A four-goal second period powered the Toronto Marlies past a dogged Sound Tigers team in Game 1 in Bridgeport.

First Period

In front of a somewhat underwhelming announced crowd of 3,567, the home side came out the better team during the opening 20 minutes. The underdogs deserved a one-goal lead after a first period in which they outshot their favoured opponents 20-12.

The warning signs were apparent early as Bridgeport gave as good as they got in the opening three minutes, testing Antoine Bibeau. Given the start in game one ahead of Garret Sparks, Bibeau’s best save during that spell came on Sebastian Collberg.

Bridgeport’s strong forecheck and work rate was causing Toronto problems and led to a giveaway with four and a half minute minutes played. Bibeau again was sharp, this time turning aside rookie Michael Dal Colle.

Anton Williams, in net for the Sound Tigers, was forced into his best save seven minutes in, holding on to a tipped effort from Zach Hyman.

Williams’ next fine save came after an individual piece of brilliance from Nikita Soshnikov. Picking the puck up deep inside his own zone, the Russian forward tore by two opponents down the left wing before dropping a pass back to Rich Clune. Yet to score a playoff goal in his AHL career, Clune’s one-time shot was turned aside.

The home team struck the opening goal at the 11:30 mark. T.J Brennan whiffed on an attempted pass in his own zone and turned the puck over in the slot to Justin Florek, who was in alone on net and gave Bibeau no chance.

Hyman tried to respond for Toronto but Williams made a sprawling save to his right to smother the effort on the Marlies‘ tenth effort on net.

The visitors were a little fortunate not to end the period down by more than a single goal as Ben Holmstrom chipped an effort just wide of the post on a second opportunity, with Bibeau struggling to make his ground.

That was followed by consecutive powerplay opportunities for the hosts, who struggled to produce anything of note on the first chance. The second man-advantage opportunity was a different matter as Bibeau had to cling onto some long-range efforts through traffic. He also had to be razor sharp to stop former Marlie Matt Finn, who tested him with a booming slap shot, as well as Dal Colle on the rebound.

As the buzzer sounded, a shot from T.J Brennan found the net, but it clearly went in after the clock struck zero.

Second Period

Toronto trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes and needed to step it up a few gears to get into this game. Perhaps it was nerves, or an initial surprise at Bridgeport’s level of play — whatever the issue may have been, it was certainly resolved during the first intermission.

Josh Leivo heading to the box 39 seconds into the second period wasn’t ideal, but the Marlies killed their third straight penalty, this time without allowing a shot on net.

Finally able to get their possession game going, Toronto drew their first powerplay of the game with 4:09 on the clock. It took just 27 seconds with the man advantage for the Marlies to even the score. The play developed on the left side, resulting in Connor Carrick letting fly. TJ Brennan, in an unusual station down low at the net front, tipped the puck home as the defenseman atoned for his earlier error with an excellent piece of play in the crease.

You could feel the momentum shift as Toronto found their feet and Bridgeport were forced back on their heels. Brendan Leipsic came close in front but was bowled over in search of the rebound, before Ben Smith fired high from a great position.

It mattered not, as exactly four minutes after scoring their first goal of the game Toronto found a second. Battling behind the Bridgeport goal line, the Marlies kept the puck alive thanks to Ben Smith. He offloaded to Sam Carrick, who sent the puck up the left wall to William Nylander. After corralling possession on a bad bounce, the Swedish sensation showed some patience with a pressuring forward closing down. Only just inside the blue line, he immediately let fly with a seeing-eye snipe that found its way through some bodies in front.

There were a couple of turning points before Toronto took the game away from Bridgeport.

A fourth powerplay for the home team resulted in Dal Colle striking the post, with the goal judge prematurely signalling a tying marker for Bridgeport. The replay clearly showed the puck hit the post flush and bounced straight back to Bibeau.

