Marlies win their season-high fifth consecutive game

(TORONTO, ON) – Justin Pogge stood tall and turned away each of the Grand Rapids Griffins’ 31 shots for his first shutout of the 2007-2008 campaign as he backstopped the Marlies to a 2-0 victory.  6,127 fans were on hand at Ricoh Coliseum to watch the Marlies achieve a season-high five game winning streak.

The Marlies dominated the first period as they opened the scoring, outshot the Griffins 13 to 5, and killed off a 73 second two-man advantage to close out the frame.  Jay Harrison scored the first goal of the game on the power play at 9:45 of the first period when his point shot beat Grand Rapids starting netminder Jimmy Howard. 

Harrison’s marker was his first since his two-point effort (1G, 1A) on November 17 at Lake Erie, and proved to be all the Marlies would need to secure the victory.

David Ling gave Toronto their two goal margin at 5:37 of the second period. After receiving the puck from John Mitchell, Colin Murphy slid a cross-crease pass over to Ling who fired a shot into the net.

Though the Griffins outshot the Marlies 26-11 during the final two periods, Pogge shut the door on his way to being recognized as the game’s first star.

The Marlies head down the QEW to face off against their provincial rival the Hamilton Bulldogs – AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens – on Saturday December 29 at Copps Coliseum. They return to Ricoh Coliseum, for the last game of 2007, on Sunday December 30 with puck drop scheduled 4:00 pm as they host the Albany River Rats – AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes.

ICE CHIPS: Jeremy Williams’ assist on the opening goal marked his first point since scoring against Syracuse on November 24… The Marlies improve to 16-0-1 when leading after the second period, and to13-0-1 when scoring the first goal of the game… John Mitchell and David Ling are the only Marlies who currently have point streaks – each of them having notched a goal and an assist in the last two games…

Scoring Summary

First Period

1. TOR J. Harrrison (4) J. Williams & B.Battaglia @ 9:45

Second Period

2. TOR D. Ling (7) C. Murphy & J. Mitchell @ 5:37

Third Period

No Scoring

Shots

TOR 24  BNG 31

Three Stars

1. J. Pogge #1 -- TOR
2. J. Harrison #20 -- TOR
3. B. Battaglia  #33 -- TOR