Taking a step back and looking at this series, the on-ice matchup that will decide who will win the Eastern Conference is about the centers against wingers. It’s not exclusive to the Toronto Marlies and the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, two teams that have a lot of overlapping strengths and are great across the board. However, this is where both teams will win this series. 

The Marlies are led by their veterans, with Vinni Lettieri, Logan Shaw, and Benoit-Olivier Groulx carrying them. The Penguins, meanwhile, have a youth movement that’s only gotten better as the season goes on. That said, if there’s one matchup in every series that will define the seven-game Calder Cup Playoff matchup, it’s the Marlies wingers against the Penguins centers. 

The Marlies have been outmatched throughout the playoffs. However, their elite talent has taken over games and carried them to wins. Lettieri has a team-leading six goals and seven assists in the playoffs, while Easton Cowan has four goals and four assists. The series-clinching Game 5 victory over the Cleveland Monsters displayed their ability to flip games as they scored two of the three Marlies goals to come back and win the game. 

Cowan, in particular, is the prospect the Maple Leafs are most excited about. He’s a rookie in the American Hockey League, yet he doesn’t play like one. It helps that Cowan spent multiple games on the NHL team and developed with the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League, a team with a Memorial Cup or bust mentality. 

The Marlies have the centers to keep up with any top team, with Groulx, Shaw, and prospect Luke Haymes stepping up. However, the players who drive the play and make the rest of the Marlies better are on the wing. It’s not just Cowan and Lettieri, either; it’s the entire forward group that’s delivered and found offense from the position. It’s quite the contrast to how teams are built, notably the team they will face in the Eastern Conference Final. 

The Penguins' forward unit has prospects across the board, including Rutger McGroarty, Mikhail Ilyin, Ville Koivunen, and Avery Hayes. Yet, their centers drive the play and make everyone around them better. It starts with veteran Joona Koppanen on the top line, while a few prospects have stepped up on the other lines. 

One of those prospects is Tristan Broz, who leads the team with nine playoff points. Broz has been tasked with centering the Koivunen and Ilyin line, with McGroarty taking a few shifts alongside him as well. In short, there’s a lot of skill on his line, and it requires a playmaker at the center position who does it all. He’s not only stepped up as a playmaker, but he’s also made an impact in every facet of the game, something the NHL team has to be excited about. 

Broz isn’t the only do-it-all center for the Penguins, either. It’s been a message from the NHL team on down, especially since the only center spots available for the time being are the third and fourth lines (thanks to the Evgeni Malkin extension).

The fourth line is led by Bill Zonnon, a rookie center who only joined the team at the start of the previous round. Yet, Zonnon looks like the ideal center for what the NHL team is looking for, a big two-way player who can add scoring to the fourth line. With the rookie rounding out the forward unit, the Penguins can come at teams in waves, and they have throughout the playoffs. The 8-1 Game 5 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds was the exclamation point. 

Both the Marlies and the Penguins are possession-based teams. Specifically, they aren’t looking to generate 40 or more shots on the net and instead want to keep the puck out of their zone and wait for the good shots on the net. The opponent can’t score when they have the puck, and it’s why both teams value the puck. 

It’s why the defensemen who can carry the puck out of the defensive zone and set up the offense will make a significant impact in this series. The Marlies will ask William Villenueve to be the puck handler from the blue line, while the Penguins will hope prospect defenseman Harrisson Brunicke builds on an impressive playoff run where he’s set up the offense from the defensive zone. 

The other layer to this series is the ability to find and make the most of high-danger chances. The Marlies love to get to the crease and bury second or third chances. The Penguins move the puck around in the offensive zone and wait for their open look in the slot. For both defenses, it’s about protecting the interior and cleaning up loose pucks. 

The best way to answer this question is with a neutral opinion. Sure, the prediction can be that the series will be well-coached with multiple close games, and it goes the distance. But that’s not fun. 

This series ultimately favors the Penguins, and they should ultimately come out on top. They have the home ice advantage in this seven-game series. They have the edge in the net, or more accurately, the Marlies have a goaltender who is riding the momentum of a few strong starts in Artur Akhtyamov but the Penguins have a goaltender who will be in the NHL soon in Sergei Murashov. 

The Marlies will make this a tight series, and their head coach, John Gruden, will make adjustments. This is a team, after all, that was overlooked in the previous two matchups. So, they can pull off another upset but expect this to be an uphill battle against a Penguins team that has minimal weaknesses.