Starting tonight at 7:00 PM, the Toronto Marlies will be streaming their 2018 Calder Cup Championship run. The games will be streaming on the Toronto Maple Leafs mobile app and on Facebook.

The Marlies will be streaming a game every night for the next month, culminating in Game 7 against the Texas Stars at home for all the money. We’ll keep you up to date on the full schedule, but the first five replays are set below.

The Roster

Sheldon Keefe was the coach of this team. He had coached five playoff rounds with the Marlies before this one, losing in the Conference Finals and Conference Semifinals the previous two years.

The AHL rookies on this team included Carl Grundstrom, Pierre Engvall, Mason Marchment, Adam Brooks, Jeremy Bracco, Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman, and Timothy Liljegren. Ian Scott was the third goalie for this run, on a ATO following his WHL season concluding. Jesper Lindgren was also with the team, but did not play a game in the playoffs.

Ben Smith led the team in scoring in the regular season, scoring 27 goals and 59 points in 73 games as the captain. Andreas Johnsson was a point-per-game in the regular season before his call-up to the Leafs, scoring 26 goals and 54 points in as many games, eight goals and 18 of his points coming on the 13th ranked power play in the league.

While the power play was generally middling, the penalty kill was first in the league by about three percentage points over the next-best team. Martin Marincin and his NHL-calibre defense was the key to the penalty kill being so good. He, Justin Holl, and Vincent LoVerde were exceptionally skilled at keeping shots to the outside and controlling rebounds. The forwards, headed by Smith, Johnsson, Gauthier, and Greening were calm, mature presences on the kill at forward.

Garret Sparks won goalie of the year at the end of this season, posting a .936 in 43 games with a 31-9-2 record. Calvin Pickard was the backup with a .918 in 33 games and a 21-9-3 record. Ian Scott got his AHL debut win during this season. Kasimir Kaskisuo played one game for the team, as well, but was shipped to Chicago on loan for the rest of the year.

You can see the full playoff roster here.

The Lines

Here is the lineup that played Game 1 against the Utica Comets, Travis Dermott and Andreas Johnsson returned in time for Game 5 after falling to the Boston Bruins in the NHL playoffs.

Forwards
Trevor Moore - Miro Aaltonen - Carl Grundstrom
Dmytro Timashov - Chris Mueller - Ben Smith
Pierre Engvall - Frederik Gauthier - Colin Greening
Mason Marchment - Adam Brooks - Jeremy Bracco

Defense
Martin Marincin - Justin Holl
Calle Rosen - Vincent LoVerde
Andreas Borgman - Timothy Liljegren

Goalies
Garret Sparks
Calvin Pickard

*SPOILERS*

If anyone wants to see the boxscore from this game and read my really terrible recap from 2018, I’ve linked both below.

Toronto Marlies win Game 1 over Utica in overtime thriller
TheAHL.com | The American Hockey League

Overtime Magic

The Marlies went to overtime three times in their run, Game 1 against Utica, Game 2 against Syracuse (which went to double overtime), and Game 2 against Lehigh Valley. The Marlies won all three of those games, with Mueller, Gauthier, and Brooks getting each overtime game winner.

The Record

The Marlies lost only five games throughout the entire playoffs, twice to Utica, and three to Texas. The team was perfect on home ice until games 2 and 6 against Texas. Both games were followed up with wins.

I hope you all enjoy the game! Here’s a poll to kick off the thread.

Which player surprised you the most after this playoff run?

Trevor Moore9
Frederik Gauthier2
Mason Marchment3
Martin Marincin3
Calle Rosen1
Justin Holl10
Toronto Marlies