One point. Thanks to a run of seven straight victories, the Toronto Marlies are just a single point away from clinching a playoff berth.

It’s noteworthy that half of those wins occurred away from Ricoh Coliseum. Toronto has had a great deal of difficulty garnering results on the road this season, but after five consecutive away wins, the Marlies road record is now above .500 (17-16-1-1).

The recent successes featured the first three-in-three weekend sweep of the season, with the Marlies outscoring their opponents by a combined 12-3. Toronto now sits four points clear at the top of the North Division, having achieved their 40th win of the season against St. John’s this past Tuesday.

Two season series with North Division rivals came to completion: Toronto won four of six against Binghamton Senators and held an 11-9 point advantage against the Syracuse Crunch, with five of the eight games requiring overtime.

On the subject of overtime, the Marlies‘ two shootouts against Syracuse were just their third and fourth of the season. Victorious in both, the Marlies have now won three of the four.

The Marlies‘ normally potent power play hasn’t been at its best of late, converting at just 11% in the last six games. However, the penalty kill stepped up to the plate, allowing just a single goal against thanks to an impressive 95% efficiency.

Game Reviews

Player News

– Brendan Leipsic is back to his best form after injury with eight points in his last six games. He’s riding a four-game goal streak and is just three points shy of 50 after 44 games.

– Mike Sislo is surely going to slow down at some point, but his five assists in six games keep him at point-per-game pace since joining the Marlies (14 games).

– Andreas Johnsson hit the 20-goal plateau with a pair of markers — a significant achievement in his rookie season, particularly given his start to the year (three goals in 18 games). Two assists take him to 45 points, fourth in Marlies scoring.

– Before being recalled to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kasperi Kapanen was riding a three-game point streak including a goal and four assists.

– Sergey Kalinin played some of his best hockey during this stretch, including his first goal as a Marlie. Unfortunately, he’s currently sidelined after fighting noted enforcer John Kurtz.

– Four points in six games for Seth Griffith means he’s still producing at well over a point-per-game pace. He’s a point shy of 40 through 33 games and one short of 10 goals.

– Kerby Rychel has been quieter of late (three points in his last six) but a pair of goals in Marlies’ most recent win means he’s the first Marlies player to reach 50 points this season, while his 19 goals are second-best amongst those on the current roster.

– A return to action for Garret Sparks and he’s installed himself as the number one moving forward. Four victories including a 26 save shutout and improved his record to 4-0 when facing St. John’s this season. Has twenty wins to his name through 28 games and five shutouts to boot.

– Kasimir Kaskisuo has taken his chance to impress and made it difficult for Toronto to consider sending him down to Orlando. After a total of 56 saves in his last two victories, he is yet to lose any of his four starts this season.

– Antoine Bibeau has yet to be given a start since the seven-goal third-period debacle at the ACC against Binghamton.

Toronto Marlies Player Stats – April 7

Player Pos GP G A PTS +/- PIM PP SHG SOG SH% Kerby Rychel LW 68 19 31 50 -9 116 11 0 177 10.7 Cal O'Reilly (TOR) C 10 0 7 7 1 4 0 0 15 0 Brendan Leipsic LW 44 16 31 47 7 30 5 1 133 12 Andreas Johnsson LW 70 20 25 45 8 40 10 0 135 14.8 Kasperi Kapanen (X) RW 43 18 25 43 2 16 9 0 121 14.9 Byron Froese (X) C 48 24 15 39 9 18 8 2 136 17.6 Seth Griffith RW 33 9 30 39 8 32 1 0 65 13.8 Andrew Nielsen D 69 13 25 38 9 74 4 0 127 10.2 Mike Sislo (TOR) RW 14 6 8 14 2 6 4 0 30 20 Trevor Moore LW 52 12 20 32 9 18 5 0 67 17.9 Colin Smith (X) C 52 8 20 28 -2 22 0 0 103 7.8 Colin Greening C 67 10 14 24 5 49 1 1 106 9.4 Dmytro Timashov LW 58 11 12 23 -4 30 5 0 98 11.2 Travis Dermott D 56 5 18 23 6 58 1 1 96 5.2 Brett Findlay C 30 10 12 22 7 8 1 0 39 25.6 Andrew Campbell D 70 5 15 20 20 58 0 0 94 5.3 Justin Holl D 67 7 11 18 5 28 0 1 104 6.7 Tobias Lindberg LW 44 6 10 16 6 34 2 0 68 8.8 Frederik Gauthier C 41 4 8 12 6 14 0 1 45 8.9 Frank Corrado ((X) D 18 1 11 12 6 14 0 0 44 2.3 Steve Oleksy (TOR) D 15 2 4 6 1 37 1 0 26 7.7 Rinat Valiev D 42 2 9 11 -2 79 1 1 64 3.1 Richard Clune LW 34 3 6 9 -3 70 0 0 20 15 William Wrenn D 37 3 6 9 11 16 0 0 40 7.5 Brooks Laich C 27 1 8 9 3 12 0 0 23 4.3 Tony Cameranesi F 29 4 3 7 8 8 0 0 56 7.1 Viktor Loov (X) D 41 2 4 6 1 43 0 0 41 4.9 Milan Michalek LW 16 2 3 5 -1 20 0 0 25 8 Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond (TOR) LW 1 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 Nikita Soshnikov (X) RW 6 1 2 3 1 6 1 0 11 9.1 Eric Faille (X) RW 11 1 2 3 -1 0 0 0 14 7.1 Sergey Kalinin (TOR) C 14 1 2 3 1 9 0 0 7 14.3 Marc-Andre Cliche C 16 1 2 3 -1 6 0 0 18 5.6 Daniel Maggio (X) RW 4 1 1 2 1 9 0 0 5 20 Brenden Miller (X) D 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 33.3 Mason Marchment (X) LW 9 1 0 1 -2 6 0 0 11 9.1 Nikolas Brouillard D 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 3 0 Shane Conacher (X) RW 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 Ty Stanton (X) D 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 Willie Corrin (X) D 4 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 2 0 Alex Gudbranson D 4 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 Josh Leivo (X) LW 5 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 11 0

Toronto Marlies Goalie Stats – April 7