Flurry of goals in second period key Amerks' 7-4 victory over Marlies in AHL playoffs

There are few places on planet Earth where hockey is more important than in the metropolis of Toronto. Playing or following the sport is basically a way of life in Canada’s largest city, so you can imagine what a catastrophic weekend this was.

First and foremost, their beloved but forever-tortured Maple Leafs were eliminated in Game 5 of their second-round Stanley Cup series by the Florida Panthers on Friday night, extending their championship drought to 56 years.

And then Saturday, the Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate, the Marlies, were drummed by the Rochester Amerks 7-4 in Game 2 of their best-of-five Calder Cup North Division finals series, that on the heels of their Game 1 loss Thursday night.

One would expect there will be some glum faces at Mother's Day brunches in the region Sunday, which certainly won’t be the case in Rochester.

“There’s nothing better than riding the bus with your teammates after a victory; that's a really fun experience,” Amerks coach Seth Appert said.

However, in the next breath, Appert added, “We have a lot of work to do. We know what can happen. We just flipped the series on Syracuse. Toronto's not gonna go away. They have a great team, they have a lot of pride and they're not going to go down quietly and we have to keep our edge.”

As you’ll recall, the Amerks trailed two games to none against Syracuse and stormed back to win the final three so they know this series is far from over.

“We were down 2-0 to Syracuse and we were able to come back so anything's possible,” said Sean Malone. “We got to keep keep playing our game. Guys are buzzing, guys are excited to play so looking forward to Wednesday.”

Saturday, the score was tied 1-1 early in the second period when Rochester blew it wide open by scoring four goals in a span of 2:45 - Jeremy Davies, Lukas Rousek, Malone and Joseph Cecchoni doing the honors - and never really looked back.

Here’s what happened in Game 2:

First period: Jiri Kulich keeps rolling

The rookie missed the first two games of the Syracuse series with an injury. He has played all five since, and has scored a goal in every one. Midway through the first period, just before a Rochester power play ended, Mason Jobst drove through the slot on the left edge of the left circle, then fed Kulich in the right circle and he ripped a wrister just inside the right post over Eric Kallgren’s glove.

That was the only goal of the period because Amerks goalie Malcolm Subban made two great saves late on a Toronto power play to keep it at 1-0.

Second period: A scoring frenzy puts Amerks up 5-2

However, Subban eventually succumbed on a Marlies power play 1:20 into the middle period. The Amerks were shorthanded because Jobst was called for a cross check as the first period ended, even though he had been the one getting worked over. But you know what they say in hockey - they always catch the retaliator.

And on the goal, the Amerks were basically down two men because Tyson Kozak blocked a shot and was in tremendous pain, but he couldn’t get off the ice. Taking advantage of that, Nick Abruzzese moved past Kozak and zipped one through a screen that beat Subban on his blocker side.

Thereafter came the avalanche of Amerks goals that blew the game open.

It began three seconds after an early Rochester power play ended as Davies beat Kallgren from the left circle, his first goal in 21 games at 4:28. Ninety seconds later, the Amerks broke out on a 3-on-1 rush and Brett Murray, Jobst and Rousek worked a gorgeous passing play that ended with Rousek ripping one home as Kallgren really had no chance.

Sixty-three seconds after that, Brendan Warren fed Cecconi in the left left circle and he quickly sent a pass toward the front of the net which Malone was able to redirect to make it 4-1. Kallgren was pulled in favor of Keith Petruzzelli, and 12 seconds after his entrance Cecconi’s shot from the point soared past him through a screen.

Toronto cut the gap to 5-2 on a power play goal by Max Ellis at 10:08 and that gave the Marlies some life and they pressured Subban heavily. The Marlies finished with 20 shots on goal in the period, and Subban stood tall and kept the score right there as he turned aside 18.

Third period: Big goal by Michael Mersch ices it

It didn’t take long for the Marlies to further put the squeeze on Rochester, as seconds after a too many men on the ice penalty, Pontus Holmberg whistled one past Subban from the slot at 5:03, their third man advantage goal of the game.

But unlike Game 5 in Syracuse and Game 1 in Toronto, when the Amerks sat back and allowed the opponent to control play, they answered just 2:09 later on a power play as Malone found Michael Mersch along the goal line extended on the right and with Petruzzelli too high in his crease, Mersch slipped one behind him to make it 6-3, a goal that really seemed to deflate the home team and crowd.

Toronto pulled its goalie with around five minutes left, and Warren scored into the empty net with 3:45 to go. Alex Steeves then netted the Marlies fourth power-play goal of the game to close the scoring.

“Against Syracuse we kind of laid on our heels there in Game 5, but we’re trying to learn from our experiences and try to play a full 60,” Malone said. “Even when we have the lead, just keep doing the right things and capitalizing on our power plays and stuff like that. So I thought it was a good good step in the right direction.”

Inside the numbers

▶ The Amerks were minus one of their best offensive players, Linus Weissbach, who was hurt late in Game 1. His replacement was Filip Cedarqvist, who had been out since Game 2 of the Syracuse series.

▶ Four of Kulich’s goals have come on the power plays which is more than anyone else in the Calder Cup playoffs, and his five goals lead all rookies. He also had another power play goal in the second, but Kallgren made a great save on a one-timer.

▶ This is the first time the Amerks have taken a 2-0 series since sweeping Hamilton in the opening round of the best-of-seven series in 2005.

What’s next in the series?

The Amerks will have a chance to complete a three-game sweep Wednesday night at home. Faceoff will happen at 7:05 p.m.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which will come out every Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Americans defeat Toronto Marlies Game 2 Calder Cup playoffs