The unpredictable 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs took another turn last night as the Chicago Wolves came from two goals down in the third period to beat the Toronto Marlies 4-3 in overtime to avoid a sweep and advance the Calder Cup finals to Game 5 tonight at Coca-Cola Arena (7 p.m. ET,
, Sportsnet 360, NHL Network, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio).
Dominic Fenthal (4-2-6) and Justin Robidas (7-9-16) The third quarter started with a tying score 65 seconds apart. Victor Nyuchev (2-4-6) converted 3:18 into overtime to give the Wolves their fourth playoff win as they faced elimination.
At 3-0 after three games in the 25-game Finals series, Chicago is the eighth team to force a Game 5 and the second team to avoid a sweep by winning Game 4 on the road; in 2013, Syracuse won Games 4 and 5 in Grand Rapids but lost in Game 6.
‘Our approach is a Game 7 mentality,’ Wolves coach Spiros Anastas explain. “We’re 4-0 in the knockout rounds. This is who we are. This is our team. We’re not going to give up; we’re going to fight back.”
Bradley Nadeau (7-10-17) Just 28 seconds into last night’s game, the Wolves took a 1-0 lead. It was the fastest goal to start a Finals game since Syracuse Kevin Lynch Scored 17 seconds into Game 5 of 2017.
Chicago then withstood the Raptors’ attack, and Toronto had 15 shots on goal in the first 9 minutes and 58 seconds of the game to take a 2-1 goal-scoring lead. Jacob Quinlan (2-6-8) and Luke Hyams (4-8-12). Kayden Primo (9-8, 2.65, .916) made 19 of 33 saves in the first period and now has a .906 save percentage in three starts since returning to the crease in Game 2.
“We are behind our leaders (Felix Unger Sorum) at the beginning of the series, we lost our starting goaltender,” Anastas said.”[Primeau] Back, but he’s coming back from injury…I think he’s still shaking off some rust. But he made some big saves. As the series gets longer the rust will come off more and it will be more dangerous for us. “
Ryan Twilberg (6-7-13) Late in the second quarter, the Marlies extended their lead to 3-1. William Villeneuve (2-19-21) had two more assists for Toronto — his 19 assists are tied for third-most by a defenseman in Calder Cup playoff history — and Vinny Lettieri (10-15-25) Scored eighth point in the series and received an assist.
“(The game) turned around in the first five minutes of the third quarter,” Marris head coach John Gruden explain. “We followed that up and they grabbed the momentum. To be up two goals in Game 3, you have to be at your absolute best. We have to learn from that and make sure if we’re in this situation, it doesn’t happen again.”
Artur Akhtyamov (14-7, 2.18, .924) The Marlies stopped 22 of 26 shots and allowed four goals for the second time in the series.
“He’s been great for us. We’re going to do better with him in front of us,” Gruden said. “It’s nice that we can go right back. There’s no time to think about it. We can fix it pretty quickly. It’s going to be a good game.”
“That’s the fun part,” Anastas said. “When you play on June 18, you learn more and more every game, so we hope that can be turned to our advantage.”
Quick click:
- The attendance at Coca-Cola Arena last night was 8,401. For the third consecutive year, the AHL welcomed more than 7.3 million fans (regular season and playoffs combined).
- Of the 18 overtime games in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, road teams have won 14.
- With his assist to tie the game last night, Chicago Ryan Suzuki (5-12-17) The Wolves have seven points in four elimination games this postseason (4-3-7).
- Nadeau, Finthal and Robidas – the Wolves’ regular-season scorers last night – are also Chicago’s three representatives in the AHL All-Star Classic in February.
- Toronto’s 21 shots on goal in Game 1 were the most in an opening period of the Finals since 2014, when the St. John’s Ice Caps took 21 shots in Game 4 against Texas.
- Last night’s game was the 11th time this postseason that a team won after trailing by at least two goals. Chicago won three of those games.
- The Marlies (1-for-12) scored their first power play of the series in Game 4. The Wolves were also 1-for-12.
- Chicago won 2-1 in the second game of a back-to-back this postseason. Toronto is playing back-to-back games for the first time in the playoffs.
- Toronto and Chicago are now both trying to become the sixth team in AHL history to capture the Calder Cup after winning as many as four elimination games, joining the 2002 Chicago Wolves (four games), 2000 Hartford Wolves (five games), 1997 Hershey Bears (five games), 1989 Adirondack Red Wings (four games) and 1949 Providence Red Wings (four games).
