TORONTO, Ont. (theahl.com) … For the second time in franchise history, the Toronto Marlies are Calder Cup champions.
The Marlies added the 2026 championship to their 2018 title with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Wolves in Game 5 of the Finals before 8,682 fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum tonight, winning the series four games to one.
Toronto erased a 2-0 deficit to register its third come-from-behind victory of the series. Vinni Lettieri, the leading scorer in the Calder Cup Playoffs with 26 points in 23 games, scored what would prove to be the Cup-winning goal with 3:11 left in the second period, and Easton Cowan recorded three assists.
Goaltender Artur Akhtyamov won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs. The 24-year-old Akhtyamov, a fourth-round choice by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2020 NHL Draft, went 15-7 with a 2.22 goals-against average, a .923 save percentage and two shutouts in 22 playoff appearances. Making his 20th consecutive start, Akhtyamov made 27 saves in Game 5.
William Villeneuve picked up two more assists in Game 5; his 21 assists were tied for the second-most by a defenseman ever in a single Calder Cup postseason.
Toronto fell behind 2-0 in the first period before scoring four straight goals and then hanging on to close out the Wolves. The first of Felix Unger Sörum’s two goals on the night started the scoring at 8:28 before captain Josiah Slavin doubled the lead with 2:11 to go in the opening frame.
However, Marlies rookie Landon Sim tipped Matt Benning’s long shot past Chicago goaltender Cayden Primeau (9-9) in the final minute of the period, and Toronto scored three times in the second to take the lead.
Bo Groulx’s eighth goal of the postseason came on a power play to tie the score at 2-2. Then Jacob Quillan and Lettieri scored 1:23 apart to give Toronto a 4-2 lead.
The Wolves kept pushing, getting Unger Sörum’s second goal of the game shortly after a long 5-in-3 had expired with six seconds remaining before intermission.
But the Marlies shut down the visitors from there. Akhtyamov made nine saves in the final frame to preserve the Cup-clinching victory.
Primeau finished with 19 saves for the Wolves, who fashioned an impressive postseason run in eliminating Texas, Grand Rapids and Colorado to earn their sixth Western Conference championship. Chicago and the parent Carolina Hurricanes became the fourth pair of affiliates in the last 30 years to make their respective Finals in the same season.
Under head coach John Gruden, Toronto went 16-8 during the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, winning 10 of its last 13 games. The Marlies defeated the Rochester Americans (2-1), the Laval Rocket (3-2), the Cleveland Monsters (3-2) and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (4-2) before eliminating Chicago to become just the third team in AHL history to win five series in one playoff year. Their .569 points percentage in the regular season (36-26-5-5, 82 points) is the lowest by an eventual Calder Cup champion since the 2002 Chicago Wolves (.538).
Toronto’s victory brings an end to the AHL’s historic 90th season. In operation since 1936, the AHL continues to serve as the top development league for all 32 National Hockey League teams. Nearly 90 percent of today’s NHL players are American Hockey League graduates, and more than 100 honored members of the Hockey Hall of Fame spent time in the AHL in their careers.
(Toronto wins series, 4-1)
Game 1 – Fri., June 12 – Toronto 4, CHICAGO 2
Game 2 – Sun., June 14 – Toronto 5, CHICAGO 4 (OT)
Game 3 – Tue., June 16 – TORONTO 1, Chicago 0
Game 4 – Thu., June 18 – Chicago 4, TORONTO 3 (OT)
Game 5 – Fri., June 19 – TORONTO 4, Chicago 3