The Toronto Marlies secured a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday with a stunning 3-2 win over the Cleveland Monsters in the deciding Game 5 of the teams’ North Division finals series.
Toronto advances to face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals, with Game 1 set for Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre. It will be the Marlies’ seventh conference finals appearance – the first since 2019.
Easton Cowan scored the winning goal with 11.3 seconds left in regulation, after captain Logan Shaw had tied the game with 4:30 remaining.
Stationed at the side of the net, Cowan converted a tap-in after Vinni Lettieri partially fanned on a shot in front. Lettieri finished the afternoon with three points, also assisting on Shaw’s equalizer after scoring his sixth goal of the playoffs back in the first period.
Toronto, which also trailed by a goal entering the third period of Game 5 at Laval in the division semifinals, won its third winner-take-all game of this postseason. Artur Akhtyamov (7-4) made 22 saves in the victory.
Zach Aston-Reese and Hudson Fasching scored for Cleveland, and Zach Sawchenko (5-3) finished with 21 stops.
Attendance at Rocket Arena was 12,090.
(Toronto wins series, 3-2)
Game 1 – Thu., May 14 – Toronto 5, CLEVELAND 2
Game 2 – Sat., May 16 – CLEVELAND 3, Toronto 1
Game 3 – Wed., May 20 – Cleveland 4, TORONTO 0
Game 4 – Fri., May 22 – TORONTO 5, Cleveland 2
Game 5 – Sun., May 24 – Toronto 3, CLEVELAND 2
