Toronto Marlies/Maple Leafs goaltender Artur Akhtyamov (70) was designated Player of the Game for his 24-save shutout in Game Three of the 2026 Calder Cup Finals. (Source: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)The Toronto Marlies beat the Chicago Wolves 1-0 to win Game Three of the 2026 Calder Cup Finals and are one win away from becoming Calder Cup Champions.
The Wolves were the more aggressive team in the first period, outshooting the Marlies 13-5 despite Toronto getting 1:44 more minutes on the power play in the opening frame. Still, the game ended up 0-0 going into the first intermission.
Toronto turned the tables on the AHL affiliates of the recently crowned Stanley Cup champions, Carolina Hurricanes, in the second frame as the Marlies outshot the Wolves 13-5 despite Chicago this time being the recipient of 1:44 more minutes on the man-advantage. The Leafs AHL affiliates cashed in with their shot advantage at the 2:47 mark when forward Easton Cowan sniped a shot from the right face-off zone which Chicago goalie Cayden Primeau managed to get behind, but unbeknownst to the former Leaf, the puck still had enough juice to just roll past the goal line to give Toronto the only goal of the game and the 1-0 lead.
In the first 13:52 minutes of the final period, both teams produced only a combined 10 shots. With under five minutes remaining in the game (at the 15:26 mark), a charging penalty on Chicago's Nikita Pavlychev after a heavy right elbow on Toronto's Henry Thrun put the Marlies on a five-minute power play, shutting down any chance of a Wolves comeback and putting Toronto on the doorstep of lifting the Calder Cup.
Toronto goalie and AHL All-Star Artur Akhtyamov made a 24-save shutout for the win.
Chicago goalie Primeau made 27 saves off 28 shots for a save percentage of 0.964.