The Toronto Marlies are now just one game away from adding a second Calder Cup banner to the North End of Coca-Cola Coliseum. On Tuesday night, the blue and white put up their most well-rounded effort of the series and came out just barely ahead of a tight goaltending battle to build up their most decisive lead of these playoffs so far.
Game Summary
The first and only goal of this game didn’t come until the second period, which is more than likely a statement that favoured Toronto, as the opening frame saw Chicago largely control the pace of play. From the play on the ice to the air in the crowd, things felt tense and tentative. Even a Marlies powerplay midway through the period wasn’t enough to get them going.
Weirdly enough, what might have done the trick was taking their own penalty, via Luke Haymes in the dying seconds of the first. This set up a shift were Marc Johnstone created two shorthanded breakaways at the start of the second period, and while it didn’t lead to a goal, it loosened things up and set the tone for Easton Cowan to put the Marlies on the board, squeaking a bit of a dribbler past Cayden Primeau.
From there, the Marlies took near-complete control of the second peroid, and when Chicago did have its couple of looks, Artur Akhtyamov made a big point-blank save and Matthew Benning made his own massive shot block.
The third period was considerably more cautious on Toronto’s end, though it was also a defensive clinic, with everyone bought in to taking up space and keeping Chicago from entering the offensive zone without some difficulty. With four and a half minutes left, Nikita Pavlyechev hit Henry Thrun with a high hit behind the Marlies net and was ejected for charging. While you never want to see one of your own players slow to get up, it afforded Toronto a massive gift from a game perspective, as it allowed them to play the rest of the game on the powerplay. What ensued a fine line between attempting to get the insurance marker and using the extra space to their rope-a-dope advantage.
“They’re a high pressure PK, and we haven’t had much success against it,” said Head Coach Gruden. But we went to two defencemen to try to get into a spread, to try to insulate ourselves and make sure. We don’t need to score. We want to make sure we just move pucks quick. Don’t do anything crazy, we don’t have to.”
“We did what we had to do during that time. I wasn’t going to put four forwards out there. No way.”
Ultimately, it worked. Chicago made a push when they were finally able to pull Cayden Primeau in the final minute, but the Marlies weathered the storm and got the clock to zero. The teams celebrated the end of their night with a big scrum in the Toronto zone, but outside of 2’s and 10’s on their game logs, it made no difference in the result.
Player Of The Game
Come on, now. We’re asking this question after a 1-0 win in the finals? You know the answer is Artur Akhtyamov, like it has been so many times in these playoffs. This was one of his most sublime performances yet, though, and certainly his most important given the lack of significant goal support.
Like many cases in these few weeks, it’s also yet another example of setback-and-response – while Game 2 was still a victory and still a fine enough effort on Akhtyamov’s part, it was one of his weaker performances on a curve. But he pivoted that into a dominant performance, bookended by early first and late third periods where his efforts were a necessity.
He also delivered the line of the night when asked about what kind of zone he feels he’s in right now. “I feel nothing. One more win.”
Assorted Notes
- Easton Cowan was the hero of the game on the skater front thanks to his game winning goal, but even if you take it away, I thought that was one of the best nights that he’d had all playoffs. He was skating at full speed from minute one to minute sixty and making direct plays with purpose, which is where he’s at his best. No fumbling around for the perfect play – just burst in, get your look, onto the next one.
- I asked Cowan, who had two deep playoff runs in the OHL with the London Knights in 2024 (won league championship, lost the Memorial Cup Final) and 2025 (won both), what he could take from those experiences as he finds himself chasing the last win of the season for the third year in a row. “I think just ride the wave, don’t get to high or too low. You just gotta stay positive and even.”
- The numbers don’t entirely flesh with it, but I thought Bo Groulx was a treat to watch last night in his minutes. He was engaged on the boards, skated the puck between zones with ease, and set up a lot of Toronto’s best looks. After a so-so start to the playoffs, he’s picked up as one of their more important pieces.
- Jacob Quillan returned to the lineup for the first time since the Wilkes-Barre series, replacing Borya Valis. It wasn’t his best night out, but you expected the payoff of getting him back in will come in the games to follow.
- This was Toronto’s first game of the series where they controlled the shot quantity and quality, which Chicago coach Spiros Anastas pointed out after the game. “We thought we were getting through pretty well in the first two games, we thought we dictated the pace. I’d say today was probably the first game of the three where we got outplayed, especially in the second period. I thought in the first, we came out real well, but they responded and did a great job.”
- Toronto now has four opportunities to get that last victory puck on their display, including two at home. Their first crack at it comes tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
By The Numbers
Data souced via Instat, presented via HIPT
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