The Toronto Marlies took a commanding lead in their second round series against the Chicago Wolves with a 4-3 victory at Ricoh Coliseum Wednesday night, as AHL playoff point leader Jerry D’Amigo scored the winning goal 3:28 into overtime.
The Marlies have won six straight post-season games, sweeping their first round series against the Milwaukee Admirals and the first three games against the Midwest Division winning Wolves.
TJ Brennan, Peter Holland and Brandon Kozun scored for Toronto in an uncharacteristically wide open first period, with Dmitrij Jaskin and Adam Cracknell responding for Chicago. The Wolves dominated play in the middle frame and tied the game on Tyler Shattock’s goal, but veteran Drew MacIntyre kept the contest tied in spite of being the Marlies being outshot 24-13 through the remainder of regulation.
Toronto fired six shots at Chicago goaltender Jake Allen in overtime and scored the winner as Trevor Smith’s long shot rebounded to D’Amigo, who was denied once by the AHL Goalie of the Year before flipping the puck just under the crossbar.
“The puck just happens to be on my stick sometimes,… said D’Amigo following the game. “I missed a couple chances in the first and one in the second, so I was due for sure. I was sick of the empty-netters that I was getting and I needed to score a real goal.…
Defenseman Andrew MacWilliam left the game with an upper body injury in the second period and forced Marlies coach Steve Spott to go with five defensemen. Spott indicated following the game that the injury was not concussion related(which had plagued MacWilliam earlier in the season) and that his status would be evaluated on Thursday. Toronto will go for the sweep on Friday night at 7pm at Ricoh Coliseum.
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Listen to my interview with former Leafs Assistant GM and player agent Bill Watters, as we discuss the hiring of former client Brendan Shanahan as Team President, the retention of Randy Carlyle and the Dion Phaneuf trade speculation.
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Brendan Shanahan has begun to express his vision for the Leafs going forward and that does not entail tearing the club down and rebuilding from scratch.
“This is not a gut job,… Shanahan stated in James Mirtle’s column in The Globe and Mail on Wednesday.“There are good pieces. I think the team is maybe not as good as some of their best months and not as bad as some of their worst months. But there are definitely pieces I’m comfortable with.…
Shanahan indicated that he is not considering stripping the “C… from team captain Dion Phaneuf and backed the decision to retain head coach Randy Carlyle, but stated that more is needed from them and everyone on the team to progress in the future.
“I think that Randy is a talented coach and I think he – like a lot of our players – has to look in the mirror and figure out how they can all come back and be better. I think that’s part of any winning organization. That has to happen from everyone.…
The Hall of Famer also expressed the hope that he can get fellow Mimico, ON native Dave Bolland to re-sign in Toronto.
“I’d like to get him signed,… Shanahan said to the Toronto Sun’s Mike Zeisberger “He’s the type of player I like, the type of player we need. This is a guy we want to have back. Dave (Nonis) knows I want him back. But any time you are a UFA, there are other factors involved.…
The question is, if the Leafs retain Phaneuf and re-sign Bolland, where is the promised culture change that Shanahan and Tim Leiweke talked about and promised?
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