TORONTO 6, CHICAGO 1
Colin Murphy tallied three points (2-1-3) and goaltender Justin Pogge stopped 30 of 31 shots in his first professional playoff start as the Marlies kept their season alive with a 6-1 win over Chicago on Wednesday in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals at Ricoh Coliseum.
The Wolves still hold a 3-1 series lead and will host Game 5 on Friday.
Murpphy, who hadn’t tallied a goal in nine previous games this postseason, opened the game’s scoring just 1:43 into the first period and added a third-period marker for the Marlies.
Toronto received single tallies from Andy Wozniewski, Chris Harrington, Staffan Kronwall, and Alex Foster in the winning effort. Derrick Walser chipped in a pair of assists.
With the Wolves trailing 2-0, defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski netted a power play marker at 11:36 of the first period for his third goal in as many games.
But Toronto scored four unanswered goals from that point on and moved to an impressive 5-0 this postseason when facing elimination.
Pogge had made two relief appearances in these playoffs prior to getting the start on Wednesday. He helped hold the Wolves’ power play, which had gone 4-for-10 in winning Game 3 a night earlier, to just the one goal on eight opportunities.
