Toronto Marlies beat the Rochester Americans 4-3 to take Game 1 of their best-of-five AHL playoff series before 6,244 fans at the Ricoh Coliseum! The recap is inside!
From thestar.com:
In Marlies forward Jerry D’Amigo, the Maple Leafs might just yet have that hard-driving winger they so dearly need.
D’Amigo, the Leafs’ sixth choice in the 2009 draft, was driving to the net all game on Thursday night and his efforts paid off as he scored twice, including the winner with less than four minutes to go as the
The score wasn’t indicative of how dominating the North Division champions were. They outshot the Amerks 37-23, and buzzed around Rochester goalie Dave Leggio all game. The two teams play again on Saturday afternoon at Ricoh.
On the winner, Marlies defenceman Mark Fraser stepped out of the penalty box and took the puck away from a Rochester defender at the Toronto blue line and was off to the races with D’Amigo on a two on one.
“I kept wondering if he was going to pass or not and lucky for me he did,” said D’Amigo, 21, who had a two-month head start on his playoff beard. “When he came out of the penalty box he chipped the puck ahead and got a sudden burst of speed. Then he made a great move on their goalie and left a wide open net for me.”
On D’Amigo’s first goal, which tied the game at 1-1 in the second, he drove to the net as linemate Nicolas Deschamps dug the puck out from the corner and fed a pass to him. D’Amigo chipped it into the air and over the shoulder of Leggio.
“Phillippe Dupuis made a great dump in and Deschamps got it in the corner,” D’Amigo said. “I was yelling my lungs out. He got it to me and I chipped it and went over him and in.”
Toronto took a 3-1 lead early in the third on goals by Mike Zigomanis (power play) and Matt Frattin after less than five minutes. It looked as if the rout was on. But instead of wilting, Rochester mounted an unexpected comeback. A power-play goal by Marcus Foligno brought the Americans within one of the Marlies at 7:02 and then T.J. Brennan scored the tying goal, firing a short-handed marker past Toronto goalie Ben Scrivens, just four minutes later.
“There was no panic at all,” Marlies coach Dallas Eakins said about the sudden turn of events. “I’m really proud of our players. A lot of teams would have just scrambled. But our guys are really calm in these games.
“We’ve been in so many one goal games this season and on the good side of the ledger on almost all of them. Even after they tied it up, our bench just said, let’s get back to work.”
Eakins praised D’Amigo for his night and the way he has bounced back this season from an up and down first campaign that saw him start in the AHL before being returned to his Kitchener Rangers junior club.
“Jerry’s had a great season for us. He been one of our top two penalty killers on a unit that was No. 1 in the league and his ability to drive to the net and get those dirty goals and dirty chances has been huge for us,” Eakins said. “He’s very strong and when he gets going he’s very hard to knock off the puck.
“Those are the kinds of goals that you have to score in the NHL especially when you get down to the last 20 games and into the playoffs. Those are the goals that make a difference and Jerry has done it for us this year.”
Eakins also got big games from all of the players, who played with the Leafs this season.
The line of Joe Colborne, Carter Ashton and Frattin was dangerous all night with Colborne picking up two assists and Ashton one.
Eakins also wasn’t surprised their win was another nail biter.
“We’ve played these guys 10 times (7-3 for Toronto) and every one was a one goal game so why should this one have been any different,” Eakins said.
Despite dominating the first period, Toronto trailed after the first 20 minutes when Rochester’s leading point producer Phil Varone tipped in a point shot from defenceman Nick Crawford at 15:05.
Game 2 is Saturday Apr 21 2012!! Go, Marlies, Go!!
