The divisional playoffs conclude this afternoon with Game 5 in the North Division between the Cleveland Monsters and the Toronto Marlies at Rocket Arena (3 ET, 
).
It’s the ninth winner-take-all game of this year’s Calder Cup Playoffs, the most in a single postseason. The Marlies have already won two such contests, defeating Rochester at home in the first round and getting past Laval on the road in the semi-finals.
Today’s winner will face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Monsters are fighting for their second conference finals appearance in three years; the Marlies have reached the AHL finals six times, most recently in 2019.
Toronto pushed the series to today’s Game 5 with a 5-2 victory on Friday evening. Ryan Tverberg (5-3-8) tallied two goals and one assist Artur Akhtyamov (6-4, 2.20, .922) made 36 saves.
“It was a good victory, but we have to have a short memory,” said Akhtyamov. “We need to win one more game. We will continue.”
“They found their confidence,” the head coach John Gruden he said of his team in Game 4. “We’ve got to deliver again. We’ve got to bottle that up and figure out what’s been successful, make sure we’re ready to go.”
Toronto’s opening 20 minutes on Thursday set the tone for the rest of the game. Tverberg’s power play goal at 13:28 marked the first time in the series that the Marlies have scored the first goal of the game or scored in the first half. It also allowed them to lead at the break for the first time in the entire series.
Toronto also recorded 11 shots on goal in the first half, ending 17 consecutive seasons in single digits.
“Our fourth line – the Johnson–Pezzetta–Sim line — brought that energy and drew that penalty, and we were able to use the power play,” Gruden said.
Alex Nylander (3-0-3) also scored a power-play goal as Toronto went 2-for-5 with a man advantage in Game 4. Logan Shaw (5-5-10) and Jacob Quillan (1-4-5) added a goal and an assist each.
“We let our attitude down early. We want to play five-on-5 as much as possible,” said the Monsters coach. Trent Vogelhuber. “Give credit to a desperate team and a great goalkeeper.”
