After an 8-2 thrashing at the hands of the Hershey Bears on Wednesday and falling 3-0 in the Calder Cup Eastern Conference Final, the Toronto Marlies more resembled the club that won an AHL-best 54 games during the regular season, as William Nylander scored the hat trick in a 5-0 victory in Game 4 at Ricoh Coliseum on Friday.
Josh Leivo and Connor Carrick added single tallies for Toronto, TJ Brennan added four assists and Antoine Bibeau made 18 saves for the shutout that kept Toronto alive in the best-of-seven series.
Marlies forward William Nylander scoring his third goal in a 5-0 victory over the Hershey Bears on Friday.
Image courtesy of Christian Bonin at TSGPhoto
Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe shook up his lineup facing elimination, scratching forwards Brendan Leipsic and Sam Carrick, inserting Frederik Gauthier and Viktor Loov, going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen and giving Nylander extra shifts.
The result was a more structured defense which neutralized Hershey’s offensive attack and a concerted forechecking effort that created more scoring chances on Bears goalie Justin Peters.
“We wanted to have a real patient, smart approach in the game.” Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe said after the win. “It was a nice, tidy clean game for us.”
Toronto followed a similar pattern in the opening 40 minutes, limiting Hershey to seven shots each period and getting a Nylander goal late in the frame. The Marlies took advantage of the Bears undisciplined nature in the third, scoring three times on the power play to salt the game away.
Leivo scored to make it 3-0 and was cross-checked by Bears defenseman Tyler Lewington in the crease to give Toronto another man advantage. Carrick scored his seventh goal and AHL-leading 17th point of the playoffs just 25 seconds later to put the game out of reach.
Hershey’s Madison Bowey could face a possible suspension from the AHL for an elbow to the head of Kasperi Kapanen midway through the third and possibly for comments made at the Marlies forward while he was still down on the ice.
The Bears defenseman was given a five-minute major for elbowing and a game misconduct after hitting Kapanen along the boards, but video provided on social media showed Bowey mouthing what may have been a homophobic slur.
Kapanen did not return to the game and Keefe was uncertain of the forward's status for Game 5 of the series on Sunday afternoon.
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The Memorial Cup Final on Sunday will feature three Maple Leafs prospects, with Rouyn-Noranda's Martins Dzierkals joining Mitch Marner and JJ Piccinich of the London Knights.
Dzierkals (Toronto's 2015 third round pick) scored his first goal of the tournament and the game winner in a 3-1 Huskies victory over Red Deer in the semi-final game on Friday.
Marner has been dominant with 13 points (2 goals, 11 assists) in three games and also could be the first player since 2005 (Corey Perry) to win the the OHL's Most Outstanding Player, playoff MVP and the Memorial Cup MVP in the same season.
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