I thought he played a very good game. I was very happy with him, Quillan, and Cowboy. They all played well tonight. This rink can be a pretty hostile environment and tough to play in, but I thought all three of them were very good tonight.
For whatever reason, we didn't start on time. They took it to us. We were on our heels and fortunate to get the one goal. After a wakeup call between periods, our guy responded, and I thought we got a lot of pushback.
In his rookie season with the Toronto Marlies, Tverberg put up a decent showing with nine goals and 23 assists in 46 games played. Then last year, those numbers dropped to just four goals and seven assists through the same number of appearances. Taking a major step down instead of a step forward, it was a disappointment of a season, and this year Tverberg needed to show he could return to form.
Given the circumstances of this game, I'd venture that this was the Playing a third road game in the space of 66 hours against the team with the stingiest defense in the Eastern Conference was always going to be a tall task. The Toronto Marlies' best performance of the season to date. Marlies matched and outplayed the Bruins at times last Sunday, but decisions outside of their control ultimately robbed them of a deserved two points in a 4-3 overtime loss.
After that shorthanded goal, we just seemed to not be able to recover, for whatever reason. We started pressing. We are not the type of team that can press like that. That's not how we have success, and it just got away from us. The one thing is that when things didn't go our way, we kind of stopped playing. We let guys beat us up ice, and that stuff just shouldn't happen.
Rifai is working his way back from wrist surgery that has kept him sidelined for the entire season to date, and was placed on waivers on Sunday in order to report back to the American Hockey League. The 27-year-old defenceman has played in one game for the Marlies this season and had 13 points in 63 games for the AHL squad in 2024-25.
On the day after Christmas, the Toronto Maple Leafs have hired their replacement for the recently fired assistant coach Marc Savard and it's someone that was already in the organization. Announced by the team on Friday morning, the Maple Leafs have hired Steve Sullivan to fill the hole that Savard left on the bench. There has been no clarification if he will handle the power play like Savard did, or other assistant coach Derek LaLonde will remain in that role for the man advantage.
