“It took more than 60 minutes,” Joe Blandisi told marlies.ca after Game 2 last night.
Sixty minutes and 50 seconds, to be specific.
The Marlies scratched out a 4-3 win as Dylan Gambrell’s overtime tally finally put away the visiting Belleville Senators, forcing a deciding Game 3 on Sunday at CAA Arena for the right to face Cleveland in the North Division semifinals.
It was a grind-it-out win for the Marlies, who lost a 3-1 lead on two power-play goals from Belleville’s Garrett Pilon – the second one coming with 20 seconds left in regulation after Blandisi had missed an empty-net chance moments before.
The night had its frustrations, and it could have been a season-ending night. But the Marlies stuck with it.
“Everybody’s able to bail each other out,” Blandisi continued. “That’s why I love playing for this team. There’s so much good character in that dressing room, and we’ve got each other’s backs. I knew right away, just the positive talk that was happening in the dressing room after the (third) period. Nobody was hard on me… Those are the positive reinforcements you need, and they go a long way in a team dressing room.”
It was Blandisi who set up Gambrell’s winner in the first minute of overtime.
“He played an outstanding game,” Marlies head coach John Gruden said. “If he doesn’t play that outstanding game, we’re not in that position to begin with. We believed in him. He’s a leader of our group, and for him to come out the way he did in that first shift in overtime… He created all that. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy.”
Now the Marlies have a chance at a winner-take-all game in the AHL’s version of the Battle of Ontario.
“It’s going to take 20 men,” Blandisi said.
“It might take more than 60 minutes, and we know that.”
The Coachella Valley Firebirds gained an opponent for their Pacific Division Semifinal series last night – as well as a top prospect.
Coachella Valley will face the Calgary Wranglers, and joining the Firebirds will be forward Eduard Šalé. Taken 23rd overall by the Seattle Kraken in last June’s NHL Draft, Šalé has been assigned after the completion of his season with Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League.
Seattle also sent defenseman Ryker Evans back to the Firebirds for the postseason. After a promotion from Coachella Valley, he ended up playing 36 games for the Kraken and contributed nine points (one goal, eight assists). Last season’s Calder Cup finalist has also picked up four other players from the growing cache of Seattle prospects in forwards Andrei Loshko and Carson Rehkopf along with defensemen Kaden Hammell and Caden Price.
Coachella Valley and Calgary begin their series next Friday at Scotiabank Saddledome.
― with files from Patrick Williams
