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The Toronto Marlies’ Calder Cup dream is over.

Needing victory to avoid elimination, the Toronto Marlies dug themselves a hole heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation. Trailing 3-1 and having only registered 12 shots on net, Toronto required a big effort in a do-or-die third period.

After surviving a couple of early scares, relying on Antoine Bibeau to bail them out, the Marlies began to look like the team we’ve enjoyed watching this season. Two minutes in, Nikita Soshnikov appeared odds on to score, but — with Justin Peters beaten — defenseman Aaron Ness dived in front of the shot to deny the Russian forward.

Connor Carrick was the next to try his luck; Peters made the initial stop, but had no clue the puck landed in his crease and was fortunate have his defenseman clear the danger.

The Bears goaltender was looking increasingly shaky and was at fault when Toronto clawed within one. Peters failed to hold onto Soshnikov’s shot or grab the rebound, allowing Hyman to pick up the puck, skate around the goaltender and throw an effort across the goal crease. Soshnikov responded quicker than any Hershey player to jam in his fifth goal of the postseason.

With over 14 minutes remaining, there was still plenty of time to find a tying goal and the Marlies were well on top at this stage. Viktor Loov, Kasperi Kapanen and William Nylander had the best looks on net, while Peters was so nervous he dropped his stick on an innocuous-looking play.

After surviving five solid minutes of pressure, Hershey regained some composure and began to try and shut down the game by clogging up the neutral zone and making sure seconds were ticking away by jamming the puck against the boards at every opportunity.

The Marlies were thankful for a timeout with a little over four to play, and proceeded to throw everything they had at Hershey from there. Josh Leivo should have done better after firing wide of the net, but Connor Carrick almost connected on the rebound, throwing himself at the puck in an act of desperation to try and knock it past Peters.

All the action was in the Bears crease, with Nylander even trying to elbow the puck into the net as it flew up in the air after another shot rebounded off a mass of bodies in front of the Hershey net.

Antoine Bibeau left the net with a little under two minutes to play and still there was hope of the Marlies completing the comeback. The six Toronto skaters led an onslaught on the Hershey goal, but Peters was doing enough to stop each shot and his defensemen were first to the rebounds around him.

Toronto’s reluctance to fire one-timers wasn’t helping matters as Hershey defenders were often able to get themselves set in shot lanes, although Peters was required to make one more save from Mark Arcobello with eight seconds on the clock. It’d be the last save of the entire series as Hershey clinched a 3-1 win and sealed a date with the Lake Erie Monsters in the Calder Cup Final.

Victory in game five was nothing less than Washington’s affiliate deserved, in truth, as they were by far the better team throughout the majority of the game.

First Period

In what was a physical opening frame, Hershey could easily have been up by as many as three goals. There was little in the way of scoring opportunities until Rich Clune took an undisciplined roughing penalty. Hershey crashed the net immediately with the extra man and appeared to have scored despite Andrew Campbell smothering the puck with his glove.
Video review showed no goal, but it did yield penalty shot for the visitors.

Up stepped Jakub Vrana with the slowest approach to a penalty shot I’ve ever seen before Antoine Bibeau made as comfortable a right pad save in a one-on-none situation as you’re likely to see. The powerplay continued for Hershey, although the officials were again not at their best, missing a clear slashing on Ben Smith that sent his stick spiralling into the air.

The Marlies survived their opening penalty kill and recorded a first shot on net with 8:30 played. It was a decent attempt by Viktor Loov, firing low and using a Hershey opponent for a screen, but nobody in blue and white was close enough to take advantage of a huge rebound.

A series of chances followed for both teams, leading to Hershey opening the scoring. Chandler Stephenson initially teed up Liam O’Brien, but Bibeau was alert and moved swiftly to make the save. Toronto switched the play quickly, with T.J Brennan taking aim before the rebound fell to Leivo. It was a sure goal if he was a left-handed shot, but Leivo contrived to miss on his backhand.

A 2-on-1 break followed for the Bears, with Dustin Gazley dishing off to O’Brien, but Bibeau got a glove on his first shot. The puck didn’t stick, such was the quick reaction of the save, and floated up in the air, whereupon O’Brien batted in his own rebound.

Toronto tried to respond, but Arcobello found the glove of Peters after some pitch and catch with Rinat Valiev.

Vrana, looking to atone for his earlier penalty shot miss, picked up the puck just inside his own blue line and set off on a barn-storming run. Going through all three zones and past every Marlies skater, only Bibeau denied the rookie from scoring an end-to-end goal with a blocker save.

Toronto finished the period with a powerplay but only created one chance for themselves. It was a good opening, however, as Hyman brought a fine stop from Peters after good work from Nylander and Ben Smith.

Second Period

The middle frame was where Toronto lost this game, and with it their chances of winning the Calder Cup. Two goals in 65 seconds did the damage, and both were entirely avoidable.

Christian Djoos was allowed to streak into the slot uncontested, with Nylander guilty of a lazy backcheck on the play, and Bibeau was beaten cleanly by a fine shot.

The next was a 3-on-2 break wherein Nathan Walker had the freedom of Ricoh Coliseum on the right side of the ice. Riley Barber sent a perfect pass for the Australian forward to smash home with a one-timer that Bibeau could not get across in time to stop.

Only a little over two minutes had passed and it could have become a whole lot worse than trailing 3-0. Carter Camper was afforded far too much room in the slot and he was frustrated not to beat Bibeau from such a great position.

Chris Bourque was the next to test Toronto‘s goaltender with a backhand effort after a poor piece of play from Justin Holl allowed another goal-scoring opportunity.

It was almost from nothing that the Marlies got themselves a foothold in the game. A delayed penalty after a solid offensive zone shift paid dividends as Nylander tipped a Connor Carrick shot past Peters.

Opening their account certainly revitalized the Marlies’ legs, but it failed to materialize into many shots or chances. In fact, Toronto only registered four attempts on net during the second period and were fortunate to only be trailing by two goals after as many periods of play.

It proved a bridge too far on this occasion. Many congratulations go out to the Hershey Bears on progressing to the Calder Cup Finals. It’s been a fun ride with the Toronto Marlies this year, but ultimately they weren’t quite consistent enough during the postseason to complete the journey.


Post Game Notes

– For the second time in three years, the Toronto Marlies fall short in the Conference Final round of the playoffs.

– William Nylander scored his seventh goal of the post season.

– Connor Carrick closed his playoff account by recording his 11th assist of the playoffs. The defenseman totalled a playoff-leading 18 points in 15 games.

– Colin Smith assisted on the Nylander tally and concluded the playoffs with a three-game points streak.

– Nikita Soshnikov recorded his fifth goal of the playoffs (11 appearances).

– There will be some time to reflect on the season in the coming days, but thanks go out to the Toronto Marlies for a great season and to all of the fans who took the time to read my Marlies coverage this season.


Game Highlights


Sheldon Keefe Post Game


Marlies Player Stats — Hershey 3 vs. Toronto 2

PLAYERSPositionGA+/-SHPIM
Campbell, AndrewD00000
Brennan, T.J.D00-210
Carrick, ConnorD01000
Percy, StuartD00-122
Hyman, ZachRW01120
Leivo, JoshLW00-120
Clune, RichardLW00002
Smith, BenRW00030
Gauthier, FrederikC00000
Arcobello, MarkC00-120
Brown, ConnorRW00-110
Smith, ColinC01100
Holl, JustinD01020
Kapanen, KasperiLW00-100
Loov, ViktorD00110
Valiev, RinatD00010
Nylander, WilliamC10-130
Soshnikov, NikitaLW10030