The Marlies won their first playoff game of this postseason last night in dominating fashion, going up 3-0 in the first period and allowing only four Shots on Goal.

Vinni Lettieri had a good night, scoring three goals after assisting on Benoit-Olivier Groulx's first-period insurance goal. But hats off to Michael Pezzetta, playing on the fourth line, who opened the scoring with what ended up the game winner is a 5-0 final score.

Artur Akhtyamov stopped 16 shots for the shutout.

The second game of the series is Friday night in Rochester.

In less fun news, the Ottawa Charge beat Boston last night 2-1 in overtime. But it was overtime, which means the Sceptres are behind Ottawa by three points. The two teams go head-to-head on Saturday at 2 pm in Ottawa. If the Sceptres win in regulation they will be tied in points, and Toronto holds the tiebreaker (regulation wins). Any other result and Ottawa will be the final playoff team.

In NHL action, it would appear that the Penguins are in over their heads. Who had the Flyers as the first team to get to three wins in round one?

Risto: smashing your isolated metrics and your ageing curves.

There were two other games last night, but you know where to find the scores. The NHL Schedule page has the recap linked for each completed game.

Meanwhile in the Leafs hiring search, yesterday was a day of insider reports that all sounded the same – okay, I listened to two. And they both used the term misdirection. Rumoured names of who was interviewed might not be fully accurate, and might not represent just attempts to hire the top person for hockey operations.

That said, it sure seems like this is going to end in at least one person hired before the draft lottery and these names might not be all who are in consideration, but they are some of them:

What you should know about Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM finalists
The four finalists in the Maple Leafs’ hockey-executive search all share striking similarities. Sportsnet’s Luke Fox breaks down what you need to know about each one.
Sportsnet.caLuke Fox

Meanwhile the non-candidate speaks:

Pronger on Leafs’ GM: ‘I did not interview for that role’
It doesn’t appear Hall of Fame defenceman Chris Pronger will be the next general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
TSNTSN.ca Staff

I hope he was joking when he called this a vicious rumour, but I don't care enough to listen to him talk. As others have noted, he's not actually saying he didn't interview at all.

Interesting concept here of an internal audit:

Kraken shed light on internal audit, hope to improve after disappointing season
Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke gave an update to a proposed internal audit on Wednesday, saying the Kraken have talked with a number of individuals and firms about using their services in the near future.
TSNThe Associated Press

Imagine the leaks to the media if the Leafs did that instead of just having their parent company act all, you know, interested in how they run things.

That's all for now, have a great day!

From The Branches