Nylander received a pass off the half wall from Borya Valis, and wove his way through the slot, creating just enough space to unleash a shot along the ice to beat Penguins goaltender Sergei Murashov five-hole to close out the series.
The Penguins opened the scoring on Sunday night when Aidan McDonough beat Marlies goaltender Artur Akhtyamov blocker side seven seconds into a Penguins power play. The goal was McDonough’s fourth of the playoffs after scoring 23 goals during the regular season. Akhtyamov gave the Penguins nothing else, delivering yet another impressive performance during these playoffs. The 24-year-old stopped 39 shots in the win to improve his record to 11-6 during these playoffs and .927 save percentage.
Akhtyamov’s brilliance allowed the Marlies’ offence to find its footing just under halfway through the second period. Trailing 1-0, the Marlies’ line of Easton Cowan, Luke Haymes, and Ryan Tverberg knotted the score with Cowan’s seventh goal of the playoffs.
After Haymes found Tverberg with a pass deep in the Penguins’ zone, Tverberg wasted no time driving the puck to the goal line which resulted in a rebound off Murashov that Cowan was able to bang home. Cowan now has 15 points through these playoffs, and has scored in the two games following his costly turnover that led to Rutger McGroarty’s game-winning tally in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.
The Marlies are now four wins away from capturing their second Calder Cup in franchise history. After finishing the regular season fourth-place in the North Division, the Marlies have defeated the Rochester Americans, Laval Rocket, Cleveland Monsters, and now Penguins to earn a spot in the finals which seemed like a longshot before the playoffs opened.
“It hasn’t been easy but it’s not supposed to be easy at this time of the year. Our ability as a group, and a lot of credit goes to the older guys that have great leadership qualities, and we have a bunch of younger legs that have followed,” Marlies head coach John Gruden said post-game. “No one was expecting anyone to put on a show but they just played as a team.”
The Marlies will await the result of Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday night between the Colorado Eagles and Chicago Wolves.