Games 3 and 4 are at the Coca-Cola Coliseum on Tuesday and Thursday
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Logan Shaw has been the ultimate captain for the Toronto Marlies in the Calder Cup playoffs.
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Important faceoffs, crucial minutes and every so often, key offence — all have been provided by Shaw.
On Sunday in Game 2 of the Calder Cup final against the Chicago Wolves, it was some jam on the part of the veteran that sent the Marlies to a 5-4 overtime victory.
At 3:46 of the extra period, Shaw scored his second goal of the game, stuffing the puck past Wolves goalie Cayden Primeau to give the Marlies a tighter grip in the best-of-seven series.
“He’s our pulse, he’s the heartbeat of this team,” Marlies coach John Gruden told media in Illinois. “I can’t say enough good things about him as a leader. He has been outstanding.”
In winning two games at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., the Marlies are heading home with a 2-0 lead. Games 3 and 4 are at the Coca-Cola Coliseum on Tuesday and Thursday, with Game 5, if necessary, also will be on the Exhibition grounds on Friday.
After Vinni Lettieri got the puck to the crease area, Shaw arrived, outmuscled Wolves defenceman Domenick Fensore and from behind the goal line, and managed to get it past Primeau.
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Akhtyamov stands tall again
In his 17th start in a row, Marlies goalie Artur Akhtyamov made 28 saves as Toronto improved to 9-3 on the road in the playoffs.
Primeau, a brief member of the Maple Leafs last fall, stopped 27 shots in his return to the Chicago net after missing a few games because of injury.
The Marlies were on the cusp of winning in regulation when Wolves defenceman Juuso Valimaki scored his second goal of the third period with 17 seconds remaining.
With Primeau on the bench in favour of an extra skater, Valimaki scored from a tough angle, hitting the back of the net behind a scrambling Akhtyamov after the puck came off the end boards.
“We’ve been in that spot a lot this year,” Shaw told media at Allstate Arena, referring to the Marlies’ resolve. “Not saying that we’ve blown games, but there were times where we had leads and other teams came back.
“We’ve been through pretty much everything you can imagine. We have a lot of belief and a lot of faith in our group. I’ve said it throughout the whole season but the other team is trying to win a game too … When they scored that goal, it sucked at the time but I had all the faith in our group.”
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Marlies veteran forward Bo Groulx’s second goal of the match — his first two-goal performance in 20 playoff games this spring — put the Marlies up 4-3 at 13:40 of the third. Groulx slammed a William Villeneuve rebound past Primeau.
Valimaki popped a loose puck past Akhtyamov at 8:33 of the third to tie the game 3-3.
The Marlies had a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.
The Wolves had trouble with the Marlies’ play through the neutral zone, so it was fitting that Shaw scored off the rush for a go-ahead goal at 15:45.
Shaw blew past Fensore and moved to his backhand to slip the puck past Primeau.
Nylander joins short list
Alex Nylander added his name to a short list of Marlies who have scored on a penalty shot in the Calder Cup playoffs when he used a nifty backhand deke to fool Primeau to tie the game 2-2. The free shot came after Fensore got his stick in Nylander’s hands during a breakaway at 4:12.
Nylander became the sixth player in Marlies history to get a penalty shot in the post-season, and fourth to score, joining Robert Mastrosimone (2025), Kyle Clifford (2023) and Dmytro Timashov (2019). Will Acton (2012) and John Pohl (2006) failed on their penalty-shot attempts.
The Wolves applied pressure off the opening faceoff and got on the board at 1:53 when defenceman Charles Alexis Legault put a shot from the point through a screen and past Akhtyamov.
Groulx went short side on Primeau off the rush at 11:17, before Noah Philp restored a one-goal lead for Chicago at 15:40 on a power play.
Lettieri and Villeneuve each had three assists.
“Big win for us,” Gruden said. “Still have two to go, but a great start. We had a lot of good moments in this game.”
On X: @koshtorontosun
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