Calder Cup Finals: Toronto Marlies – Norfolk Admirals series preview
11 years ago
Having won 11 Calder Cup playoff games out of 13 the Toronto Marlies moved to their final series of the season where their opponent is going to be the Norfolk Admirals, who have a 11-3 record in the playoffs.
Norfolk has topped the AHL in the regular season with 113 points (55-18-1-2), while the Marlies were first in the North Division with 96 points (44-24-5-3). Dallas Eakins’ team has won 23 games of its last 29 overall. They also led the league in goals against and have allowed 1 or less goals in 7 post-season games, despite being outshot by their opponents 7-0.
Interestingly enough, both the Admirals and Marlies haven’t lost a game yet after leading after 20 or 40 minutes of play. And Toronto hasn’t lost a game yet where they scored first.
Here’s a quick run-down of things you need to know about this series.
Regular Season Series:
Never Played One Another
Series Schedule:
Game 1 – Fri., June 1 – Toronto at Norfolk, 7:30
Game 2 – Sat., June 2 – Toronto at Norfolk, 7:15
Game 3 – Thurs., June 7 – Norfolk at Toronto, 7:00
Game 4 – Sat., June 9 – Norfolk at Toronto, 3:00
*Game 5 – Sun., June 10 – Norfolk at Toronto, 3:00
*Game 6 – Wed., June 13 – Toronto at Norfolk, 7:15
*Game 7 – Fri., June 15 – Toronto at Norfolk, 7:30
*if necessary
What do you need to know about the Norfolk Admirals?
- Admirals forward Alexandre Picard tops the league in post-season scoring with 8 goals and 7 assists for 15 points. Trevor Smith is tied for 2nd with 8 other players with 13 points (4+9).
- Cory Conacher lead his team with 39 goals in the regular season winning AHL’s MVP award and being named Rookie Of The Season, but scored only twice in the playoffs.
- Admirals are 39-3 in their last 42 games, including a whopping record of 28-game winning streak to finish off the regular season. They have won 11 playoff games out of 14, having swept the St. John’s Ice Caps in the Eastern Conference Finals.Norfolk outscored their opponents 20-3 in their last 6 outings.
- This final series is going to be the first for Admirals, who have existed for 12 years.
- Dustin Tokarski is 2nd best goaltender in the AHL this post-season after Ben Scrivens. He’s 8-2 in 10 playoff games with 2 shutouts. He enters the final series without having allowed a single goal in 159:46 of work.
What do you need to know about the Toronto Marlies?
- The Marlies are 11-2 in the Calder Cup playoffs
- Ben Scrivens tops the league in every possible goaltender category – GAA (1.61), SA% (94.4) and shutouts (3)
- Matt Frattin leads the AHL in playoff goals (10) and game-winning goals (3) but will miss the final series because of a knee injury.
- There are several players on the Marlies tied for 1st in scoring at 13 points – Matt Frattin (10+3), Philippe Dupuis (4+9=13) and Jerry D’Amigo (8+5=13).
- Jerry D’Amigo leads the league in plus-minus with +13
- The Marlies are 1st in the league in penalty killing with 95.1%. They allowed 3 goals being outnumbered 61 times.
- Toronto has reached the Calder Cup finals for the second time in the franchise history. Last time the Marlies did it back in 1991/92 when they were still based in St. John’s. They are also the fourth affiliate of a Canadian NHL team to make it to the Calder Cup finals since 2007 after Hamilton (2007), Manitoba (2009) and Binghamton (2011).
- Marlies had over 6,000 fans at their home games at every post-game this season but one. In the second round there were just under 5,000 fans in at Ricoh Coliseum at the game against the Abbotsford Heat. It turned out to be the only game the Marlies lost so far at the home ice.
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