Marlies aim to finish Penguins, Colorado-Chicago series resets at 1-1
Toronto can turn a 2-0 lead into a chokehold with another clutch Pezzetta night, while Colorado and Chicago hit Rosemont tied 1-1 after two games defined by late goals.
Toronto brought the real leverage home with it. The Marlies opened the Eastern Conference Finals with back-to-back road wins over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and Game 3 is the kind of night that can turn a tight series into a climb too steep for the Penguins. Michael Pezzetta has been the difference so far, burying the winner with 1:36 left in regulation in Game 1 and then ending Game 2 in overtime to give Toronto a 2-1 edge and a 2-0 series lead.
The hook for Toronto is not just the score line, but the split in the matchup. In John Gruden’s three seasons behind the Marlies bench, Toronto is 5-0 in Wilkes-Barre and 0-3 at home against the Penguins. That is the odd shape of this series: the Marlies have owned the rink in Pennsylvania, but now they have to prove they can close out the one building where that edge has not traveled with them. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton also had the best road regular-season mark in franchise history at 25-7-3-1, and the Penguins have won three of four road games in these playoffs, so this is no dead team walking into Toronto.
Toronto’s late-game profile is the other number that matters. William Villeneuve has a four-game point streak, and the Marlies are 10-0 in the postseason when he records a point. When he does not, they are 0-5. Add in Toronto’s 12 third-period goals over its last seven games, plus the series-clinching goal with 11.3 seconds left in Game 5 against Cleveland, and the pattern is clear: this group keeps finding a way when the clock starts to squeeze. Marc Johnstone, back after missing four games, helped set up Pezzetta’s Game 1 winner after two seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton from 2023 to 2025.
Out West, Colorado and Chicago walked into Game 3 tied 1-1, and the tone of the series has already been set by special teams and late pressure. The Wolves took Game 1, 3-2, behind a 3-for-5 power play and 35 saves from Cayden Primeau. Colorado answered in Game 2, 5-2, with two goals in 52 seconds late in the third period to flip the game and head to Rosemont with the series even. Chicago has already banked six one-goal playoff wins, which tells you how thin the margin is whenever the Wolves get the game into a one-shot fight.
There was even a reminder beyond the playoff bracket that the AHL’s prospects are never far from the biggest stage. Konsta Helenius scored Finland’s golden goal at 10:42 of the first overtime in a 1-0 win over Switzerland, and Finland claimed its third world title in the last seven tournaments. For a league built on what comes next, that was a clean reminder that the same names driving these series can show up anywhere.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
