The 2026 Calder Cup Finals head to Toronto tonight (7 ET,
, FloHockey 24/7, Sportsnet 360, NHL Network, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio) with the Marlies bringing a 2-0 series lead home with them.
Logan Shaw (9-8-17) chipped in a loose puck 3:46 into overtime on Sunday afternoon to give Toronto a 5-4 win over Chicago in a see-saw Game 2 back at Allstate Arena. It was the eighth come-from-behind win of the postseason for the Marlies, who trailed 1-0 and 2-1 for the second game in a row.
“We’ve kind of been in that spot a lot this year,” said Shaw after Toronto surrendered leads of 3-2 and 4-3 in the third period. “We’ve been through pretty much everything you can imagine this year. We have a lot of belief and a lot of faith in our group.”
Shaw – the only Marlie to appear in all 93 regular-season and playoff games this year – and Bo Groulx (7-6-13) each scored twice in Game 2, and Vinni Lettieri (10-13-23) and William Villeneuve (2-17-19) picked up three assists apiece. Lettieri has two goals and four assists through the first two games of the series.
Shots on goal were 32-32 for the game on Sunday. 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 began the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs following an Oct. 6 waiver claim, returned to the Chicago cage after missing the previous three contests and made 27 saves.
Wolves defenseman 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 to go. It was the latest game-tying goal in a Calder Cup Finals game since 2002, when Chicago’s Steve Maltais scored with 2.7 seconds remaining to send Game 1 against Bridgeport to OT.
“We’re down two but we trust our process,” said Välimäki, a veteran of 271 NHL games. “Quite honestly, we’ve been a better road team than we have been at home. We don’t really need to look at the series as anything more than just one game at a time and take it from there.”
Charles Alexis Legault (1-3-4) scored his first goal of the playoffs and Noah Philp (6-6-12) added a goal and an assist for the Wolves.
This is the second series in a row in which the Marlies have taken a 2-0 lead by winning twice on the road. Their six straight road victories are a franchise playoff record; in five of the six victories, the winning goal has been scored either in overtime or in the final two minutes of regulation.
“This is a good hockey team we’re playing,” Marlies head coach John Gruden said. “They’re not here by accident. They don’t quit; I don’t expect them to. (But) it’s a great opportunity for us to go back home and continue to do what we’re doing.”
Quick Hits:
- 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 the 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 shot in the second period of Game 2; Marlies shooters are 4-for-6 all-time on postseason penalty 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 periods this series.
- The Marlies are 5-4 at home this postseason. The Wolves are 6-2 on the road, including wins in Games 6 and 7 of the conference finals at Colorado.
- Both teams dressed the same 18 skaters in Game 2 as they did in Game 1.