The Toronto Marlies were on the precipice of being eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs by the Cleveland Monsters, as the Toronto Maple Leafs affiliate trailed their best-of-five third round series 2-1 after being shut out 4-0 on home ice on Wednesday, but after struggling to generate offense losses in Games 2 and 3, the Marlies found their scoring touch in a 5-2 victory at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Friday.
Ryan Tverberg scored twice and added an assist, Alex Nylander, Henry Thrun, and Jacob Quillan scored for Toronto, and Artur Akhtyamov, who has six of the club’s seven playoff wins, was sharp in a 36-save effort.
“We got our team back. They found their confidence, they found their mojo, and I knew they would.” Marlies head coach John Gruden said after the game. “We said it all playoffs and all year long when their backs are against the wall, it brings out the best in them, and that’s a good trait to have when your team is on the brink of losing. We’ve just got to bring it again. We’ve got to bottle it up and understand what was successful and get our rest and enjoy the win and make sure we’re ready to go on Sunday.”
The Marlies have gone the distance in each of the three playoff rounds this spring, going to Game 3 against Rochester, Game 5 against Laval, and now Game 5 against Cleveland, which will take place on Sunday afternoon. The winner will take on the winner of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre series, which is also going to a fifth and deciding game on Saturday.
