Toronto erupted for four power-play goals and cruised to a 7-2 win over Albany at the Times Union Center on Tuesday night in Game 4 of the teams’ North Division Finals.
The best-of-seven series is tied at two games apiece with Game 5 scheduled for Thursday in Albany.
The Marlies’ power surge came after they went 0-for-8 on the power play and allowed two shorthanded goals in their Game 3 loss, and came against a Devils team that had surrendered just one power-play goal in 30 chances this postseason.
Albany controlled play out of the gate and grabbed a 1-0 lead when Matt Lorito found Blake Pietila open at the bottom of the right-wing circle and Pietila snapped home his third goal of the playoffs at 2:10 of the first period.
The Devils built a 6-0 lead in shots through the first 7:45 of the game, but Toronto started to tilt the ice back in its favor, eventually drawing a double-minor for high sticking against Albany’s Damon Severson. Toronto converted on its first power play of the night as Mark Arcobello tied the score with 6:43 left in the opening period, his first of the playoffs.
Toronto got another chance on the power play late in the period and Kasperi Kapanen slipped a shot past Scott Wedgewood to give the Marlies a 2-1 lead at 18:48. It was Kapanen’s first postseason goal.
The Marlies scored another power-play goal just 1:05 into the second period as T.J. Brennan rocketed a shot that found the top corner behind Wedgewood, giving Toronto a 3-1 lead with his fifth goal of the playoffs.
The Marlies continued their special-teams resurgence with their fourth power-play goal of the night at 14:10 of the second, Brendan Leipsic‘s first goal of the postseason.
Nikita Soshnikov added a pair of goals and Connor Brown scored on a breakaway to push Toronto’s lead to 7-1 before Graham Black scored for the Devils with 19.4 seconds left to provide the final margin.
Antoine Bibeau (3-1) made 24 saves in the win for the Marlies. Wedgewood (5-3) stopped 12 of 17 shots in two periods of work before Yann Danis (7 saves) took over in the third.
North Division Finals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
N1-Toronto Marlies vs. N2-Albany Devils
Game 1 – Wed., May 4 – Albany 2, TORONTO 1
Game 2 – Fri., May 6 – TORONTO 5, Albany 3
Game 3 – Sun., May 8 – ALBANY 3, Toronto 2 (OT)
Game 4 – Tue., May 10 – Toronto 7, ALBANY 2
Game 5 – Thu., May 12 – Toronto at Albany, 7:00
Game 6 – Sat., May 14 – Albany at Toronto, 3:00
*Game 7 – Mon., May 16 – Albany at Toronto, 7:30
*if necessary… All times Eastern
The @TorontoMarlies take their first lead of the game with a power play goal courtesy of Kasperi Kapanen #TORvsALB pic.twitter.com/QBkn2ISa3N
— AHL (@TheAHL) May 10, 2016
