Carl Grundström to get his Marlies debut tonight

The Toronto Marlies dropped their first game of the second round to the Syracuse Crunch 2-1.  They had good goaltending, but they couldn’t drive play or score any goals.  Beyond the one put in by Andreas Johnsson, that is.

Andreas Johnsson opens the scoring for the @TorontoMarlies. #SYRvsTOR pic.twitter.com/flWgjZwnuK

— AHL (@TheAHL) May 5, 2017

To address this problem, coach Sheldon Keefe is mixing up his lines for the first time in the playoffs, and he’s naturally, going for more grit, grind and sandpaper...wait, what?

Carl Grundstrom and Rich Clune getting in for #Marlies tonight after Game 1 loss yesterday. Couple other potential game-time decisions too

— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) May 6, 2017

Keefe asked if a couple practices is enough time for Grundstrom to get acclimated to team: "We're going to find out."

— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) May 6, 2017

Carl Grundström will make his North American pro debut tonight, and joining him is Rich Clune.  Both of them have a little of the nasty, grinder in them, they both like to hand at the net-front, and they know how to play on the boards.  Grundström can shoot the puck and score too. Clune isn’t terrible at it in the AHL either.

It seems like Keefe wanted to meet the opposition on their own terms: Crunch by name, Crunch by nature.

Coach Sheldon Keefe cited need for energy on a back to back for Grundstrom and Clune in lineup. Sislo will be 1 of 2 scratches.

— Lance Hornby (@sunhornby) May 6, 2017

The other scratch might be Dmytro Timashov, according to reports.

The game is at 7pm tonight and is available to stream on AHL Live, with single game prices available.  The game is also broadcast on Leafs TV in the Toronto area.