AHL Morning Skate: June 7, 2026

In Calder Cup Playoff history, when a best-of-seven series has been tied at two games apiece, the Game 5 winner has gone on to take the series 119 of 144 times (82.6 percent). Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Chicago will try to buck that trend as both conference finals resume in Game 6 this evening.

The Penguins host Toronto in Game 6 tonight (6:05 ET, ), but it is the Marlies who are one win away from capturing the Richard F. Canning Trophy after a 5-1 victory on Friday.

Bo Groulx (5-4-9), Easton Cowan (6-6-12) and Marshall Rifai (2-3-5) all had a goal and an assist for Toronto in Game 5 while Artur Akhtyamov (10-6, 2.23, .923) stopped 32 of 33 shots.

The Marlies recorded five unanswered goals after Wilkes-Barre/Scranton opened the scoring on a power-play goal by Mikhail Ilyin (2-7-9) 6:22 into the second period. The team scoring first has lost four of the first five games in the series.

Landon Sim (1-1-2) got the comeback going with a goal just 49 seconds after the Marlies had fallen behind.

“He’s been a breath of fresh air for us,” head coach John Gruden said of the 21-year-old rookie. “He brings a lot of jam, a lot of energy, and he’s making plays and doing his job.”

Carrying a one-goal lead into the third period, the Marlies broke it open with goals 1:16 apart by Cowan and Logan Shaw (7-8-15).

“Our guys understand what’s at stake,” Gruden said after Game 5. “We’ve let the foot off the gas a few times and it’s caught up to us. They weren’t going to be denied tonight. They did a great job sticking to the game plan and taking care of business.”

The Penguins will be looking to snap a six-game home losing streak to the Marlies. They have not defeated Toronto at Mohegan Arena since Jan. 22, 2022; current Marlie Alex Nylander scored for the Pens in overtime that night.

“We knew coming here (to Toronto), we needed to get two,” Penguins forward Tanner Howe told Kelsey Surmacz of The Hockey News. “We did that. We’re going back home, and there’s nowhere else we’d want to play these last two games.”

Quick Hits:

With defensemen Finn Harding, Alex Alexeyev, Sebastian Aho and captain Phil Kemp all out of the lineup, Emil Pieniniemi and David Breazeale made their Calder Cup Playoff debuts for the Penguins in Game 5.
Toronto’s William Villeneuve (2-14-16) has a seven-game scoring streak entering Game 6, and his 16 playoff points are the most by a defenseman in the Calder Cup Playoffs since Coachella Valley’s Ryker Evans posted 26 points in 26 games in 2023.
The Marlies are 5-for-13 (38.5 percent) on the power play in the series after the Penguins had killed off 22 of 25 chances in their first two rounds against Hershey and Springfield.

Over in the Western Conference, Colorado returns home with a 3-2 series lead and a chance to win their first Robert W. Clarke Trophy tonight (8:05 ET, ).

The Eagles erased 2-0 and 3-2 deficits on Friday and rolled to a 7-3 victory – their biggest offensive output since a 7-4 win over Calgary back on opening night in October.

Tristen Nielsen (10-5-15) scored twice for Colorado to assume the AHL lead with 10 goals this postseason. Matt DiMarsico (2-2-4), Taylor Makar (2-3-5) and Chase Bradley (5-4-9) scored in a span of 2:58 early in the second period to give the Eagles the lead for good.

Makar’s goal was the first shorthanded tally by Colorado in these playoffs.

T.J. Tynan (2-12-14) and T.J. Hughes (4-8-12) each recorded two assists in Game 5 and Trent Miner (11-4, 1.64, .932) made 26 saves as the Eagles earned their fifth come-from-behind victory of the playoffs.

Skyler Brind’Amour (1-2-3), Justin Robidas (6-5-11) and Bradly Nadeau (4-9-13) scored for Chicago, which was without regular-season scoring leader Felix Unger Sörum for the third game in a row.

Cayden Primeau (8-6, 2.58, .919), making his 14th consecutive start of the postseason and 15th straight overall, finished the night with 20 stops on 26 shots; Amir Miftakhov (0 GA, 4 saves) would make his first appearance of the postseason in relief. The Eagles’ seven goals matched the most ever allowed by the Wolves in a Calder Cup Playoff game.

“Everybody, physically, is going through it a little bit,” Wolves defenseman Ronan Seeley said. “It’s playoffs. It’s fun… The emotions are high. It’s more pressure but that’s why we play.”

Quick Hits:

Colorado has outshot its opponents in 13 of 14 games this postseason, including all five games of the conference finals.
Tristen Nielsen has seven multi-point games for the Eagles during these playoffs.
Skyler Brind’Amour ended a 17-game drought with his goal for the Wolves on Friday. It was his first tally since Apr. 1 at Iowa.
Defenseman Wyatt Aamodt is the only one of the Eagles’ 18 skaters without a point in the series.