The Toronto Marlies took full control of their second-round series by handing the Syracuse Crunch a 7-1 drubbing at the War Memorial Arena on Sunday evening.
Less than 24 hours after prevailing in double overtime, the road team appeared to have recovered better from the previous night’s exertions, as the Marlies struck twice early and never looked back.
“This is a team win,” said Sheldon Keefe. “All of the players just bounced back the way that they did, and then the training staff and everybody that put the work in all year for these types of turnarounds and overtimes, and then just to take care of our guys the way that they did with the meals and training staff that took care of bumps and bruises… This is the time of year where all of that stuff comes to a head and it’s good to see that we passed the test.”
First Period
The Crunch weren’t able to capitalize on two power-play opportunities in the opening six minutes, and in between penalty kills, the Marlies were clinical with their chances.
The first goal was down to sheer hard work as Dmytro Timashov, Ben Smith and Chris Mueller kept the puck alive inside the Syracuse zone for an extended period before Justin Holl’s shot from the blue line produced a rebound for Mueller to tuck away.
It was then 2-0 inside five minutes as the Marlies‘ top line capitalized on a broken play in the heart of the Syracuse slot, working a three-way passing play that ended in Carl Grundstrom providing the finish.
Calvin Pickard was only called into action three times through 20 minutes of play, and Toronto could easily have added to their lead before the buzzer sounded.
Mason Marchment, Dmytro Timashov, Colin Greening and Frederik Gauthier all came close to extending the two-goal advantage Toronto held heading into the first intermission.
Second Period
The incessant pressure from the Marlies carried over into the second period, and Syracuse needed to kill off two penalties to stay in the game.
A passenger in the opening frame, Pickard had to come up with a sharp save to deny Mathieu Joseph at the seven-minute mark before Toronto netted for a third time at the midway point.
After missing a couple of chances, Miro Aaltonen made no mistake this time; an outlet pass from Grundstrom down the right boards found Andreas Johnsson, who dished the puck to his Finnish linemate alone in front for his first of the postseason.
Toronto made it 4-0 less than four minutes later, just seconds after their power play expired. Colin Greening jumped off the bench and had the simple task of easing the puck past Connor Ingram on a goalmouth scramble involving linemates Gauthier and Pierre Engvall.
The normally vocal Syracuse home crowd had been taken out of the game but were briefly given a reason to find their voices after Toronto let their guard down up 4-0. With several Marlies caught puck watching along the end boards, Erik Cernak was left alone in the slot to beat Pickard point blank.
The goal immediately went to the legs of the Crunch, but Pickard kept Syracuse at bay, including an important save on Alexander Volkov in the final second of the period following a face-off win that preserved the Marlies three-goal lead going into the final frame.
Third Period
Toronto began the third period on the penalty kill, where Pickard again came up big when called on with a key save to turn aside Joseph.
A second chance for Joseph arrived courtesy of a breakaway back at even strength, but Toronto’s goaltender snuffed out the attempt, and the result was never in doubt from that moment on.
There was a deal of fortune about the fifth goal as Grundstrom should have been called for a penalty after getting involved with the play despite losing his helmet (a minor infraction at the AHL level). After the officials didn’t make the call, Trevor Moore picked up the loose puck on a broken play in the neutral zone before dashing in on net and finishing with aplomb.
Toronto padded their lead further with two goals in the final five minutes — Andreas Johnsson finally capitalized on a breakaway opportunity and Moore scored his second goal of the game on a feed from Mueller.
Syracuse lost hope after giving up two early goals and appeared abject and tired throughout the majority of the game, save for a small burst of momentum following their lone goal.
For their part, the Marlies did not look inconvenienced by the previous night’s double-overtime marathon, running up a deserved 7-1 victory that gives them a commanding 3-0 series lead.
Post Game Notes
– A sweep looked highly unlikely before this series began, but the Marlies could now advance to the Conference Final with victory in Syracuse on Tuesday. The Marlies had yet to win on the road in the playoffs, and their inability to beat the Crunch away from home at this stage last Spring was their ultimate undoing. This was a huge win on a number of fronts.
– Trevor Moore scored twice and is now tied for the AHL post-season scoring lead with nine points (3-6-9) through nine games.
– A three-point haul for Andreas Johnsson (1-2-3), who will probably feel like he should have scored a hat-trick in what was his best performance in the playoffs so far.
– Chris Mueller, Miro Aaltonen and Carl Grundstrom all recorded two points each (1-1-2).
– Vincent LoVerde and Timothy Liljegren both registered their first point of the playoffs with an assist apiece. Also chipping in off the blue line with an assist was Justin Holl, who was a constant bright spot leading rushes and breaking the puck out.
– In his first ever professional playoff game, Calvin Pickard posted 18 saves for the victory.
“Sparksy did all we could ask of him, and I thought we would be doing him a disservice to put him back in today with the workload and the back-to-back with the travel,” said Keefe. “We just thought it was important to give him the day today. It’s a much easier decision when you have someone like Calvin Pickard, who has waited for this opportunity and worked and been terrific. We had full confidence he would be ready.”
