TORONTO MARLIES (3) AT SYRACUSE CRUNCH (6)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 17 – NORTH DIVISION FINALS GAME #7

SCORING SUMMARY

Toronto: S. Griffith (2) (T. Moore, C. O’Reilly), B. Leipsic (4) (S. Oleksy), A. Johnsson (6) (K. Kapanen)

Goaltender: K. Kaskisuo 24/29

Syracuse: G. Dumont (3) (B. Thomas, M. Brodeur), M. Taormina (2) (M. Peca, T. McGinn), A. Erne (3) PP (C. Conacher, M. Taormina), M. Peca (4) (J. Dotchin, S. Koekkoek), C. Conacher (4) (Y. Gourde, E. Condra), Y. Gourde (2) EN (unassisted)

Goaltender: M. McKenna 14/17

FROM THE SCORESHEET

· Seth Griffith put the Marlies on the board with his second of the postseason at 17:37 of the first period. Griffith led the Marlies in scoring this postseason with nine points.

· Brendan Leipsic gave the Marlies a 2-1 lead late in the third period with his fourth of the playoffs. Leipsic had five points (4 goals, 1 assist) through 11 playoff games.

· Andreas Johnsson scored his team leading sixth goal of the postseason at 11:03 of the second period.

· Trevor Moore collected the primary assist on Griffith’s first period goal and finished the postseason with four points (2 goal, 2 assist).

· Cal O’Reilly picked up an assist tonight, giving him six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in his past six games. O’Reilly finished the postseason with seven points (1 goal, 6 assists).

· Steve Oleksy recorded the lone assist on Leipsic’s first period goal. Oleksy had three points (1 goal, 2 assists) in the postseason.

· Kasperi Kapanen registered the lone assist on Johnsson’s second period goal for his sixth helper of the playoffs. Kapanen finished with eight points (2 goals, 6 assists) in nine playoff games with the Marlies.

NOTABLES

· The Marlies hold a 54-47 all-time record in the postseason (24-26 on the road).

· Toronto went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play. The Marlies finished the playoffs with a 21.3% power play and an 85.4% penalty kill.

· Syracuse had a 30-17 edge in shots in all situations.

· Brendan Leipsic led the Marlies with three shots on goal.

MARLIES PLAYOFF LEADERS

· Points: Seth Griffith (9)

· Goals: Andreas Johnsson (6)

· Assists: Seth Griffith (7)

· Shots: Brendan Leipsic (30)

· +/-: Justin Holl (+4)

· PIM: Andrew Nielsen (24)

HEAD COACH SHELDON KEEFE

Overall thoughts: We were happy to build a lead and give ourselves an opportunity to win the game. That’s what we wanted coming in here on the road but for the second and third period it wasn’t even close, they were the better team. In a game like this, the better team won.

Losing Kalinin: It presented a challenge for us, already being short with no Gauthier and then lose Kalinin in a game like this, especially losing him so early, it can cause an issue for you up the middle of the ice. I don’t know if we can just attribute it to that, with our regression and our play but it certainly didn’t help our cause. They got better in the second period when we got a lead and they came at us hard and we didn’t deal with it, we couldn’t break out, we didn’t execute so we spent the whole time in our own end as a result. That just takes so much more out of both our defence and short forward group, especially our centers who have to do all the work down low.

The Marlies return to Syracuse Wednesday night for a Game 7 clash with the Crunch to decide the winner of the North Division Finals.

The Marlies forced the seventh game with a 2-1 victory at home on Monday. Carl Grundstrom scored his third of the postseason in the game, while Andrew Nielsen’s first was the eventual game winner.

Kasimir Kaskisuo made 27 stops in the game for his fifth win of the playoffs. He enters Game 7 with a 2.37 Goals Against Average and 0.901 Save Percentage.

Seth Griffith had a pair of assists in Monday’s win and leads the Marlies with eight total points during this year’s Calder Cup Playoffs. It was his second multipoint performance of the postseason.

Cal O’Reilly also had an assist in the contest, and now has points in four of the past five games.

Following Game 6, Head coach Sheldon Keefe spoke with the media about what the Marlies need to do to win on the road.

“We hope we can get some good fortune there,” Keefe said. “We need to play better; we still didn’t play the way that I think we need to play if we’re going to be able to win on the road.”

The Marlies will look to win on the road for the first time this series. Both Toronto and Syracuse hold perfect 5-0 records when playing at home this postseason. However, the Marlies went 2-1-1-0 at Syracuse during the regular season, including a pair of victories on March 31 and April 1.

Puck drop for tonight’s game is scheduled for 7:00. Catch the action live on Leafs TV and AHL Live.

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