TORONTO — For two and a half periods, the Toronto Marlies had done enough to keep their dreams of an AHL Calder Cup alive while facing elimination against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
But in a dramatic final ten minutes, the Marlies saw a two-goal lead disappear and had their playoff dreams dashed on Tuesday night.
Luke Glendening’s goal at 15:57 of the third period spelled the end of Toronto’s season as the Griffins rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Marlies 4-3, and win the Western Conference semifinal 4-2. Grand Rapids will play the Oklahoma City Barons in the conference final.
Glendening was in front of Toronto goalie Drew MacIntyre and had an open net to shoot after picking up a rebound.
“A couple of missed assignments and a bad bounce and suddenly it’s turned the other way,” was how coach Dallas Eakins summarized his team’s unravelling in the third. “The biggest message to my guys is that I’m very proud of them and the next message is how are you going to handle your summer to get better.”
The Marlies had goals from Carter Ashton, Paul Ranger and Will Acton while Tomas Tatar scored twice and Jan Mursak chipped in one for the Griffins.
MacIntyre made 27 saves for Toronto while Petr Mrazek made 14 for the Griffins.
“We knew it was coming. I think we played well in the first two and a half periods,” said defenceman Korbinian Holzer, who experienced a similar scene just over a week ago when he watched as a healthy scratch from the press box when the Maple Leafs blew a third period lead against the Boston Bruins and bowed out of the NHL playoffs.
“I don’t think we backed off too much, we just couldn’t sustain the pressure anymore and they capitalized on it.”
Ashton gave the Marlies a 1-0 lead at 4:15 of the first period when he led a Toronto rush up the right side. He threw what was a hopeful shot on goal but Mrazek had all kinds of trouble blocking the puck entirely and it somehow ended up getting through.
Toronto made it 2-0 at 19:57 of the period when Mike Zigomanis won a faceoff that went to Ranger. His quick shot also somehow fooled Mrazek and managed to trickle across the line.
The Griffins controlled much of the play in the second period and were rewarded four minutes into the period when Tatar’s fine solo goal on the power play cut the margin to 2-1.
But just 37 seconds later, Toronto capitalized on Mrazek’s poor clearance from behind his own goal off a Marlies dump-in. Jerry D’Amigo picked up the clearing attempt and found Acton, whose slap shot from the centre of the ice restored Toronto’s two-goal lead.
The Marlies had managed to prolong the series thanks to winning 4-1 in Grand Rapids on Saturday and despite the shots being relatively even through two periods, Grand Rapids came out harder in the third and Toronto didn’t have an answer.
“I’m kind of in shock still so it’s a bad feeling,” said captain Ryan Hamilton.
“Give all the credit to Grand Rapids. They finished really well. We were in control and we let it slide away but that stuff happens. It sucks though. It takes some time to digest.”
Mursak got the Griffins second goal at 10:04 of the third after splitting a pair of Marlies defencemen and beating MacIntyre from close range.
Just 28 seconds later, Tatar tied the game after Francis Pare found him with a no-look backhand pass from right in front of the net. Tatar flipped it over MacIntyre who scrambled in vain to cover his exposed right side.
Grand Rapids was 1 for 5 on the power play, while the Marlies were 0 for 3.
