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The Toronto Marlies moved to within a single win of the Calder Cup Final after a comprehensive 5-0 Game 3 victory in Allentown.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms simply had no answer for the four-line onslaught from the Marlies that began right from the opening puck drop.

First Period

It took just 61 seconds for the Marlies to strike after Andreas Johnsson, who won a puck race off the initial offensive zone draw, pounced on a turnover from Travis Sanheim behind the net and set up Carl Grundstrom for his sixth goal of the playoffs.

The Marlies outshot their hosts 11-3 through the first period and would have held a bigger advantage if not for some big saves from Alex Lyon early on, including denying Colin Greening — who was all around the puck early — on three separate occasions.

The Marlies had to kill two penalties to ensure they held the lead through 20 minutes, but in truth, the Phantoms were fortunate to head into the intermission trailing by just the one goal.

Second Period

Inevitably, the Phantoms came out with plenty of intention to begin the middle frame and forced the Marlies into some early turnovers.

Garret Sparks came up with a sharp save to deny Mikhail Vorobyev after a slap pass from T.J Brennan, while Timothy Liljegren bravely blocked a shot by Danick Martel.

The turning point of the period — and the game — came around the five-minute mark when a slap shot from Sanheim in the slot was turned aside by Sparks amid a sustained spell of Lehigh pressure before the Marlies promptly scored at the other end just seconds later.

Johnsson took a pass from Miro Aaltonen down low, threw the puck across the crease coming out from behind the net, and got a kind bounce off of the Lehigh defenseman as well as Lyon’s skate to make it 2-0 Marlies.

Once again it was one-way traffic toward the Lehigh net — the Marlies fourth line of Mason Marchment, Adam Brooks and Trevor Moore were causing the Phantoms all kinds of problems and on four separate occasions nearly added a third goal before breaking through just after the midway mark.

A series of won puck battles and a sustained cycle by that line resulted in Marchment scoring his second of the series, giving Toronto a 3-0 advantage heading into the final frame.

Third Period

The Marlies would have begun the third period on the man advantage had the officials not called a too-many-men penalty on Toronto after the Marlies pulled Sparks for a delayed power play.

It mattered little, as the Marlies remained in the ascendancy and a Lehigh comeback never looked likely to materialize.

A frustrated Alex Lyon saw his night end with nine minutes on the clock after aiming a kick at a prone Marchment in his crease according to the officials, who awarded a five-minute major and a game misconduct. In truth, the kick lacked any real malice and Marchment was none the worse for wear.

The Marlies took advantage of the nice break with a pair of power-play goals from Ben Smith. The first was the finishing touch on a wonderful tic-tac-toe play after Dmytro Timashov had struck the iron, and the second was jammed in off the post, with Dustin Tokarski showing some signs of rust during his first appearance of the series.

The penalty count rose as Voroybev was assessed a 10-minute misconduct for abuse of officials, and all that remained in the game was to see if Sparks could keep his slate clean.

The Maries goaltender was barely pressed as he made the seven saves asked of him in the third period to clinch the shutout and close out a dominant 5-0 victory that puts the Marlies firmly in the driver’s seat in this series.


Post Game Notes

– The Marlies recorded their eighth straight win and now have a chance to clinch consecutive sweeps with a victory on Friday night in Allentown.

Mason Marchment scored his second goal of the series and his third overall of the playoffs. Linemate Trevor Moore kept up his point-per-game pace through 12 games (3-9-12) with an assist.

“They (Marchment – Brooks – Moore) were outstanding,” said Sheldon Keefe. “I just thought their team had a really hard time handling them any time they were on the ice. That’s just a good sign for our team. We’ve got four lines and we just rolled 1-2-3-4 pretty well the entire night. When we have four lines playing like that with purpose, it doesn’t give the other team much opportunity to get going.”

Garret Sparks posted 16 saves for his second shutout of the playoffs. A light workload, but he was there when called on, most notably with the save on Sanheim that preceded the Marlies putting the game more or less out of reach at 3-0.

– A sixth post-season goal for Carl Grundstrom ties him for the AHL lead. A pair of points for Andreas Johnsson (1-1-2) takes him to 13 points in eight games – tied second in league postseason scoring. Johnsson was dominant all game in all situations.

“All three of those guys (Grundstrom, Johnsson and Aaltonen) are fearless,” said Keefe. “They’ve got high skill level. They’re strong on the puck. It’s a very good line for us. We had all four lines doing their part. We had really, really efficient line changes today to stay fresh and just keep coming and keep coming.”

Ben Smith now has four goals in three games against Lehigh and is currently riding a five-game point streak (4-2-6).

Ian Scott backed up Sparks with Calvin Pickard unavailable due to illness.

– Game 3 Lines:

Forwards
Johnsson-Aaltonen-Grundstrom
Timashov-Mueller-Smith
Engvall-Gauthier-Greening
Marchment-Brooks-Moore

Defensemen
Marincin-Holl
Rosen-LoVerde
Dermott-Liljegren

Goaltenders
Sparks
Scott


Game Highlights – Marlies 5 vs. Phantoms 0


Post-Game: Sheldon Keefe