Series comes home knotted at 1-1
Bayreuther’s goal on power play keys victory for split on road.
The Toronto Marlies led the American Hockey League with 112 points during the regular season and have been equally as impressive in the playoffs, sweeping Syracuse and Lehigh Valley to reach the Calder Cup Final for the first time in six years, going an undefeated 7-0 at home in the postseason and winning 10 straight playoff games.
All those streaks came to an end Sunday, as Gavin Bayreuther’s third-period power play goal gave the Texas Stars a 2-1 victory at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto to even the series at one game apiece.
Curtis McKenzie also scored for the Stars and Mike McKenna made 21 saves in the win.
After a wildly entertaining 6-5 victory by Toronto in Game 1, the two squads got back to playing a more disciplined brand of playoff hockey, cutting down on the offensive chances and being more defensively responsible.
“I figured the game would tighten up a bit (after Game 1). I think both goaltenders settled in the series and got comfortable” Stars coach Derek Laxdal said. “Mike (McKenna) was outstanding in the first period.”
Toronto enjoyed the territorial advantage in the opening 20 minutes, firing 13 shots on McKenna andthe Marlies finally broke through late in the first, as Travis Dermott’s point shot was deflected by Ben Smith for the opening goal.
Thecontest swungback in the direction of Texas in the middle frame, as they hurled 13 shots at
Toronto goalie Garret Sparks and tied the game at 2:45 of the second, as leading scorer and team captain McKenzie scored a carbon copy of his breakaway goal in Game 1, receiving a Dillon Heatherington stretch pass and tucking it past Sparks to tie the score.
The Stars had opportunities to take the lead later in the period on the man advantage (including a 1:40 five-on-three), but Toronto’s penalty killers were able to hold them off and keep the score even.
The Texas power play, which had scored twice in Game 1, got another opportunity early in the third with Marlies defenseman Vincent Loverde called for holding the stick and the Stars finally broke through as Bayreuther fired a blast through a maze of players past Sparks.
“The power play was a key for us in the first three rounds. If you look at the stats early on in the Rockford series, (the IceHogs) were undisciplined and we made them pay for it,” Laxdal said. “(On Saturday) it gave us a good start in the game and tonight it got us the game winner.”
Once they took the lead, the Stars shut off Toronto’s ability to build speed in the neutral zone and carry the puck over the blueline to generate scoring chances to tie the game. The Marlies struggled to get possession of the puck to be able to pull Sparks for an extra attacker and were unable get any great opportunities to tie the game.
For the second game in a row, Texas kept the Marlies top line of Carl Grundstrom, Miro Aaltonen and Andreas Johnsson (which prior to the series had scored a collective 35 points in 13 games) off the score sheet.
“This was a big one for our group tonight, getting the split in Toronto especially after having a 4-2 lead (on Saturday).” Laxdal said. “We are settling into the series now. Every game is going to have it’s own story.”