Marlies stayin’ alive in playoffs, take Cleveland to Game 5

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The Maple Leafs were nowhere near the playoffs this season, while their farm team is going to its third deciding series game.

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That was determined Friday night at Coca-Cola Coliseum when the Marlies pushed past the usually stingy Cleveland Monsters 5-2. It’s back to Ohio for Game 5 Sunday afternoon (3 p.m. puck drop) for the North Division final after the Marlies went the distance against Rochester (best-of-three) and division-leading Laval (best-of-five, clinched on the road).

“We got our team back, they found their confidence and their mojo,” relieved head coach John Gruden said after his team was outscored 7-1 in Games 2 and 3 and outshot through the series. “We’ve said it all season and all playoffs, our back against the wall brings out the best in us. That’s a good trait to have when your team’s on the brink.

“It means a lot (to the Leafs and Marlies). You can see (Leaf 2025 first round pick defenceman) Ben Danford’s confidence get better as he goes on. And I thought (forward) Easton Cowan played one of his best games tonight.”

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Artur Akhtyamov continues to impress in net, with the organization-influenced decision to keep coming back to the mid-round 2020 draft pick from Russia in big games. In his 10th appearance of these AHL playoffs, he made 36 saves, no doubt noted by other teams as they study the Leafs goalie conundrum.

Toronto will not be able to send Dennis Hildeby back to the minors next season without the risk of losing him on waivers with Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll set for now ahead of him and Akhtyamov.

“He’s the reason we’re in this position,” Gruden praised.

On Friday, Akhtyamov was at his best in the second period when his team started and finished on the penalty kill, and was outshot 12-4. He made a couple of save-and-rebound combos and snared some loose pucks on the goal line. Credit Cedric Pare with a vital shot block in the dying second.

“Good win, but we need to have short memories with one more,” Akhtyamov said of Sunday’s test. “I like (the playoff pressure). It’s the best time of hockey.”

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Forward Ryan Tverberg had a three-point night, opening the scoring with a power play goal to stop Cleveland goaltender Zach Sawchenko’s shutout streak that went back to Game 2. He also helped foil the breakout that led to Alex Nylander’s goal and added an empty-netter, before winding up with a red welt over his left eye when bopped by Owen Sillinger in one of the late scraps that broke out. Though decked by the punch, he popped right back up to keep jawing.

“I’ve not been in a fight this year, if you’re going to count that one,” laughed the slender-built Tverberg. “Maybe the next one.”

Defenceman Henry Thrun sifted one through from the blueline on a screen early in the third, before Akhytamov denied Cleveland captain Brendan Gaunce on its fifth unsuccessful man advantage. Jacob Quillan, blanked in 11 playoff games, beat Sawchenko to clinch it.

Quillan, who had to wait 23 games to score his first goal in the NHL with the Leafs, was getting a bit antsy as this series reached the do-or-die stage.

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“You just have to keep working and do what’s best for the team,” Quillan said. “If you’re not going, you just try and fight for inches. It’s good to be out of (the slump) finally.”

There were three goals in the final three minutes of the game. On the Monsters’ 37th shot, Jack Williams jammed one past Akhtyamov to end his shutout bid. Tverberg had an empty-netter, and Cleveland’s Luca Del Bel Belluz scored with 1:02 left.

The Marlies put some extra zest in the lineup, switching Bo Groulx to centre, activating winger Landon Sim on a grinder line with Michael Pezzetta and Reese Johnson. Sim drew the game’s first penalty, but Toronto’s power play missed the window to break the ice until Tverberg scored later in the first period.

That began with a nice William Villeneuve schnook at the Monsters’ blueline, Tverberg’s fourth of the playoffs.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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