The 2026 Calder Cup Finals continue with Game 2 at Allstate Arena this afternoon (4 ET,
, Sportsnet One) as the host Chicago Wolves look to bounce back from Friday’s 4-2 setback to the Toronto Marlies.
Vinni Lettieri (10-10-20) recorded two goals and an assist for the Marlies in Game 1, scoring the tiebreaking goal with 8:28 left in regulation. Lettieri leads the league in playoff scoring after putting up 42 points in 55 regular-season contests.
Friday was Toronto’s seventh come-from-behind win of the postseason. They trailed 2-1 before Cédric Paré (4-6-10) tied the game with 49.7 seconds left in the second period. Ben Danford (1-2-3), the Maple Leafs’ first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, scored his first career professional goal to erase a 1-0 deficit in the first.
Borya Valis (0-3-3) and Bo Groulx (5-6-11) each notched two assists.
“There were times when we did a really good job, and then there were times when we made a few mistakes that ended up biting us,” Marlies head coach John Gruden said. “For our first game, trying to feel each other out, I thought we did a lot of good things. We had some opportunistic scoring. Obviously, our goaltender was pretty big when we needed him to be.
“The feeling-out process is always part of it in Game 1. We’ll clean things up, but it is all about wins right now. We got the win.”
Artur Akhtyamov (12-6, 2.12, .927), making his 16th consecutive start, registered 26 saves in Game 1. He has allowed two goals or fewer in 12 of those 16 games.
It was the fifth straight road win for the Marlies, a streak that began with their Game 5 victory in Cleveland to clinch their division final series. Toronto also had five-game road winning streaks during the 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2019 postseasons.
Amir Miftakhov (2-1, 2.60, .926), Akhtyamov’s former teammate in their native Kazan, Russia, made his third straight start in place of an injured Cayden Primeau (8-6, 2.58, .919) and turned aside 21 shots in Game 1. Bradly Nadeau (6-9-15) and Skyler Brind’Amour (2-2-4) provided the offense for Chicago.
“I thought it was a great 60 minutes overall. I thought we dictated the pace, I thought we had the bulk of the chances,” said Wolves head coach Spiros Anastas. “We made two critical errors on their second and their third goals that cost us, but outside of that I didn’t think we have up a lot.
“We’ve got to learn from those mistakes… One of our sayings in our room is there’s no winning and losing, just winning and learning. We’ll take the learning lessons.”
Quick Hits:
- In Calder Cup Finals history, the team winning Game 1 has gone on to win the championship 64 of 87 times (73.6 percent).
- Only eight teams have ever lost Game 1 of the Finals at home and still won the series, but it has happened three times in the last seven years – including Chicago’s victory over Springfield in 2022.
- Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play on Friday night.
- Akhtyamov and Miftakhov joined Pyotr Kochetkov (Chicago, 2022) as the only Russian goaltenders ever to play a Calder Cup Finals game.
- Yanick Turcotte made his playoff debut for the Wolves in Game 1. It was his first game action since Mar. 28.
