Toronto Marlies look to avoid elimination in Game 6
After a 5-1 loss in Game 5 to the Syracuse Crunch, the Toronto Marlies return home trying to avoid elimination in Game 6.
The Toronto Marlies will need to continue their success at home, if they want to extend their series against the Syracuse Crunch. The Marlies won both games at home in this series, but have not been able to replicate that success on the road.
Now they face their first win or go home scenario, the first time they have faced this type of adversity in the AHL playoffs. They had a chance to take a stranglehold on the series after consecutive wins in Games 3 and 4, but produced a lackluster effort in Game 5.
The opportunities were there for the Marlies after taking a 1-0 lead, but they let the Crunch overwhelm them in the second period. Despite having five opportunities on the power play, the Marlies could not take advantage and gave up a shorthanded goal in the process. Syracuse has dominated Toronto at home, with 16 goals in three games.
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The Marlies came out firing in the first period, with 12 shots on goal. However, the Crunch turned around and kept them to 14 total shots for the rest of the game.
The Marlies realize the margin of error will be small in an elimination game. In Game 5, Kasperi Kapanen made an error on the Syracuse blue line and it led to an odd-man break, while William Wrenn had a clearing attempt intercepted and eventually in the back of the net.
The Marlies will need to rely on their young players up front like Kapanen, Brendan Leipsic, Andreas Johnson and Carl Grundstrom if they want to force a Game 7. On defence, while Travis Dermott has been playing well for the Marlies, Andrew Nielsen has been guilty of making some poor decisions defensively.
The biggest factor in this series has been the Marlies power play, which has not performed to the standards of head coach Sheldon Keefe.
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"“For us, we’ve been slow and just haven’t really found our way [on the power play] for quite some time,” said Keefe, to Marlies TV after the game. “It could’ve made a difference, I think our luck ran out today. We need to clean up our process and get more towards the net.”"