Toronto Marlies/Maple Leafs goaltender Artur Akhtyamov (70) was awarded the Second Star of the Game for his 39 saves off 40 shots in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals. (Source: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)The Toronto Marlies beat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2-1 after overtime to be crowned Eastern Conference Champions and advance to the 2026 Calder Cup Finals.
After Toronto put up five straight shots in a span of 5:59 minutes that included a lackluster showing of just one shot in their first power play, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored on their first shot in their first man-advantage situation at the 6:26 mark when forward Aidan McDonough ripped one through traffic into the Marlies' net to put the Penguins up 1-0. The Pittsburgh AHL affiliates took the lead into the first break despite Toronto just edging out in the shot differential 10-8.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would be unsuccessful in their second man-advantage of which 38 seconds trickled into the second period. Two seconds later, the Marlies would find themselves on their second power play and once again would only produce one futile shot. But in a span of 4:18 minutes, Toronto would go on a 5-0 shooting run where in the last shot, forward Eason Cowan would punch in the game-tying goal off a rebound right after Pens goalie Sergei Murashov made a save off a Ryan Tverberg shot at the 9:11 mark. Both teams' defences would clamp down hard after that as for the remainder of the frame, only five shots were produced including a third Penguins power play where the Marlies shutout the team in black and yellow in shots.
The final frame was the only period where Wilkes-Barre/Scranton outshot Toronto 16-10 including putting up two shots on their fourth power play but no goals were scored, setting up overtime.
After 13:14 minutes of hard-fought overtime action, forward Alex Nylander decked the puck off a faceoff win into the Pens' goal to send the Marlies into the Calder Cup Finals.
Toronto goalie and AHL All-Star Artur Akhtyamov made 39 saves off 40 shots for a save percentage of 0.975.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goalie and AHL All-Star Murashov made 37 saves off 39 shots for a save percentage of 0.949.