Laval forces decisive Game 5 after shutout win evens series

Laval’s 4-0 road shutout in Game 4 changed everything, dragging a series that had been tilted by Toronto’s six-goal outburst back into a winner-take-all Game 5 at Place Bell. Kaapo Kähkönen stopped all 18 shots in that rebound performance, Samuel Blais scored twice, Laurent Dauphin added a shorthanded goal and an assist, and Alex Belzile opened the scoring 46 seconds in as the Rocket turned a tense semifinal into a one-night referendum on momentum.

That Game 4 result mattered because Toronto had arrived there with real offensive heat, scoring 12 goals over the previous two games before being blanked at home for the first time since Jan. 1, 2025. Laval outshot the Marlies 32-18, and the shutout was Kähkönen’s second career playoff blanking and his first of the 2025-26 season. For a club trying to survive on the road, the Rocket also got Adam Engström back in the lineup after he was loaned from the Montréal Canadiens on May 4, giving Laval another puck-moving defenseman after he led the team’s blue line with 34 points in 45 AHL games.

The pressure on Toronto in Game 5 was obvious before the puck dropped. The Marlies had entered the decisive night with a 6-4 record all-time in winner-take-all games, but they were 0-4 on the road in those situations, while Laval was 2-1 in such games entering the contest. Toronto also had a player who had already delivered in a championship moment in Jacob Quillan, who scored the overtime winner 10 seconds into the title game when Quinnipiac won the 2023 NCAA men’s hockey championship.

That pedigree carried into the final chapter. Toronto won Game 5, 3-2, on May 9 at Place Bell, with Vinni Lettieri scoring the winner with 9:38 left in regulation to send the Marlies on to the next round. The victory flipped the bracket immediately, sending Toronto on to face Cleveland beginning Thursday night and ending Laval’s bid to turn its Game 4 shutout into a full-series comeback.