Down a goal with less than two minutes remaining, Toronto scored three times in 33 seconds to steal a 5-3 victory from Syracuse in Game 3 of the North Division Finals at Ricoh Coliseum on Tuesday night.
Still down 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, the Marlies can draw even with another win in Game 4 on Wednesday night (7 p.m. ET).
Brendan Leipsic scored off a rebound of an Andrew Nielsen shot to tie the game with 1:56 to play, and Carl Grundstrom buried another rebound just 18 seconds later to give the Marlies their first lead since early in Game 1.
Kasperi Kapanen then broke in alone and scored 15 seconds after Grundstrom’s tally to secure the victory and wrap up a three-point night.
Andreas Johnsson scored a pair of goals in the second period as Toronto erased a 2-0 deficit, but Erik Condra‘s goal with 10:55 remaining in the third put Syracuse back on top and seemingly on its way to a commanding 3-0 series lead before the Marlies rallied again.
Adam Erne and Byron Froese also scored for the Crunch, who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.
Kasimir Kaskisuo (3-1) made 22 saves as Toronto improved to 3-0 at home this postseason. Mike McKenna (5-2) stopped 29 of 34 shots for Syracuse.
North Division Finals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
N1-Syracuse Crunch vs. N2-Toronto Marlies
Game 1 – Fri., May 5 – SYRACUSE 3, Toronto 1
Game 2 – Sat., May 6 – SYRACUSE 8, Toronto 5
Game 3 – Tue., May 9 – TORONTO 5, Syracuse 3
Game 4 – Wed., May 10 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
Game 5 – Sat., May 13 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 15 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 17 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern