The 2026 Calder Cup Finals will be held in Toronto tonight (7 ET,
, FloHockey 24/7, Sportsnet 360, NHL Network, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio) the Marlies came home 2-0.
Logan Shaw (9-8-17) recovered a loose puck 3:46 into overtime Sunday afternoon to give Toronto a 5-4 victory over Chicago in Game-saw Game 2 back at Allstate Arena. It was the eighth win of the postseason as the Marlies trailed 1-0 and 2-1 for the second game in a row.
“We’ve been in that place a lot this year,” Shaw said after Toronto blew leads of 3-2 and 4-3 in the third period. “We’ve gone through everything you can think of this year. We have a lot of faith and trust in our team.”
Shaw — the only Marlie to appear in all 93 regular-season and playoff games this year — and Bo Groulx (7-6-13) each had a double in Game 2, once Vinnie Lettieri (10-13-23) and William Villeneuve (2-17-19) had three assists apiece. Lettieri has two goals and four assists through the first two games of the series.
The score was 32-32 in Sunday’s game. Making his 17th consecutive start in net for Toronto, Artur Akhtyamov (13-6, 2.21, .924) stopped 28 shots.
Cayden Primeau (8-7, 2.74, .914), who started the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs following a waiver claim on Oct. 6, returned to the Chicago cage after missing the previous three contests and made 27 saves.
Wolves for protection Juuso Välimäki (5-8-13) tied the game twice in the third period, making it 3-3 with 11:27 left and forcing overtime with 16.7 seconds left. It was the latest game-tying goal in a Calder Cup final since 2002, when Chicago Steve Maltais got 2.7 seconds to send Game 1 against Bridgeport into OT.
“There are two of us but we trust our process,” said Välimäki, a veteran of 271 NHL games. “To be honest, we were a better team than we were at home. We don’t have to look at the series as anything more than one game at a time and take it from there.”
Charles Alexis Legault (1-3-4) scored his first goal in the playoffs once Noah Philp (6-6-12) added a goal and an assist for the Wolves.
This is the second series in a row where the Marlies have taken a 2-0 lead with two road wins. Their six straight road wins is a franchise record; in five of the six victories, the winning goal was scored in overtime or the final two minutes of regulation.
“This is a good hockey team that we play,” head coach Marlies John Gruden said. “They didn’t come by mistake, they don’t give up, I don’t expect them (but) it’s a good opportunity for us to go back home and continue doing what we’re doing.”
Quick Highlights:
- Four teams in history have won the Calder Cup after falling behind 0-2 in the finals: the Hershey Bears in 2023 and 2010, the Springfield Indians in 1991 and the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in 1972. Only the 2010 Bears came back after losing their first two games at home.
- Road teams are 13-4 in overtime during the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs.
- Alex Nylander (6-0-6) scored on a penalty kick in the second half of Game 2; Marlies shooters are 4-for-6 all-time in postseason shot attempts.
- Chicago was 1-for-7 on the power play in the series. Toronto is 0-for-5.
- Including overtime, Toronto has scored at least once in all seven seasons of the series.
- The Marlies are 5-4 at home this past season. The Wolves are 6-2 on the road, including wins in Games 6 and 7 of the conference finals in Colorado.
- Both teams fielded the same 18 skaters in Game 2 as they did in Game 1.
