Marlies take command with OT win

Jerry D’Amigo scored 3:28 into overtime as the Toronto Marlies took a 3-0 stranglehold on their Western Conference semifinal series with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Wolves at Ricoh Coliseum on Wednesday night.

The resilient Wolves, who cut 3-0 deficits to 3-2 before losing both of the first two games of the series, erased three separate one-goal Marlies leads in Game 3 but could never pull ahead themselves.

T.J. Brennan teed up a feed from Spencer Abbott and one-timed a blast past Jake Allen for a power-play goal 5:26 into the game, giving the Marlies a 1-0 lead.

The teams then combined for four goals in 2:58 before the end of the period, beginning with Dmitrij Jaskin‘s tip of a Mark Cundari shot for a power-play goal with 4:19 left in the first, tying the score at 1-1.

Peter Holland put Toronto back on top with 3:29 remaining in the frame, taking a pass out of the far corner from Brennan and one-timing a shot over the glove of Allen to make it 2-1.

Chicago tied things up again at 18:28 as Adam Cracknell cleaned up a rebound in front and banged it past Drew MacIntyre, but the Marlies needed just 11 seconds to retake the lead as Brandon Kozun won a race to a loose puck and chipped it by Allen for a 3-2 Toronto lead.

Chicago controlled the play in the second period, owning a 14-5 advantage in shots and tying the game at 3-3 on Tyler Shattock‘s goal at 11:34. But the rest of regulation was scoreless, and Toronto won it when D’Amigo buried a second-chance shot after Trevor Smith‘s attempt from the left point was knocked down by Allen. It was the second point of the night and league-leading 11th of the postseason for D’Amigo.

The Marlies, now 6-0 in the playoffs, can sweep its way into the conference finals with a win in Game 4 on Friday.

Western Conference Semifinals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
2-Chicago Wolves vs. 3-Toronto Marlies
| Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Fri., May 9 – Toronto 5, CHICAGO 2 
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – Toronto 4, CHICAGO 2 
Game 3 – Wed., May 14 – TORONTO 4, Chicago 3 (OT)
Game 4 – Fri., May 16 – Chicago at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 17 – Chicago at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 19 – Toronto at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 21 – Toronto at Chicago, 8:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern