Five days after losing their third straight game for the first time this season, Toronto showed their intent by blitzing one of the better teams in the Atlantic Division.
Toronto have been slow out of the gates too often of late, allowing opponents to jump on top of them and take early leads.
That was not the case tonight, as Connor Brown tested Mike McKenna with a snapshot a minute in and Portland’s goaltender had to be alert shortly after to hold onto a blast from the blueline by Marlies debutant Taylor Doherty.
An error from Brendan Leipsic enabled an odd man rush for the Pirates, but Brett Olsen fired wide on the feed from Corban Knight.