The Toronto Marlies weathered a strong start by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers but bounced back with four goals in the second period to propel them to a 4-1 win in Game 1 of the Calder Cup Eastern Conference Quarterfinal at Webster Bank Arena on Saturday night.
TJ Brennan, William Nylander, Nikita Soshnikov and Connor Brown scored for Toronto, Josh Leivo and Connor Carrick added two assists and Antoine Bibeau made 31 saves for his first AHL post-season victory.
Bridgeport opened the game the more energetic of the two clubs, pelting the Marlies goaltender with 20 shots in the opening stanza and taking a 1-0 lead as Justin Florek seized on a Brennan defensive zone giveaway, but Toronto tightened up defensively in the final 40 minutes, allowing only 12 shots.
The two-time Eddie Shore Award winner made up for his miscue early in the middle frame, tying the game on the power play tipping Connor Carrick’s shot past Bridgeport goalie Stephon Williams. Toronto took the lead for good four minutes later as Nylander’s long screen shot evaded Williams, who served as Christopher Gibson’s backup until the former Marlie was recalled after Islanders backup J-F Berube was injured.
Here's William Nylander scoring from about as far away as one can with a wrister in the offensive zone. 2-1 Marlies. pic.twitter.com/Y18uRintS9
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) April 24, 2016
The Marlies put an exclamation point on the period with a pair of goals in the final 17 seconds, as Soshnikov successfully used Nylander as a decoy on a 2-on-1 break to make it 3-1 and Brown fired a wrister on a breakaway past Williams with 0.3 seconds left on the clock.
Game Two will be on Sunday at 5pm and can be seen on Leafs TV and listened to on TSN 1050 Radio.
Note : Continue to check back to my column on Hockeybuzz throughout the day for the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information click here.