Marlies advance to second round of Calder Cup Playoffs, will play Syracuse

Though they made things a little bit closer than they needed to, the Toronto Marlies pushed through to the second round of the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs on Sunday afternoon with a 4-0 victory over the Utica Comets.

Carl Grundstrom scored twice, Andreas Johnsson scored once, and Dmytro Timashov capped things off with an empty netter to seal the deal in the winner-take-all Game 5.

Garret Sparks made 37 saves in the victory including a new way of making a save… barehanded?

Can’t say it was the safest move, but it got the job done, nevertheless.

Johnsson’s goal, meanwhile, was a thing of beauty.

The Marlies take on Syracuse at home in Game 1 on Thursday night. The rest of the schedule will be announced later.