any one of Kenny Ryan, Dale Mitchell or Tyler Brenner are done shaping up in the ECHL. Currently a healthy scratch, it’s only time before his status changes.
Ben Scrivens
Season Stats: 7-7-0 2.49 GAA .907 SV%
Six losses in his last seven starts, combined with a 3.48 GAA and .855 SV% in his last four games, it hasn’t been smooth for Scrivens since returning from the Leafs. He took some criticism from head coach Dallas Eakins on Saturday after giving up some questionable goals in defeat. With Rynnas playing well and the recent call up of Mark Owuya, Scrivens is feeling his first big test since joining the Toronto organization in 2010.
Worth noting, Ryan Hamilton found the board this week for his team-leading 16th goal of the season while Drew Paris turned into a healthy scratch with the return of defenceman Korbinian Holzer.
Look for the Toronto Marlies weekly hot and cold performers every Monday.
KYLE CICERELLA
