A1-Hershey Bears vs. A6-Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Game 4 – Saturday, 7:05 ET, 
(Hershey leads series, 2-1)
Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – HERSHEY 2, Lehigh Valley 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 4 – HERSHEY 5, Lehigh Valley 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – LEHIGH VALLEY 2, Hershey 0 | Recap
Game 4 – Sat., May 11 – Hershey at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Lehigh Valley at Hershey, 7:00
*if necessary... All times Eastern
A2-Providence Bruins vs. A5-Hartford Wolf Pack
Game 4 – Friday, 7:00 ET,
(Hartford leads series, 2-1)
Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – Hartford 4, PROVIDENCE 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 3 – PROVIDENCE 6, Hartford 0 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – HARTFORD 3, Providence 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Providence at Hartford, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Hartford at Providence, 3:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
N1-Cleveland Monsters vs. N4-Belleville Senators
Game 4 – Friday, 7:00 ET,
(Cleveland leads series, 2-1)
Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – BELLEVILLE 2, Cleveland 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 3 – Cleveland 4, BELLEVILLE 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – CLEVELAND 3, Belleville 2 (2OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Belleville at Cleveland, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Belleville at Cleveland, 3:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
N2-Rochester Americans vs. N3-Syracuse Crunch
Game 5 – Friday, 7:05 ET,
(Series tied, 2-2)
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 26 – ROCHESTER 3, Syracuse 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Syracuse 4, ROCHESTER 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Thu., May 2 – SYRACUSE 2, Rochester 1 (2OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Sat., May 4 – Rochester 4, SYRACUSE 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Syracuse at Rochester, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
C1-Milwaukee Admirals vs. C4-Texas Stars
Game 4 – Friday, 8:00 ET,
(Texas leads series, 2-1)
Game 1 – Thu., May 2 – TEXAS 6, Milwaukee 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 4 – TEXAS 4, Milwaukee 1 | Recap
Game 3 –Wed., May 8 – MILWAUKEE 5, Texas 3 | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Texas at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Texas at Milwaukee, 6:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
C2-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. C3-Rockford IceHogs
(Grand Rapids wins series, 3-1)
Game 1 – Sat., Apr. 27 – Grand Rapids 3, ROCKFORD 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Wed., May 1 – Rockford 5, GRAND RAPIDS 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Fri., May 3 – GRAND RAPIDS 4, Rockford 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Sun., May 5 – Grand Rapids 4, ROCKFORD 2 | Recap
P1-Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. P7-Calgary Wranglers
Game 4 – Friday, 10:00 ET,
(Coachella Valley leads series, 2-1)
Game 1 – Fri., May 3 – CALGARY 4, Coachella Valley 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 5 – Coachella Valley 4, CALGARY 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – COACHELLA VALLEY 7, Calgary 5 | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Calgary at Coachella Valley, 10:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Calgary at Coachella Valley, 6:00
*if necessary... All times Eastern
P3-Ontario Reign vs. P5-Abbotsford Canucks
(Ontario wins series, 3-0)
Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – ONTARIO 3, Abbotsford 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 5 – ONTARIO 4, Abbotsford 0 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – Ontario 4, ABBOTSFORD 3 | Recap
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms will allow themselves to savor this one, but only briefly.
The Phantoms fought off elimination against the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears last night, taking a 2-0 win in Game 3 of the teams’ best-of-five Atlantic Division semifinal series at PPL Center. The series resumes Friday with Hershey still up two games to one.
Speaking to reporters about the Bears after the game, Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere said, “They’re never out of it. You’re never comfortable when you coach against them.”
While Hershey had their Calder Cup Playoff berth clinched six weeks before the end of the regular season, Lehigh Valley had to scramble until the final weekend before finally securing their ticket with a sixth-place finish in the Atlantic Division. The Phantoms then eliminated third-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in a two-game sweep.
