ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Toronto Marlies are one win away from reaching the Calder Cup final.

Garret Sparks only had to make 16 saves and Ben Smith had two power-play goals as Toronto downed the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 5-0 on Wednesday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final.

The Marlies can wrap up the series and reach the American Hockey League final for the first time since 2012 with a win on Friday at the PPL Center.

"If we let them bring it in their home barn then they'd get some support and maybe they'd get some more momentum so it was good that we shut them off quick whenever they got a couple of chances," said Marlies defenceman Travis Dermott.

"I think we had a couple of shifts where we didn't really bring it. I think Sparksy held us in and just some good defensive collapsing."

Carl Grundstom, Andreas Johnsson and Mason Marchment built up a 3-0 lead for the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate after 40 minutes.

"We've got four lines that we just rolled, pretty well the entire night," said Marlies coachSheldon Keefe. "When we've got four lines like that and everybody's on the same page and playing with purpose, it doesn't give the other team much opportunity to get going."

Phantoms goalie Alex Lyon was ejected for kicking Marchment at 9:41 of the third, and Smith made the Philadelphia Flyers' minor league club pay for it with two goals in a 1:21 span to put the game out of reach.

Marchment was down on all fours in Lyon's crease when the netminder appeared to swing his leg at the Marlies forward. Marchment wasn't injured on the play.

Lyon finished with 23 saves before Dustin Tokarski took over. He allowed two goals on five shots in relief.

"It was a good start for us, that's what we're looking for here," said Smith. "They're a good team so for us to come out like that, it was big for us. We knew they'd have push there starting the second period, but we were able to weather that."

Johnsson added an assist and leads the Marlies with 13 points in eight post-season games.

Toronto has won eight straight playoff games dating back to Game 5 of its first-round matchup against the Utica Comets.

The Marlies went 2 for 3 on the power play while Lehigh Valley failed to score on two chances with the man advantage.