Marlies top Penguins in Game 5, one win away from AHL final

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Easton Cowan and Landon Sim are on another late spring trophy chase.

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Cowan you know as the Maple Leafs’ first-round pick who had a decent start in the NHL before joining the Marlies for playoffs. Sim, his older London Knights teammate in two Memorial Cup final appearances, went off the radar to start this season.

After putting in time with the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones, the former St. Louis Blues pick sat in the stands a spell, playing just 13 AHL games, before scoring his first pro playoff goal Friday at Coca-Cola Coliseum.

That strike might have just propelled into the Calder Cup final, when bookended with Cowan’s goal in a 5-1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. After two home losses to knot the series and trailing the Pens, Sim tipped in Ben Danford’s shot.

“I was licking my chops all season in the press box and (when inserted five games ago) I just ran with it.” Sim said.

Coach John Gruden called Sim “a breath of fresh air” as part of an energy line with Marc Johnstone and Michael Pezzetta.

“It can’t be more fitting for a guy like that (to score), when we’d talked about getting more traffic (on WBS goaltender Sergei Murashov).

”Everyone sees how he draws penalties (one leading to Bo Groulx’s eventual winning goal). He gives it all he’s got from the time he goes over the boards.”

Sim actually had one more goal than Cowan’s 29 with the Knights last season.

“He’s got sneaky-good touch around the net,” Cowan said. “I’ve seen it for many years. That he got a piece of that (Danford) shot does not surprise me.”

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EASTON POINTS NORTH

Cowan was good as his word after his Game 4 own-zone giveaway, which allowed the Penguins to win Game 4 and tie the AHL Eastern Conference final.

Clinging to a one-goal third period lead on Friday, Cowan’s toe drag on defenceman Chase Pietila set up a five-hole snap past Murashov.

Starting Sunday, the Marlies have two chances to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins farm team and advance to the Calder Cup championship against the survivor of the West final between the Colorado Eagles and Chicago Wolves. The Eagles lead the series 3-2.

“It’s positivity, you have to know what happened, you have to move on,” said Cowan. “A hundred per cent that comes from Grudes, he’s a great guy, he’s got a lot of positive vibes.”

Gruden was succinct that high-level players have a built- in repair system when things go badly as in Game 4.

“That’s what big-time players do. It won’t always go your way, but the way Cowan bounced back and started to make little plays. With his line (centre Luke Haymes and Ryan Tverberg) they started to ave good O-zone time.”

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Cowan now has six playoff goals.

PENNSYLVANIA POLKA

It’s back to WBS for Game 6 on Sunday, Toronto’s first of two chances there to end the series. In a weird bent, the visiting team had won the past 11 meetings of these clubs going back to December of 2022.

“This is pretty exciting, the chance to close out a game of this magnitude at this time of year ” Gruden said. “They say a series doesn’t really start until someone wins a road game, but this time it was a home game. Now we have to re-set.”

Speaking of which, Friday was another taste of what a full hockey arena sounds like in June in Toronto, with nearly 8,000 getting behind the Leafs’ affiliate when things got physical and some fights broke out late in the match.

“To hear them chant (and sing), that’s cool, it’s the loudest this building has been since I’ve been here,” said captain Logan Shaw. “But we have to go there and finish the job.”

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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