The Rochester Americans’ Calder Cup run ends just as quickly as it started with a three game sweep at the hands of the Toronto Marlies. Game three saw the Americans go scoreless as the Marlies cruised away with a 3-0 win at the Blue Cross Arena. It was the first time in the 13 games between these two teams this season that the margin of victory was greater than one goal.
The Marlies got the scoring started early in the first period as Philippe Dupuis scored his first goal of the series just 3:59 into the game. Nicolas Deschamps and Mark Fraser got the assists on the goal. That would be all of the scoring in the period as the Marlies got a 9-6 advantage in shots and just looked like the better team in the period. The Amerks started throwing the body around at the end of the period and tried to carry that momentum into the second period.
In the second, the Amerks got shots off early and often, getting eleven on net in the first eight minutes of the period and seventeen overall in the period. But it would be Amerk killer Jerry D’Amigo scoring his fifth goal of the series just 1:36 into the period to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. The Americans would get a couple of good scoring chances including a good feed from Derek Whitmore to Corey Tropp in front of the net but couldn’t beat Ben Scrivens.
The third period saw more of the same from the Marlies. Nazem Kadri got his first goal of the series on a botched drop pass from Corey Tropp. Kadri then worked the puck into the zone with Jerry D’Amigo and Greg Scott and finally outdeked David Leggio for the goal. The Marlies would play shut down defense for the rest of the period as the Amerks would only manage five shots on goal in the period.
Overall, the Amerks just looked gassed and the Marlies looked like the better team in the playoff series finale. David Leggio looked shaky early but settled in and made 23 saves in the losing effort while Ben Scrivens had a solid night making 29 saves to earn the shutout. The Marlies will wait to face their opponent as the Connecticut Whale is the only team that has moved onto the second round. The Americans will retool and look ahead to next season.