- Toronto erased a 2-0 deficit to beat Chicago 4-3 in Game 5 and take the series 4-1
- Vinni Lettieri scored the Cup-winning goal and led all playoff scorers with 26 points
- Read below for how Artur Akhtyamov backstopped the run and won playoff MVP
The Toronto Marlies are Calder Cup champions again.
Toronto wiped out a 2-0 deficit and beat the Chicago Wolves 4-3 in Game 5 on Friday night at Coca-Cola Coliseum, closing out the Finals four games to one. The title is the franchise’s first since 2018 and the second in its history.
Chicago jumped ahead early. Felix Unger Sorum and captain Josiah Slavin had the Wolves up 2-0 in the first period in front of 8,682 fans.
Then Toronto took over. Rookie Landon Sim tipped a Matt Benning point shot past Cayden Primeau in the final minute of the first. Bo Groulx tied it on the power play in the second, and Jacob Quillan and Vinni Lettieri struck 1:23 apart to make it 4-2.
Lettieri’s goal with 3:11 left in the second stood up as the Cup-winner. He wrapped the playoffs with 26 points in 23 games, the most of any skater in the bracket.
Artur Akhtyamov took home the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as playoff MVP. The 24-year-old, a fourth-round Leafs pick in 2020, went 15-7 with a 2.22 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage, and he stopped 27 shots in the clincher. The Marlies threw him a party:
Easton Cowan added three assists in Game 5 and keeps stacking trophies. A year after he won the Memorial Cup with the London Knights, the Leafs prospect got to lift the Calder Cup:
Head coach John Gruden’s group went 16-8 over five rounds, knocking off Rochester, Laval, Cleveland and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before Chicago. The parent Maple Leafs have spent the offseason chasing a win-now roster, but Friday belonged to the kids who came up the hard way.
