WBS Penguins vs Toronto Marlies 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs: Eastern Conference Finals Game 3

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins earn their first win of the Eastern Conference Final after besting the Toronto Marlies 5-3 on Monday night.

Toronto opened the scoring at 12:15 of the first period when Logan Shaw found Vincent Lettieri for his seventh goal of the postseason. The Penguins responded just over two minutes later on the power play. At 14:38, Avery McDonough buried his third playoff goal on the power play, assisted by Gab Klassen and Rutger McGroarty, to tie the game at 1-1 after one period.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would grab their first lead of the game at 2:06 of the second period when Aidan McDonough and Atley Calvert would set up Bill Zonnon for his fourth goal in just eight games played. Toronto would answer back at 17:36 with Luke Haymes scoring his second of the playoffs, assisted by Dakota Mermis and Landon Sim.

The Penguins would rattle off two goals in the first 10 minutes of play in the third period. The first goal came at 7:48 as Tristan Broz and Scooter Brickey assisted on Ville Koivunen’s fourth goal of the postseason. A little over two minutes later, Atley Calvert scored his third of the playoffs with help coming from Aidan McDonough and Bill Zonnon. Marc Johnstone would put the Marlies within one at 19:08 after a setup from Cédric Paré and Luke Haymes. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would finish off their scoring only 16 seconds later with an empty-net goal coming from Tanner Howe, assisted by Joona Koppanen. However, the action did not stop there at 19:48; a total of 42 penalty minutes would be assessed between the two teams.

Sergei Murashov was a key factor in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 5-3 victory, turning aside 36 of 39 shots to earn the win and first-star honors. The rookie netminder posted a .923 save percentage while playing all 60 minutes, consistently coming up with timely saves as Toronto outshot the Penguins 39-34. At the other end, Toronto goaltender Artur Akhtyamov stopped 29 of 33 shots over 57:50 before the Marlies pulled him for an extra attacker late in the third period. Akhtyamov finished with a .879 save percentage and was charged with four goals against, while the Penguins added an empty-net marker in the final minute to seal the 5-3 result.

Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final will be played Wednesday night back in Toronto at Coca-Cola Coliseum, with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

Lexis Woodard / Olde City Sports Network
Photos Credit / Melissa Molyneux / Olde City Sports Network