The biggest underdog story in the American Hockey League this season is just two wins away from a fairytale ending. The 2026 Calder Cup Finals saw its first two games unfold this weekend, and despite starting out as the road team, the Toronto Marlies managed to come out with a pair of narrow victories, giving them a very luxurious advantage going into a three-game homestand this week.
Interestingly, this series was one of the lesser cases of standings disparity between Toronto and their opponents in these playoffs. Unlike the 19-point advantage that the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins had in the Eastern Conference Finals, or even the eight-point advantage that the Laval Rocket had in Toronto’s first non-wildcard round, just five points separate the Wolves and Marlies’ seasons, to go with an evenly matched season series. Even the the underlying shot metrics in the regular season point to two teams with near-equal shot attempt differentials, which you wouldn’t expect out of the Carolina Hurricanes’ farm team.
Both games started off nervously for Toronto, as Chicago picked up the first goal on Friday and Sunday. Friday’s instance was a great moment of mistake-and-redemption for Ben Danford. Following the Eastern Conference Final, I talked about how Danford had impresed in the series and how Head Coach John Gruden has been giving him room to experiment since he hadn’t made any consequential mistakes. Well, in this one, a turnover off a zone entry finally created that first mistake, culminating in Bradly Nadeau cleaning up a rebound.
Six minutes later, an unphased Danford found ripped a wrist shot to tie the game with his first professional goal. Chicago responded late in the third to take their second lead of the night. A stretch pass followed by a great area pass by Noel Gunler gave Skyler Brind’Amour all the room he needed to get his team back up, but once again, Toronto stayed unphased and responded with a very similar goal – this time, it was Ryan Tverberg on the boards, finding Cederic Pare in open space.
In the third, Vinni Lettieri continued his legacy run. With eight and a half minutes remaining, the veteran forward stood up a loose puck in the defensive zone, turned around, and made a stunning rush, self-chipping into offensive ice, finding an extra gear, and driving to the net for what would be the game winning goal. Letteri added an empty netter to ice the game with ten seconds remaining.
Between Letteri’s heroics, Pare’s second equalizer, and Bo Groulx’s pair of assists, Game 1 was a big night for Toronto’s more experienced talent. But could that corner of the dressing room carry the momentum over into Sunday?
The answer was, evidentally, yes. While Charles Legault’s first goal of the playoffs left the Marlies trailing just two minutes into the game, Letteri and Groulx combined for an equalizer ten minutes later. Like many of their goals in the past couple of weeks, it was a counter-attack off the rush that went in Toronto’s favour – something that seems to have found another gear in their game since the Penguins series lifted up the tempo. Like Friday, the Wolves went up again with a 2-1 tally, this one coming with Henry Thrun in the box. Early in the second, though, a slash to Alex Nylander’s hands on a breakaway led to him being awarded a penalty shot, and the 28-year-old made no mistake with a backhand cut that reminded many of his brother.
Another mistake-and-redemption moment came for a Toronto defenceman in the second period. This time, it was William Villeneuve with the arc. Arguably the most risk-reward blue liner in the Leafs organization, Villeneuve left many of us scratching our heads with an obvious extension of the lower-back on a pick play, sending him to the box for interference at a pivotal time in the game. The Marlies were able to kill off the penalty, and twenty seconds later, he made a fantastic pass to captain Logan Shaw to give them their first lead of the game.
With twelve minutes remaining in the third period, NHL-AHL tweener Jusso Valimaki pinched to the front of the net and cleaned up an equalizer for the Wolves, putting the game back in tense territory. Toronto regained the lead with six and a half minutes to go via Groulx’s second of the evening, only for Valimaki to play hero a second time for the home crowd, culminating a chaotic final three minutes by forcing overtime with a goal that came with just 17 seconds left in regulation. A tired Toronto team had multiple looks at the empty Chicago net prior to the equalizer, and for a few minutes, you wondered about a missed opportunity.
That wonder went away just before the four minute mark, when three previously mentioned names pulled one more trick out of their sleeves. A pass off the wall by Villeneuve found Letteri, who carried the puck in and drove the net. While Cayden Primeau, who returned to the Wolves goal after several games of absence, was able to stop the first attempt, he wasn’t able to prevent Shaw from jamming the puck the final inch or two it needed to go to secure victory. Amidst a bit of initial confusion, the game was over, and Toronto had stolen it’s second consecutive road game.
Perhaps the most encouraging thing to come out of Game 2 was the fact that they didn’t need a dominant performance from Artur Akhtyamov, who has been the team’s MVP to this point. It wasn’t a bad game for him by any means, but Toronto has been afforded the security of only having to score 2 or 3 on a lot of nights across this run. Sunday was the first time in these playoffs that they conceded more than three goals and still found a way to get the job done.
With the two wins in hand, the Marlies now have a chance to win the Calder Cup at home. With the 2-3-2 format for this series, Toronto will host Games 2, 3, and potentially 5 on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday respectively. Keep note of traffic downtown if you’re heading to these games – while they’ve been scheduled to avoid going up against the World Cup across the street at BMO F… I mean, Toronto Stadium, there are still fan activations expected to compete for crowd attention in the neighbourhood.
By The Numbers – Game 1
By The Numbers – Game 2
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