May 1, 2019
Marlies beat Monsters to open second-round series
Trevor Moore returned to the American Hockey League and had two goals and an assist to lead the Toronto Marlies to a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Monsters on Wednesday in Game 1 of their second-round series.
The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Trevor Moore returned to the American Hockey League and had two goals and an assist to lead the Toronto Marlies to a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Monsters on Wednesday in Game 1 of their second-round series.
The 24-year-old winger was placed on Toronto's top line alongside Jeremy Bracco and Chris Mueller for his first AHL post-season game of the year. Bracco finished with four assists while Mueller had a goal and a helper.
"What we thought with (Moore) coming back, it changed the look of our team and gives us a better opportunity to be able to have four lines. We could play consistently and not be too concerned with matchups or anything like that," said Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe.
"It was really nice to have him back. Not just on that line, but everything that he does, power play, penalty kill, the confidence he gives our team."
Moore last suited up for the Maple Leafs' minor league team in February before a call up to the NHL. The 24-year-old was loaned back to the Marlies without having to clear waivers when the Leafs were ousted by the Boston Boston from the first round of the NHL post-season in late April.
Dmytro Timashov and Pierre Engvall rounded out the scoring for the Marlies, who host Game 2 of the best-of-seven set on Friday.
Tommy Cross and Mark Letestu found the back of the net for the Monsters, AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Kasimir Kaskisuo made 14 saves for Toronto as veteran Brad Thiessen stopped 21-of-25 shots for Cleveland.
Cleveland took four straight minor penalties in a span of 5:22 in the second, leading to three Toronto power-play goals that turned a 2-1 Monsters lead into a 4-2 Toronto advantage heading into the third.
The Marlies finished 4 for 7 on the power play while the Monsters were 1 for 4 with the man advantage.
"We got a lot of confidence," Mueller said about the power play. "We got a lot of good guys on our team that are skilled guys that look to make plays."
Defenceman Calle Rosen and goaltender Michael Hutchinson and were also returned to the Marlies from the Leafs. But, Keefe coached majority of the game with only five available blue liners after Rosen fell awkwardly into the end boards less than four minutes into the game and didn't return. Hutchinson was dressed as the backup.
"I saw the play, it looked to be an unfortunate play where he just lost his balance," said Keefe. "I don't have much of an update other than X-rays were negative with him, but he was obviously not able to come back to play today."