TORONTO - Josh Leivo had a goal and three assists as the Toronto Marlies opened their American Hockey League first-round playoff series with a 7-4 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday.

It's the first time the 21-year-old winger has produced a four-point outing in his young career.

"The things he's been doing paid off offensively, but also defensively," said Marlies head coach Gord Dineen. "He's a fiery guy, he's a competitor and plays with a lot of emotion. And he channelled that emotion in the right direction tonight."

T.J. Brennan, Greg McKegg, Jack Rodewald, Matt Rupert, Brendan Leipsic and Byron Froese also scored for the Marlies while Connor Brown tacked on two assists.

Teemu Pulkkinen struck twice for the Griffins, who also got goals from Louis-Marc Aubry and Andreas Athanasiou.

Toronto's Christopher Gibson made 24 saves for the win as Tom McCollum stopped 28-of-34 shots for Grand Rapids.

The Marlies went 0 for 6 on the power play while the Griffins scored twice on four chances with the man advantage.

Toronto has won eight games in a row including the regular season.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series goes Sunday in Toronto.