Marlies Earn Point in Shootout Loss to Monsters
Published on January 9, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Toronto Marlies News Release
Cleveland: J. Pearson (5) SH (Unassisted), J. Malatesta (3) (C. Ceulemans, L. Del Bel Belluz), R. Ahcan (8) (L. Pinelli), O. Sillinger (3) PP (L. Pinelli, W. Butcher)
Goaltender: A. Kolosov (28/32) W
Toronto: B. Groulx (16) (V. Lettieri, L. Shaw), R. Tverberg (4) (L. Haymes, T. Boyd), T. Boyd (10) (L. Haymes, R. Tverberg), M. Pezzetta (2) (M. Johnstone, R. Johnson)
Goaltender: A. Akhtyamov (29/33) SO/L
ON THE SCORESHEET
Bo Groulx opened the scoring at 1:18 of the first period. He is tied for sixth overall in goals scored (16). Groulx has 26 points (16 goals, 10 assists) in 34 games this season.
Ryan Tverberg scored at 2:01 of the first period. He has 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) in 29 games this season.
Travis Boyd scored at 18:45 of the second period and earlier picked up the secondary assist on Tverberg's first period goal. This was his sixth multi-point game of the season. He has 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in 27 games this season.
Michael Pezzetta scored at 13:42 of the third period. He has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in 23 games with the Marlies this season.
Vinni Lettieri recorded the primary assist on Groulx's first period goal.
Logan Shaw had the secondary assist on Groulx's first period goal.
Luke Haymes registered the primary assists on Tverberg's first period goal and Boyd's second period goal. He has 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in 32 games this season and this was his third multi-point game of the season.
Marc Johnstone recorded the primary assist on Pezzetta's third period goal. He has points (2-1-3) in three consecutive games. Johnstone has 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) in 21 games this season.
Reese Johnson had the secondary assist on Pezzetta's third period goal.
Artur Akhtyamov stopped 29 of 33 shots he faced. He is 12-6-1 this season with a 2.98 goals against average and a 0.899 save percentage.
IN THE SHOOTOUT
- Luke Haymes - No goal (2025-26: 2/3)
- Bo Groulx - No goal (2025-26: 0/3)
- Borya Valis - No goal (2025-26: 0/3)
- Vinni Lettieri - No goal (2025-26: 0/2)
- Logan Shaw - No goal (2025-26: 0/4)
TEAM NOTES
Toronto is 2-2 in the shootout this season.
The Marlies were 0-for-1 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play. Toronto is 11-10-1-1 when not scoring on the power play and 8-10-1-2 when allowing a goal on the penalty kill.
Cleveland outshot Toronto 34-32 in all situations. Bo Groulx, Alex Nylander, Cédric Paré and Marshall Rifai led the Marlies with three shots on net. Toronto is 11-8-0-1 when outshot by their opponent.
The Marlies are 12-6-0-2 against North Division opponents and 2-0-0-1 against the Monsters this season.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH JOHN GRUDEN
On tonight's game:
I thought it was one of the best starts we've had all year. Sometimes when you have so much success, you think it's going to be easy and nothing's easy in this league, shouldn't be easy. They had a little bit of push and then we just got away from what got us success, not winning the lines and even some momentum but then we did push back and we got some good play. The momentum really went their way with that shorthanded goal. We got it back on the rails. I thought there were some good things. We didn't really give them much but when they got something, I still think we had some breakdowns that we just mentally can't have those. Our guys worked hard. It was good to get a point.
MICHAEL PEZZETTA (1 GOAL)
On tonight's game:
I think we obviously came out to a great start. That's something we've been talking about and it was definitely good we came out with the two goal lead but then I think we got a little complacent with that, a little on our backfoot trying to be a little too cute I think and they got back in the game and it was a dogfight from there.
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