Ex-Leaf Froese burns Marlies in opener
Toronto right back at it on Saturday after struggling to generate scoring chances
SYRACUSE, N. Y. — One of the Toronto Maple Leafs trade deadline deals may have backfired. On the Toronto Marlies.
Byron Froese — sent to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Brian Boyle deal — scored once and added an assist as the Syracuse Crunch beat the Toronto Marlies 3-1 Friday night in the opener of their best-of-7 Calder Cup Northern Division final series.
“It’s not personal, but you always want to play well against the team that traded you away, right?” said Froese in the Crunch locker room. “I don’t think we left on bad terms at all. But, it’s an exciting series and it’s a big series for us.”
As much as it hurt to see a familiar face do in his former team, Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe was more upset at a flat performance from his skaters. Outside of a splendid effort from goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo, the Marlies just didn’t look as interested in winning puck battles as the Crunch did. “We expected more from our group,” Keefe said. “I didn’t think we skated all game. They clogged us up. We played really slow all game long. If you do that against a fast team, you’re in for a tough night.
“We weren’t very good on the penalty kill, we weren’t good on the power play, we weren’t good at even strength. Goaltending is the only box that we checked.”
Erik Condra had the first Syracuse goal and Yanni Gourde scored with Kaskisuo on the bench for an extra attacker. Andreas Johnsson opened the scoring, but Toronto couldn’t beat Mike McKenna after that.
Rookie defenceman Andrew Nielsen had a rough night, taking three penalties — one leading to in Condra’s goal. He was also well out of position on Froese’s goal, involved in some shoving at the blue line while the play went toward Kaskisuo.
“Stuff happens, you just have to move on,” Nielsen said. “You just have to stay focused. I’m going to continue to play physical, and try to get under the skin of the opposition. You’re going to cross the line sometimes. I have to find that line, stay on it, and not go over it.
Syracuse outshot Toronto 28-25, including 16-6 in the first period.
“Kaskisuo was terrific, the game would have been an absolute blowout without him,” Keefe said. “It was a learning experience for everybody. I can’t find anyone who brought (their top game) today. But Nielsen takes three penalties and it’s a sign that it’s Round 2 and competition gets better, so you need to adjust your game accordingly.
“He’s a young guy. Let’s not be too hard on him. There were a lot of passengers.”
Boyle was a big part of the Maple Leafs late-season success, and why they team made the playoffs. But Froese has given the Crunch some dynamic offence.
“We know what he can do,” Nielsen said. “He’s a friend in between whis- tles, but during the play he’s on the other team and you have to play hard against him.”
Froese played a bit for the Maple Leafs in 2015-16 and this season, making the surprise jump from the ECHL in 2014-15. He had been the Marlies’ top scorer this season before the trade to the Tampa system. The Lightning even called him up late in the season.
Game 2 is Saturday, also at the Onondaga War Memorial Arena.
The Marlies felt confident as the series began, hardened by a tough series against Albany.
“We feel good about our group,” Keefe said. “We don’t feel we have to protect anyone. We feel that going through the overtimes we played in the last series, we lost (Kasperi) Kapanen and we were down to 11 forwards, and had to use the bench, we had to play everyone we had available and everyone did the job.”