With six minutes of the period remaining, Soshnikov was caught in possession at the Bridgeport blue line by Florek. The Bridgeport forward thought he was away on net alone, but Soshnikov fought and clawed his way back before Bibeau claimed the loose puck.

After a second Toronto powerplay of the period proved fruitless, the Marlies blew the game open with two late goals inside 17 seconds.

Soshnikov was sent away down the right side by a fine pass from Connor Carrick. The Russian had Nylander to his left as support, but opted to used him as a diversion before ripping home short side from the slot to make it 3-1.

A fourth goal with 0.3 seconds remaining was the dagger in the heart of Bridgeport. Mark Arcobello’s delightful outlet pass found Connor Brown, who had a step on the Bridgeport defense. His low shot beat Williams in the blink of an eye and the game was as good as won with one period left to see out.

Third Period

After allowing Bridgeport just five shots in the middle frame, the Marlies followed suit in the third as they convincingly shut down the Sound Tigers.

The hosts had two good chances inside the opening seven minutes, but were unable to capitalize. James Wright was presented with a shorthanded one-on-one after a turnover and drove across the crease before going to his backhand. It would have been a fantastic goal but for a fine glove save from Bibeau, who continued his excellent play from the opening period.

Next to try his luck was Tanner Fritz. The Sound Tigers forward found some space and released a wrist shot that appeared to have Bibeau beaten but it clipped the outside of the left post and bounced away to safety.

In response, Nylander sent Hyman away with a beautiful stretch pass, but the right winger looked to be slashed from behind on the play and the chance passed him by.

Instead of going for the jugular, Toronto played keep away hockey from this point on, dominating possession for long stretches without coming all that close to augmenting their advantage.

A fifth goal almost came with a little under three minutes to play after a giveaway from the Sound Tigers. Connor Carrick was the grateful recipient in the right circle, but his flashing effort drew another fine stop from Williams, who could not be held accountable for his team’s defeat in Game 1.

Post Game Notes:

– For the fourth year running, Toronto won their opening game of the postseason.

– Toronto killed four penalties and scored once in three attempts on the power play.

– T.J Brennan‘s goal was his 10th as a Marlie in post season, tying him for third all time with Greg Scott.

– Connor Carrick recorded two primary assists in Game 1.

– Connor Brown’s goal was his second in the post season, but the first with a goaltender to beat. His previous marker against Grand Rapids last year was an empty net insurance marker.

– Josh Leivo, in his fourth post-season with the Toronto Marlies, took his points tally to 17 with two assists in his 21st playoff game.

– Antoine Bibeau was fantastic in making 31 saves on 32 shots for the victory. His first win in his second career playoff game, it certainly lays down a marker moving forward.

– Keefe on Nylander’s snipe: “A pretty intelligent shot from Willy, first of all, in recognizing the amount of traffic. The goaltender wasn’t expecting it. It got into a nice spot in the net and got there with some enthusiasm.”

– Keefe on the first period: “We’ve been in cruise control quite a while here as a team. We learned pretty quickly that this is playoff hockey. But I liked the way we found our way, and once we got going we really didn’t give up much after that. So it was really positive that way, but we can be a whole lot better and we have to be.”

– No single line stood out in the game above the others, but the decision to switch Tobias Lindberg and Nikita Soshnikov paid dividends. The Russian forward scored his goal on the line with Nylander and Hyman, which is a combination we could see again moving forward.

– Tonight’s lines (start of game):

Josh Leivo – Mark Arcobello – Connor Brown

Tobias Lindberg – William Nylander – Zach Hyman

Brendan Leipsic – Sam Carrick – Ben Smith

Rich Clune – Frederik Gauthier – Nikita Soshnikov

Andrew Campbell – Rinat Valiev

Stuart Percy – Connor Carrick

TJ Brennan – Justin Holl

Scratches: Kasperi Kapanen, Matt Frattin, Colin Smith, Viktor Loov, David Kolomatis

Sheldon Keefe Post Game

Game Highlights

Marlies Player Stats — Toronto 4 vs. Bridgeport 1