Toronto was up 3-2 in the dying minutes of the third period against Belleville until Joseph Blandisi had an empty net, and missed.
Toronto was up 3-2 in the dying minutes of the third period against Belleville until Joseph Blandisi had an empty net, and missed.
It was do-or-die inside Coca-Cola Coliseum on Friday night and the Toronto Marlies made it interesting.
Going into the final minutes of the third period, Toronto was up 3-2 over the Belleville Senators. They killed a five-minute major after Kyle Clifford checked Tyler Kleven from behind in front of Belleville's bench.
It seemed destined that they had locked in a ticket to Game 3 in Belleville.
However, with 20 seconds left in the game, while attempting to kill a Logan Shaw slashing penalty, things began to fall apart. Joseph Blandisi skated the puck through the neutral zone with a gaping net in his sights.
But he missed.
The Senators came the other way and Garrett Pilon scored. Instead of booking their ticket back to Belleville for Game 3, the Marlies needed to find one more goal.
This is familiar territory for both the Marlies and Blandisi, though. Countless times throughout the season, the forward has been the first to pull the group back into the game. And although his miss resulted in Belleville tying the game, he didn't waste any time thinking about what could've been.
"I was down on myself for about three seconds and then decided to let it go. I knew I should've buried that one, but the quicker I was able to let it go, the quicker I was gonna be able to help the team find a win," Blandisi said.
This was a moment where, instead of hanging their heads and thinking, "What happened?" The Marlies came together. They knew their season was on the line and the players didn't take no for an answer.
"We have a great group in the locker room, a really tight group," Dylan Gambrell said on Friday. "It's easy for us to come together and rally and play for each other."
Not even a minute into overtime, Blandisi sped by one Belleville defender before putting the puck through another player's skates. His shot on Mads Sogaard was stopped, but Gambrell, who saw the puck bouncing and smacked it into the net, punching the Marlies' ticket to Belleville for Game 3.
His teammates then stormed him, bringing him to the ground in hugs. However, a few seconds earlier, he hadn't even known he'd scored.
"I saw Blender coming and jumping at me, so then I knew," Gambrell said happily after the game.
This game was an evaluation of the Marlies' strength. It was a test to see how much Toronto could come together when they needed it most. And at the forefront of that was Blandisi, who, not only set up the game-winning goal but finished the night with three points (one goal, two assists).
"He played an outstanding game. If he doesn't play that outstanding game, we're not in that position to begin with," Marlies head coach John Gruden said following the overtime win.
"We believe 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, I mean, he created all of that. So, good for him and I'm glad. It couldn't have happened to a better guy."
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SscrRAm65Q[/embed]
The series now shifts back to Belleville, where Toronto fell to the Senators in Game 1. It's do-or-die for both teams. For the Marlies, they're leaving everything on the line.
"It's going to take 20 men. It might take more than 60 minutes and we know that," Blandisi said. "We just gotta stay levelheaded through the ups and downs and we'll like the result again."
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