Marlies top Wolves 4-2 in Calder Cup Finals opener

“I actually thought we dictated the pace and controlled the game and chances,” Spiros Anastas said, but the scoreboard told a harsher truth for Chicago. The Wolves opened the 2026 Calder Cup Finals at Allstate Arena with a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Marlies on Friday night, and Game 1 made clear how quickly a championship series can punish even a competitive performance. Chicago is chasing its sixth league title and fourth Calder Cup, but now it must respond before Toronto turns a 1-0 lead into a grip on the series.

This was not a night where Chicago was overwhelmed. It was a night where small breakdowns produced a fatal sequence. Bradly Nadeau gave the Wolves the first punch at 11:24 of the opening period, finishing off assists from Ryan Suzuki and Justin Robidas for his sixth goal of the postseason. But Toronto answered before the period ended when Ben Danford scored his first professional goal at 17:45, a tying goal that changed the temperature of the game and signaled the Marlies were not going to be rattled by the road setting.

Chicago regained control early in the second period when Skyler Brind’Amour scored at 14:13 with help from Noel Gunler and Charles Alexis Legault. Again, the lead should have put the Wolves in command. Instead, Toronto kept coming, and Cédric Paré tied it at 19:10, a late-period response that shifted momentum squarely back to the Marlies. That was the second major hinge of the game: Chicago twice had the lead and twice let Toronto answer before the buzzer could settle things.

The final blow came from the player who has been Toronto’s postseason engine. Vinni Lettieri scored the winner with 8:28 left in regulation and then added an empty-net goal at 19:51. He entered the night leading the Calder Cup Playoffs with 10 goals and 20 points in 19 games, and he looked every bit like the finishing piece of a team built on depth, pace and confidence away from home. Toronto has now won five straight road games and improved its postseason road mark to 8-3, a sharp reminder that this run is no fluke.

Chicago got 21 saves from Amir Miftakhov, while Artur Akhtyamov stopped 26 for Toronto and improved to 12-6 in the playoffs. The Wolves had just survived a bruising Western Conference Finals, beating Colorado in Game 7 in Loveland after road wins in Games 6 and 7, and this opener showed the next adjustment must come in puck management and defensive-zone detail. Chicago can still steer the series, but Game 1 revealed the blueprint: stay attached early, erase the response goals, and protect the third-period margin before Toronto’s depth takes over.