Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Who led the Toronto Marlies to the Calder Cup finals?
On the one hand, they did.
What about everyone else? Well, the team lost six of its next eight games. This kind of late-quarter decline will raise doubts. But they rallied in the final days of the regular season. After losing to Utica 6-3 on April 10, they traveled to Syracuse two days later and won 4-1 and ended the regular season in preparation for the Calder Cup playoffs with back-to-back wins over the Laval Rocket.
Then came the Calder Cup playoffs, and along the way, these Marlies left some major havoc. The Rochester Americans lost, even though the best-of-three series ended in a decisive Game 3. However, the game got off to a rather shaky start. They didn’t initially select a goalie. head coach John Gruden and Artur Akhtyamov In the Marlies’ first two playoff games against the Amerkes, then turned Dennis Hilderby Get them through Game 3. North Division regular season champion Laval followed with Hilderby holding off a goal in the first game. But then it came back to Akhtiamov. The Marlies also defeated Laval in another long game, with Akhtiamov entering the Calder Cup finals with an 11-6 record, a 2.12 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage.
The Marlies faced off against the Cleveland Monsters in the North Division Finals, trailing by a goal late in the third quarter in the deciding Game 5 game in Cleveland. However, they came to life again. team leader Logan ShawIn a Marlies game, they tied the game with 4:30 left to go into regulation. 2-2, facing the possibility of overtime, the rookie forward easton cowan With 11.3 seconds left, he fired a loose puck into Cleveland’s net.
After three rounds, the Marlies will face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. They move on. Consecutive winners from Michael Pezzetta Allowing the Marlies to take the first two games of the series on the road. However, resistance came as the Penguins took two of three games at Coca-Cola Arena.
But last Sunday night, back in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, with a 3-2 series lead, the Marlies made sure to prevent the Penguins from fighting back any further. Alex NylanderThe former Penguins ended all thoughts of Game 7 among Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fans with 13:44 of overtime to win the series 2-1 and advance to the Calder Cup finals.
The Marlies reached the finals for the third time and first since winning the title in 2017-18. Game 1 against the Chicago Wolves takes place tonight at Allstate Arena.
Cowan is a first-round pick in 2023. He scored 29 points for his parent team Toronto Maple Leafs and scored 3 goals in the past four games. He is in hot form. Ben DanfordHe’s still in the Ontario Hockey League when the playoffs begin, and he’s already providing solid work on the blueline. He’s another Maple Leafs first-rounder. Luke Hyams Help has been provided above Jacob Quinlan and the annoying new guy Landon Sim. As is tradition in Toronto, there is a strong veteran base here. Matt Benning, Dakota Melmis and Marshall Rifai Bringing expertise to the Defense Forces. Front, Vinny Lettieri is a proven producer who leads the Calder Cup Playoffs in scoring with 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 18 games. Other players include Bo Glucks, Cedric Pare and Ryan Twilberg.
There are many emotions that come with pursuing the Calder Cup. One of the disappointments was in Game 4 against the Penguins, when Cowan’s turnover set up a late game-winning goal for the visitors. Cowan, who vowed after the game that he would do better, scored in both games five and six.
The Marlies have won four rounds, played 19 postseason games — more than a quarter of the entire regular season — and endured countless bruises, injuries and rapid changes in fortunes. Even though teams that outperformed them in the regular season were all gone until this fall, the Marlies kept going.
There is more to go.
“We have a really good team,” Cowan said during practice this week. “But we’re not done yet. We still have work to do.”
About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. In 2016, he received the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.
