Marlies in Seventh Heaven; move on to Conference Final
The Toronto Marlies defeated the Syracuse Crunch 3-2 on Monday night to become just the 14th team in AHL history to win a playoff series after trailing three games to one. The winning goal was scored by John Mitchell, whose shot was actually deflected accidentally into the net by a Crunch defenceman. Mitchell is the Marlies leading playoff scorer with 8 goals in 14 games.
Brent Aubin was named the game's first star after scoring the first two Marlies goals. Despite collecting a pair of markers in what has been the team's biggest game of the year to-date, the feat was not the biggest news of the day for the 21-year-old winger.
"I just found out that I'm going to have a little daughter!" grinned Aubin as he spoke to reporters after the game. "It could not be a better day for me right now!".
The game left spectators white-knuckled in the final minutes of the third period as Toronto's Kris Newbury was assessed a minor penalty with 2:44 remaining in regulation time and the Marlies clinging to their one-goal lead. Forward Chris Harrington, one of the team's best penalty-killers, combined with captain Ben Ondrus for the first half of that crucial man-disadvantage.
"We've lived and died by penalty kill all year long, and had the best penalty kill in the league (in the regular season)," said Harrington. "When it comes down to the playoffs, special teams are going to win or lose games. Our special teams gave us a really good boost tonight. The last three minutes of the game is probably something I'll never forget."
Head coach Greg Gilbert - a Game Seven veteran having been through a pair of memorable seventh-game victories as a member of the 1994 Stanley Cup winning New York Rangers - couldn't be prouder of his team.
"It's a credit to the guys in the dressing room. They're the ones that gutted it out, and won the battles, and scored the goals at the bit times. Scott Clemmensen was outstanding the whole series - and everybody in that dressing room - it's a credit to them and their resiliency in finding ways to win hockey games in tough situations."
A raucous crowd of 4,753 fans were in attendance at Ricoh Coliseum, the largest attendance for a Marlies home playoff game in 2008.
The Marlies opponents in the Western Conference Final will be the winner of tomorrow's Game #7 matchup between the Chicgao Wolves and Rockford IceHogs.
Forward lines: Tlusty-J. Mitchell-Ondrus, Battaglia-Newbury-Ling, Foster-Giliati-Aubin, Wellar-Tsimikalis-Harrington
Links: Game Summary | Event Summary | Game Day Thread
Brent Aubin was named the game's first star after scoring the first two Marlies goals. Despite collecting a pair of markers in what has been the team's biggest game of the year to-date, the feat was not the biggest news of the day for the 21-year-old winger.
"I just found out that I'm going to have a little daughter!" grinned Aubin as he spoke to reporters after the game. "It could not be a better day for me right now!".
The game left spectators white-knuckled in the final minutes of the third period as Toronto's Kris Newbury was assessed a minor penalty with 2:44 remaining in regulation time and the Marlies clinging to their one-goal lead. Forward Chris Harrington, one of the team's best penalty-killers, combined with captain Ben Ondrus for the first half of that crucial man-disadvantage.
"We've lived and died by penalty kill all year long, and had the best penalty kill in the league (in the regular season)," said Harrington. "When it comes down to the playoffs, special teams are going to win or lose games. Our special teams gave us a really good boost tonight. The last three minutes of the game is probably something I'll never forget."
Head coach Greg Gilbert - a Game Seven veteran having been through a pair of memorable seventh-game victories as a member of the 1994 Stanley Cup winning New York Rangers - couldn't be prouder of his team.
"It's a credit to the guys in the dressing room. They're the ones that gutted it out, and won the battles, and scored the goals at the bit times. Scott Clemmensen was outstanding the whole series - and everybody in that dressing room - it's a credit to them and their resiliency in finding ways to win hockey games in tough situations."
A raucous crowd of 4,753 fans were in attendance at Ricoh Coliseum, the largest attendance for a Marlies home playoff game in 2008.
The Marlies opponents in the Western Conference Final will be the winner of tomorrow's Game #7 matchup between the Chicgao Wolves and Rockford IceHogs.
Forward lines: Tlusty-J. Mitchell-Ondrus, Battaglia-Newbury-Ling, Foster-Giliati-Aubin, Wellar-Tsimikalis-Harrington
Defence pairings: Harrison-Sifers, Wozniewski-Muir, Kronwall-Walser
Goaltenders: Clemmensen (W 60:00, 23 SV, 2 GA), Pogge (0:00)Links: Game Summary | Event Summary | Game Day Thread
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