The Calder Cup Final is now a best-of-three after Texas tied the series up at 2-2 with a 3-2 victory in Game 4.
Despite the Marlies outshooting them 31-18, the Stars were more clinical with their scoring chances and again won the special teams battle in what was a fourth straight game decided by one goal.
“There is nothing between these two teams,” said Sheldon Keefe after the game. “We’ve just got to keep pushing. It’s a matter of who is going to find a way to get one more than the other team… that’s really where we’re at here.”
First Period
The Marlies opened the game with an excellent 90-second spell, taking the game’s first four shots, one of which forced Mike McKenna into a good save in order to deny Carl Grundstrom on a drive to the net.
After surviving the opening barrage, Texas took control and Garret Sparks needed to come up big with two successive stops.
Colin Markison was turned aside on a breakaway following a turnover in the neutral zone by Justin Holl before the Stars opened the scoring on the game’s first power play. After a block in front, Curtis McKenzie reacted first to the bounce and made it count with a good finish in tight.
The home crowd was almost celebrating a 2-0 lead soon after, but Justin Dowling’s shot rang off the crossbar after another costly turnover in the neutral zone by the Marlies.
Toronto came close to tying the game up on a power play of their own but had no luck in front of goal, with Calle Rosen striking the outside of the post on a rasping drive from the top of the circle.
Second Period
Left alone in front of net, Roope Hintz should have put Texas up 2-0 early in the middle frame before the Stars doubled their lead at the six-minute mark.
On a quick transition up ice by the Stars after a turnover from Travis Dermott — who was guilty of overcomplicating matters with a blind spinorama pass high in the offensive zone — McKenzie netted his 10th of the post-season after Vincent LoVerde didn’t pick the Stars captain up in front.
The Marlies appeared a little shell-shocked once in the two-goal hole and didn’t appear all that likely to claw their way back into the game until a 40-second spell turned the momentum inside the final four minutes of the period.
After his line buzzed inside the offensive zone, Dmytro Timashov was credited for the 2-1 goal on a strange bounce in front that found its way through the pads of McKenna, with the Marlies finally receiving a little bit of puck luck around goal. That was followed just 40 seconds later by the tying goal — Justin Holl and Andreas Johnsson broke away on a 2-on-1 rush, and after trading passes, Johnsson made no mistake for his first of the series.
The Marlies finished the period strongly, but they were unable to grab their first lead of the game heading into the final 20.
Third Period
Arguably, the Marlies had the best two scoring opportunities in the final frame: A drive to the net from Johnsson was turned aside, while a shorthanded chance for Ben Smith also was met by a good save from McKenna.
The Stars managed just three shots on goal through the final 20 minutes but made one of them count with 10 minutes remaining, when Justin Dowling tipped in a shot from Matt Mangene to put Texas ahead 3-2.
The Marlies were unable to generate anything of note on a following power play and were reliant on Sparks to keep them within one as the Marlies goaltender denied Brian Flynn from the slot.
Sheldon Keefe opted for an early pull of Sparks with over 2:30 remaining, but the Marlies were guilty of overpassing and weren’t able to get enough shots through traffic with the extra man on the ice. Despite a series of offensive zone faceoffs, the Marlies didn’t generate a real scoring chance of note and fell to a 3-2 defeat that evens the series.
Post Game Notes
– This game marked the first occasion in this series that the team that scored first went on to win the game. Texas improved to 10-4 in one-goal games throughout the postseason, while Toronto fell to 7-2. Texas scored once on two power play opportunities and kept Toronto off the board on both of theirs.
The special teams count in the series now sits at 4-1 in favour of the Stars (Texas 4 for 10, Marlies 1 for 11). With the last three games decided by one goal and just 11 total goals scored by the two teams over those contests, that’s going to have to turn around in a hurry for the Marlies to win the best-of-three.
The Marlies have out-scored the Stars 10-7 at even strength over the four games.
– Calle Rosen led all skaters with seven shots, not including the one that rang the iron on the late first-period power play.
– The goal for Andreas Johnsson was his first of the Final and just his second point of the series, but the fact that he’s come to life is an encouraging sign for the Marlies heading into the final 2-3 games.
– With the 2-1 goal, Dmytro Timashov broke a seven-game goal-scoring slump after scoring five in nine to open the playoffs.
– There were several physical altercations throughout this game, including a line brawl at the final buzzer. Mostly instigated by Texas, the Marlies will need to keep their cool while not backing down against a Stars team that plays with an edge.
“They’re physical and all of that, but they’re also fast and they’ve got skill,” said Keefe after the Game 4 loss. “They move the puck extremely well. That’s the most mobile and skilled defense that we’ve seen. They move the puck extremely well off the backend. They play physical, for sure, and they defend physically, as well. There is a lot more to their team than just being an old-school, grind-it-out type team. That’s a good hockey team with a lot of skill and a lot of depth throughout their team. It’s a battle. It’s been fun and it’s going to continue to be fun.”
– Frederik Gauthier was a game-time decision but took his place in the line-up on his usual line with Greening and Engvall.
– Game 4 Lines:
Forwards
Johnsson-Aaltonen-Grundstrom
Timashov-Mueller-Smith
Engvall-Gauthier-Greening
Marchment-Brooks-Moore
Defensemen
Marincin-Holl
Rosen-LoVerde
Dermott-Liljegren
Goaltenders
Sparks
Pickard
