The Toronto Marlies will play for a Calder Cup title for the first time in six years, as they completed a sweep of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms with a 3-1 victory in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday.
Andreas Johnsson second goal of the game early in the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and Trevor Moore scored into the empty net for Toronto, who have won nine straight playoff games and will play the winner of the Rockford - Texas series beginning next Saturday at Ricoh Coliseum.
“Everyone’s happy. Whether you’re someone that’s just gotten here or someone who’s been here for a while like myself, you finally get over that hump and you feel something special brewing around here. Even just to get to the Finals is just a heck of an accomplishment.” Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “To get through (the post-season) the way that we have here and the way that our team has come together, I’m really proud of it.”
The Marlies continued to show their dominance on the road in the series-clinching win, limiting Lehigh Valley to one power play in two games and allowing only 36 shots on goalie Garret Sparks. The top line of Johnsson, Carl Grundstrom and Miro Aaltonen provided the game-winner in both contests, but the key to the club winning nine games in a row has been the contributions throughout the lineup from team captain Ben Smith to the young fourth line of Trevor Moore, Mason Marchment and Adam Brooks.
“The development of Brooks and Marchment, and the steps that Moore has taken in the last few months here (has) allowed us to be a four-line team that can really control things.” Keefe said. “That was going to be a real key in this series here. (Lehigh) was a deep team and we were going to need all four lines and our guys came through very well for us.”
It appeared that Toronto and Texas meeting in the Calder Cup Final was a foregone conclusion, with the Stars leading the Western Conference Final 3-0, but the IceHogs 3-1 home victory on Friday has forced a Game 6 in Texas on Monday.
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The justifications of the Leafs dealing Phil Kessel in July 2015 were fairly straight forward. The club had set their mind on the path of the rebuild and Kessel’s scoring talent would prevent Toronto from finishing as low in the standings as possible. Or to say it another way, keeping Kessel would lower the odds of winning the lottery and selecting Auston Matthews.
Aonther consideration was that the 27-year-old was entering year two of an eight-year, $64 Million contract extension; a contract too pricey for the high-end complementary player that Kessel had turned out to be, which forced the Leafs to retain 15% of the winger’s salary to enable them to get a good return from the Penguins.
The deal (mostly engineered by then Asst. GM Kyle Dubas) has turned out to be very beneficial for both teams. After trying to get Matt Murray (who played for Dubas with the Soo Greyhounds) and Brian Dumoulin in the swap, the Leafs received Scott Harrington, Kasperi Kapanen, Nick Spaling, the Pens 2016 first and third round pick.
Spaling was sent to San Jose along with Roman Polak for a pair of second round picks at the deadline in 2016, Kapanen has developed into a capable speedy winger who will play in the NHL next season and the first round pick was dealt to Anaheim for goalie Frederik Andersen.
Pittsburgh took advantage of their window with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in their prime and satisfied their need for a scoring winger to provide secondary offense. Kessel provided that with 45 points during their two Cup runs, but now rumors out of Pittsburgh indicate the Pens are looking to trade the former Leaf.
This is not surprising, since another area of concern about Kessel was his ability to maintain a high level of performance in the second half of the contract with his reputation for not being a devotee to physical fitness. Coming off a career-high 92 points last season and turning 31 in October, Pens GM Jim Rutherford may have come to the same decision the Leafs made three years ago.
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