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The Toronto Marlies secured their third Conference Final berth in five years, but it was far from plain sailing in Round 2.

As expected, the Albany Devils were a tough nut to crack, pushing Toronto all the way to a game seven, where they forced Marlies to pull out all the stops in the final 11 minutes of play to win the series.

The Devils brand of shutdown hockey and excellent goaltending from Scott Wedgewood had Toronto in trouble from the very first minute. The Marlies responded to dropping the first game at home 2-1 by tying the series with a 5-3 victory two days back at Ricoh Coliseum.

Toronto faced some adversity, somehow dropping game three in Albany after the Devils tallied a shorthanded goal with 21 seconds remaining to tie the game before deservedly going on to win it in overtime.

In typical 2015-16 Marlies fashion, they bounced back with aplomb, notching a 7-2 victory that owed much to special team success. Game 4 also featured the despicable elbow from Dan Kelly on Andreas Johnson that led to neither taking part in the rest of the series.

The powerplay once again fired in game five as Toronto struck five times and took a 3-2 series lead heading back to Ricoh Coliseum. Needing a win to stay alive, the Devils, on the back of a fine performance from Scott Wedgewood, shut down Toronto and secured a 4-1 victory.

The series decider wasn’t the best hockey you’ll ever watch, but it was extremely exciting and went right down to the wire, with Toronto finally edging past Albany thanks to three goals in the final eleven minutes of the series.

Notes:

– The statistics back up what a tough series it was for the AHL regular season champs. Over the course of the seven games, Albany outshot Toronto 215-200 and only allowed the Marlies to hit the 30-shot mark on three occasions.

– Slow starts from Toronto hindered their cause somewhat, as Albany often dominated the opening frame and built themselves a lead to hang onto. Although they were outscored in the first period through seven games, Toronto dominated the second and third periods by margins of 9-3 and 11-6 respectively.

– The overall 25-18 advantage in goals for Toronto is skewed somewhat by the special teams battle, but it also shows how important it was to win that particular facet of the series. On 36 powerplays, Toronto scored seven times, while allowing Albany two goals on their 25 powerplay opportunities. With both teams notching one shorthanded goal a piece, the even strength goal total was 17-15 in favour of the Marlies.

– Both teams suffered some injuries, although Toronto had greater depth on paper to cover the cracks. Nikita Soshnikov was only able to make four appearances in the series due to injury, but Toronto won every time he was able to dress, with Soshnikov chipping in three goals and four points individually. His absence wasn’t the reason the Marlies coughed up a lead late in game three, but Soshnikov is certainly a dominant player at this level when he’s on form and provides the team with a significant offensive presence on one of their secondary units.

Injury notes: Andrew Campbell was injured all series before returning to put in a true captain’s performance in Game 7. Stuart Percy missed one game after a cheap shot from behind by Joseph Blandisi, but appeared none the worse for wear upon his return to action. Andreas Johnson did not feature again after being elbowed in the head, although he was said to be doing much better after spending some time in hospital.

– 12 different players found the net for Toronto in what was a balanced effort across the board. Connor Carrick, T.J Brennan, Connor Brown and Nikita Soshnikov all tied for a team-leading three goals.

– As he did during the first round, Connor Carrick led the way for Toronto in points production. Everything he touches right now turns to goals, with six of his seven points in the series either goals or primary assists. Always a productive player in Hershey, Carrick has found a new level offensively in a Marlie uniform with 7 goals and 17 points in 15 games since the Leafs‘ season ended. He’ll look to continue his torrid pace against his former team starting this Friday.

Mark Arcobello finally arrived at the party, although he’s still finding goals hard to come by. A single goal over seven games falls short of his usual standards, but his five assists gave him six points over the series.

Connor Brown, Josh Leivo and Kasperi Kapanen all recorded five points and each came up big in games when required. Kapanen finished the series with a big bang, scoring three goals and an assist through games 4-7.

– Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the Albany series was the performance of William Nylander, who produced four points and has been called out on multiple occasions by his coach and some media outlets. It would be one thing if the puck luck wasn’t going his way, but his shot generation is down also. Nylander took an uncharacteristically-low eight shots throughout the series, resulting in just a single goal scored and three assists for four points. Nylander’s shot rate during the regular season was 2.95 per game, and it currently sits at just 1.56 per game through nine playoff appearances. Here’s the good news to go with the bad news: The Marlies have made it this far without William Nylander being William Nylander (yet). Future opponents be warned.

Garret Sparks began the series with the opportunity to seize the net. He wasn’t at his best in game one, and Antoine Bibeau stepped up to the plate in the following encounter, making 40 saves in the Marlies’ Game 2 win. Bibeau grabbed the starting job from there on in, with a 4-2 record and a .914 save percentage, a figure that was somewhat depressed by the team’s performance in game six.

– Home advantage in Game 7 was key for Toronto in clinching a series victory, but it was their road record (2-1) that ultimately made the difference. Their excellent road form throughout the playoffs (4-1) will need to continue as round three kicks off with two encounters on the road.

A full preview for the Hersey Bears vs. the Toronto Marlies Eastern Conference Final series will follow tomorrow.