AHL Morning Skate: April 21, 2026

A3-Charlotte Checkers vs. A6-Springfield Thunderbirds
Game 1 – Wednesday, 7:00 ET,

Game 1 - Wed., Apr. 22 - Springfield at Charlotte, 7:00
Game 2 - Fri., Apr. 24 - Springfield at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 3 - Sat., Apr. 25 - Springfield at Charlotte, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

A4-Bridgeport Islanders vs. A5-Hershey Bears
Game 1 – Tonight, 7:00 ET,

Game 1 - Tue., Apr. 21 - Hershey at Bridgeport, 7:00
Game 2 - Thu., Apr. 23 - Bridgeport at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 3 - Sat., Apr. 25 - Hershey at Bridgeport, 3:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

TONIGHT’S GAME NOTES:

• The 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs get underway tonight with Game 1 between the Bridgeport Islanders and the Hershey Bears
• These teams met four times over the final month of the regular season with Bridgeport winning all four, most recently a 2-1 victory on Saturday night
• A year after finishing with the worst home record in AHL history (4-28-1-3, .167), the Islanders were 21-12-1-2 at Total Mortgage Arena in 2025-26, closing out the regular season with a 10-game home winning streak
• Rookie Ilya Protas led the Bears – as well as all AHL rookies – in scoring with 29-37-66 this season
• Matt Luff (18-34-52), acquired by the Islanders from the St. Louis organization on Feb. 24, had 4-9-13 in 20 games with Bridgeport
• Bridgeport head coach Rocky Thompson played for the Bears in 2001-02
• Hershey assistant coach Brent Thompson was Bridgeport’s head coach in 2011-12 and again from 2014-23, winning 328 games

A1-Providence Bruins vs. TBD

A2-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins vs. TBD

N4-Toronto Marlies vs. N5-Rochester Americans
Game 1 – Wednesday, 7:00 ET,

Game 1 - Wed., Apr. 22 - Rochester at Toronto, 7:00
Game 2 - Fri., Apr. 24 - Toronto at Rochester, 7:05
*Game 3 - Sun., Apr. 26 - Rochester at Toronto, 4:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

N1-Laval Rocket vs. TOR-ROC winner

N2-Syracuse Crunch vs. N3-Cleveland Monsters
Game 1 – Friday, 7:00 ET,

Game 1 - Fri., Apr. 24 - Syracuse at Cleveland, 7:00
Game 2 - Sun., Apr. 26 - Syracuse at Cleveland, 4:00
Game 3 - Fri., May 1 - Cleveland at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 4 - Sun., May 3 - Cleveland at Syracuse, 3:00
*Game 5 - Sat., May 9 - Cleveland at Syracuse, 5:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C4-Manitoba Moose vs. C5-Milwaukee Admirals
Game 1 – Wednesday, 8:00 ET,

Game 1 - Wed., Apr. 22 - Milwaukee at Manitoba, 8:00
Game 2 - Fri., Apr. 24 - Milwaukee at Manitoba, 8:00
*Game 3 - Sun., Apr. 26 - Milwaukee at Manitoba, 3:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C1-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. MB-MIL winner

C2-Chicago Wolves vs. C3-Texas Stars
Game 1 – Apr. 28, 8:00 ET,

Game 1 - Tue., Apr. 28 - Chicago at Texas, 8:00
Game 2 - Thu., Apr. 30 - Chicago at Texas, 8:00
Game 3 - Sat., May 2 - Texas at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 4 - Sun., May 3 - Texas at Chicago, 4:00
*Game 5 - Tue., May 5 - Texas at Chicago, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

P2-Colorado Eagles vs. P7-San Diego Gulls
Game 1 – Wednesday, 9:05 ET,

Game 1 - Wed., Apr. 22 - San Diego at Colorado, 9:05
Game 2 - Fri., Apr. 24 - San Diego at Colorado, 9:05
*Game 3 - Sun., Apr. 26 - San Diego at Colorado, 5:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

P3-Henderson Silver Knights vs. P6-San Jose Barracuda
Game 1 – Wednesday, 10:00 ET,

Game 1 - Wed., Apr. 22 - San Jose at Henderson, 10:00
Game 2 - Fri., Apr. 24 - San Jose at Henderson, 10:00
*Game 3 - Sun., Apr. 26 - San Jose at Henderson, 6:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

P4-Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. P5-Bakersfield Condors
Game 1 – Thursday, 10:10 ET,

Game 1 - Thu., Apr. 23 - Coachella Valley at Bakersfield, 10:10
Game 2 - Sat., Apr. 25 - Bakersfield at Coachella Valley, 9:00
*Game 3 - Sun., Apr. 26 - Bakersfield at Coachella Valley, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

P1-Ontario Reign vs. TBD

TBD vs. TBD

with files from Patrick Williams

The Islanders’ farewell to Bridgeport will include playoff hockey on the shores of the Long Island Sound for the first time since 2022.

The New York Islanders’ AHL affiliate will move to Hamilton, Ont., in the fall after 25 seasons at Total Mortgage Arena. Between Bridgeport and New Haven, there has been AHL hockey in southern Connecticut for 61 of the AHL’s 90 years of operation.

Bridgeport came on strong late, winning 10 of its last 13 games to grab fourth place in the Atlantic Division. They were also 7-0-0 at home after the Mar. 31 announcement that the team was moving.

“It’s been a long year so far,” head coach Rocky Thompson said, “and a lot of hard work was put into it to get to this point from where we started. I give the guys a ton of credit. They persevered through a lot of adversity this year.”

Bridgeport won reached the Calder Cup Finals in its inaugural season in 2002 and reached the second round in 2003, but the franchise has just one series victory since then – a best-of-three sweep of Providence in 2022.

In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, Jordan Martinook scored 13:53 into the second overtime to give Carolina a 3-2 win over Ottawa and a 2-0 series lead... Logan Stankoven netted his second goal of the series for the Hurricanes... Linus Ullmark made 46 saves in defeat for the Senators... Dan Vladar stopped 27 shots and Garnet Hathaway had a goal and an assist in Philadelphia’s 3-0 win at Pittsburgh to take a 2-0 lead in that series... Jason Robertson scored the winning goal as Dallas defeated Minnesota, 4-2, to even their series at a game apiece... Kasperi Kapanen netted his second goal of the game with 1:54 remaining in regulation to send Edmonton to a 4-3 win over Anaheim in Game 1... Jason Dickinson also scored twice for the Oilers, while Troy Terry led the Ducks with two goals and an assist.