A series win over the Bears would be the biggest upset in Calder Cup Playoff history in terms of regular-season records. The Phantoms finished 38 points behind Hershey in the standings.
“We have no pressure,” Laperriere emphasized. “Yes, we want to win. Don’t mistake [that]. We do want to win. But there’s no pressure.”
The Cleveland Monsters have built a certain level of comfort playing tight games, and that familiarity has allowed them to take back-to-back overtime decisions in their North Division semifinal against Belleville. Last night’s 3-2 win in double overtime gives the Monsters an opportunity to close out the series in Game 4 on Friday.
Cleveland was 21-4-5-3 in one-goal contests during the regular season.
“Just finding ways,” Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber said to reporters after Owen Sillinger’s goal secured last night’s win. “I think that’s what we’ve done all year. We’ve been in tight one-goal games all year and more often than not have found ways to win. They’re comfortable in these situations, and now having a couple of overtime winners just helps grow that confidence.”
The Providence Bruins received a crucial piece of their lineup back this morning as the Boston Bruins returned veteran forward Patrick Brown.
Brown played the first two games of Providence’s division semifinal series with Hartford, totaling a goal and two assists, before being recalled by Boston on Monday and skating in the NHL club’s Game 1 win at Florida.
Brown, who captained Charlotte to the 2019 Calder Cup championship, split this season between Boston and Providence after signing as a free agent last summer.
Without Brown last night, Providence dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Wolf Pack in Game 3, falling behind two games to one in the best-of-five series.
Milwaukee Admirals captain Kevin Gravel does not show up on the scoresheet often, but his coaches and teammates recognize the veteran defenseman’s value.
The Admirals had to open their postseason without their captain after Gravel was recalled by the Nashville Predators. But after Nashville was eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs last Friday night, Gravel – along with forward Juuso Parssinen – headed to Texas to join their Admirals teammates.
Facing elimination in Game 3 back home last night, Gravel was his usual reliable self on the Milwaukee back end. The 10th-year pro, who won a Calder Cup with the Manchester Monarchs as a rookie in 2015, also chipped in an assist on Roland McKeown’s shorthanded goal, and was named the game’s third star in a 5-3 victory.
“You see why we missed him in the first game,” Admirals head coach Karl Taylor told reporters after last night’s win. “He was a big force defensively taking care of our net-front but also making good outlet plays.”
This is what the Ontario Reign wanted to see from themselves.
Ontario fell behind 2-0 in Game 3 of their Pacific Division semifinal series against Abbotsford last night, then pushed back a big second period and eventually eliminated the Canucks with a 4-3 win.
Defenseman Joe Hicketts, a Calder Cup winner with Grand Rapids in 2017, assisted on two of the Reign’s three goals in an 81-second span that turned a two-goal deficit into a 3-2 lead.
“We learned that when we want to play our way, we’re going to be a tough team to (knock) out,” Hicketts told reporters after the win. “When we got to putting pucks in and not screwing around in the neutral zone with it, playing fast, playing physical, we took over the game. We got pucks, we got bodies to the paint, and we were rewarded with four goals there.”
― with files from Patrick Williams
In Wednesday’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, Dakota Joshua notched a goal and two assists and Conor Garland scored the winning goal with 5:34 remaining as Vancouver rallied past Edmonton, 5-4... Joshua reached the Calder Cup Finals with Springfield in 2022, recording 15 points in 18 playoff games that spring... Brandon Montour tallied a goal and two assists to help Florida to a 6-1 win over Boston in Game 2 of their series... In addition to playing the AHL All-Star Classic in 2016 and 2017, Montour was voted a First Team AHL All-Star as a rookie with San Diego in 2015-16.
Watch the Calder Cup Playoffs on AHLTV
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2024 Calder Cup championship. AHLTV features live streaming of every AHL game in high definition on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices, as well as OTT platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. A subscription is just $29.99 to watch every game for the entire postseason, or just $8.99 for a day pass. Visit AHLTV.com for details.
