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Toronto Maple Leafs: Marlies get early advantage in Calder Cup Finals

By David Morassutti

TORONTO,ON - DECEMBER 19: A general view prior to play between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Toronto Maple Leafs in an NHL game at the Air Canada Centre on December 19, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Hurricanes 8-1. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
TORONTO,ON - DECEMBER 19: A general view prior to play between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Toronto Maple Leafs in an NHL game at the Air Canada Centre on December 19, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Hurricanes 8-1. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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The Toronto Marlies got past the Texas Stars in Game 1 of the Calder Cup even with some Toronto Maple Leafs prospects struggling.

It is tough to be critical of a win especially in a best of seven series and that’s what the Toronto Marlies will take after beating the Texas Stars 6-5.

It wasn’t a model game for a couple of Toronto Maple Leafs prospects especially one that had been dominating since his return to the AHL. Andreas Johnsson was held pointless and had some misplays which could have been costly.

At one point, the Swedish forward was carrying the puck in front of his blueline and instead of passing it he got it poked off of him leading to a breakaway with Garret Sparks having to bail his teammate out.

Instead, the team relied on their depth for production; Trevor Moore, Mason Marchment, Justin Holl, Frederik Gauthier, Chris Mueller and Martin Marincin scored for the Marlies.

While Sparks would have like some of the goals he let in, it was still a strong performance given some of the chances that he had to stop.

“I’m sure he doesn’t want to let five in and wants some of those back,” Keefe said to the media postgame. “I thought there were key saves at big times.”

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Now there’s no reason to be concerned after the first game since both teams are not used to playing each other with this being the first meeting of the season.

It was also encouraging to see veterans like Mueller (1 goal), Colin Greening (2 asst) step up offensively along with Dmytro Timashov who picked up two assists.

Texas relies on their veterans to lead the way offensively so they constructed a bit differently than the Marlies. So to see some of the younger players not have the performance that they would have expected speaks to the experience that the Stars veterans have coming into this series.

Next: Travis Dermott excited about Timothy Liljegren’s development

Game 2 is set for 4:00 p.m. Sunday then depending on how the series plays out, the next three games will take place in Texas with Games 6 and 7 back in Toronto.

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