Goaltender Artur Akhtyamov was the difference between the teams, preventing Rochester from running up a sizeable lead before the Marlies found their feet in the middle frame. From there, Toronto scored four unanswered (including a bizarre goal) to draw them level.
“I don’t think we can rely on (overcoming slow starts) all the time. We had some really big saves from [Artur Akhtyamov] in the first period to keep it at only one goal. But I give the guys a lot of credit for never wavering, sticking to what needed to get done, and then we started to take over.