Toronto Marlies/Maple Leafs goaltender Artur Akhtyamov (70) was designated Player of the Game for his 36 saves off 38 shots in Game Four of the North Division Finals. (Source: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)The Toronto Marlies beat the Cleveland Monsters 5-2 to force a finale Game Five in the North Division Finals of the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Monsters started off strong, outshooting the Marlies 9-4 for the first 12:25. Both teams were 0-for-1 in the power play at that time. After that until the end of the frame, Toronto outshot Cleveland 7-5 where the Marlies went on the power play twice including a five-minute one which was ultimately cut down to three minutes due to a Reese Johnson slashing penalty. Nonetheless, the Leafs AHL affiliates scored on one of their man-advantage situations thanks to a Ryan Tverberg one-timer from the slot to go up 1-0 after 20 minutes.
In the second period, Cleveland heavily outshot Toronto 12-4 including putting up two unsuccessful shots in two of their power plays. But the luck of the hockey gods were with the Marlies as they scored on their one and only man-advantage situation of the frame when forward Alex Nylander squeezed the puck between the post and the left side of Monsters goalie Zach Sawchenko for the 2-0 lead going into the second intermission.
Cleveland's night went from bad to worse as Toronto defenceman Henry Thrun sniped from the point at the 4:45 mark of the third period for the Marlies' first 5v5 goal of the game to pad the lead at 3-0. With just over seven minutes left to go in the game, Toronto forward Jacob Quillan joined in the action after bursting into the offensive zone with authority and lasering a shot into the net from the slot for the 4-0 lead. Cleveland would net two goals back in garbage time to deny Toronto goalie and AHL All-Star Artur Akhtyamov the shutout, but Game Five was already set on the cards for Sunday.
Toronto goalie Akhtyamov made 36 saves off 38 shots for a save percentage of 0.947.
Cleveland goalie Sawchenko made 21 saves off 25 shots for a save percentage of 0.840