AHL Morning Skate: April 26, 2025

A3-Providence Bruins vs. A6-Springfield Thunderbirds
Game 3 – Sunday, 3:05 ET,
(Series tied, 1-1)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 23 – Springfield 2, PROVIDENCE 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 25 – Providence 1, SPRINGFIELD 0 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 27 – Springfield at Providence, 3:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

A4-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins vs. A5-Lehigh Valley Phantoms
(Lehigh Valley wins series, 2-0)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 23 – Lehigh Valley 5, W-B/SCRANTON 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 25 – LEHIGH VALLEY 3, W-B/Scranton 2 | Recap

A1-Hershey Bears vs. TBD

A2-Charlotte Checkers vs. TBD

Game 1 - Charlotte at TBD
Game 2 - Charlotte at TBD
Game 3 - Wed., May 7 - TBD at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 4 - Fri., May 9 - TBD at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 5 - Sun., May 11 - TBD at Charlotte, 3:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

N4-Toronto Marlies vs. N5-Cleveland Monsters
Game 2 – Today, 4:00 ET,
(Cleveland leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Thu., Apr. 24 – CLEVELAND 4, Toronto 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Cleveland at Toronto, 4:00
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 27 – Cleveland at Toronto, 4:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
The North Division first-round series between Toronto and Cleveland heads to Coca-Cola Coliseum this afternoon for Game 2... Luca Pinelli scored his first two professional goals, including the game-winner at 9:42 of overtime, to give the Monsters a 4-3 victory in the opener on Thursday... Pinelli, a fourth-round draft pick by Columbus in 2023, had two assists in three regular-season games for Cleveland after completing his junior season with Ottawa (OHL)... Rookie defenseman Denton Mateychuk had a goal and an assist in his return to the Monsters lineup after spending the final four months of the regular season with the Blue Jackets... Jet Greaves, who also finished the regular season with Columbus, made 25 saves to improve to a remarkable 15-0-0 in his career against the Marlies... Toronto trailed, 3-1, before their Second Team AHL All-Star forward Alex Steeves scored twice in the final 3:11 of regulation to force overtime... Former Blue Jacket Alex Nylander also scored for the Marlies, and William Villeneuve had a pair of assists in his first pro playoff game... Toronto is 10-4 all-time on home ice when facing playoff elimination, including a Game 2 win over Belleville in last year’s first-round series.

N1-Laval Rocket vs. TOR-CLE winner

N2-Rochester Americans vs. N3-Syracuse Crunch
Game 2– Sunday, 3:05 ET,
(Rochester leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – ROCHESTER 3, Syracuse 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 27 – Syracuse at Rochester, 3:05
Game 3 – Thu., May 1 – Rochester at Syracuse, 7:00
Game 4 – Sat., May 3 – Rochester at Syracuse, 7:00
Game 5 – Fri., May 9 – Syracuse at Rochester, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C4-Chicago Wolves vs. C5-Rockford IceHogs
(Rockford wins series, 2-0)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 23 – Rockford 2, CHICAGO 1 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 25 – ROCKFORD 5, Chicago 0 | Recap

C1-Milwaukee Admirals vs. C5-Rockford IceHogs
Game 1 – Thursday, 8:00 ET,

Game 1 – Thu., May 1 – Rockford at Milwaukee, 8:00
Game 2 – Sat., May 3 – Rockford at Milwaukee, 7:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 7 – Milwaukee at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 9 – Milwaukee at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 11 – Rockford at Milwaukee, 5:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C2-Texas Stars vs. C3-Grand Rapids Griffins
Game 1 – Tuesday, 7:00 ET,

Game 1 – Tue., Apr. 29 – Texas at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 2 – Mon., May 5 – Texas at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 3 – Fri., May 9 – Grand Rapids at Texas, 8:00
*Game 4 – Sat., May 10 – Grand Rapids at Texas, 8:00
*Game 5 – Mon., May 12 – Grand Rapids at Texas, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

P2-Abbotsford Canucks vs. P7-Tucson Roadrunners
Game 3 – Tonight, 10:00 ET,
(Series tied, 1-1)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 23 – ABBOTSFORD 4, Tucson 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Thu., Apr. 24 – Tucson 4, ABBOTSFORD 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Tucson at Abbotsford, 10:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
The first winner-take-all game of the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs takes place in Abbotsford tonight as the Canucks and Roadrunners meet for the right to advance to the division semifinals... Tucson got a 38-save performance from Jaxson Stauber and a three-point night from Ben McCartney to even the series with a 4-1 win on Thursday... McCartney posted two goals and an assist and the Roadrunners also got goals from Andrew Agozzino and Kailer Yamamoto in building a 3-0 lead... Stauber, who backed up Matt Villalta in Game 1, stopped all 31 shots he faced over the first two periods and earned his first career postseason victory... Linus Karlsson got the Canucks on the board 2:54 into the third period of Game 2 with his second goal of the series... Artūrs Šilovs turned aside 28 of 31 shots for the Canucks on Thursday... Abbotsford is 2-for-11 on the power play in the series so far, while Tucson is 0-for-6... This will be the Canucks’ second winner-take-all game in the Calder Cup Playoffs; they defeated Colorado, 2-1 in overtime, in a Game 3 of last year’s first round... Tucson lost a decisive Game 3 at Coachella Valley in 2023.

P3-Ontario Reign vs. P6-San Jose Barracuda
Game 2 – Tonight, 9:00 ET,
(San Jose leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Thu., Apr. 24 – San Jose 2, ONTARIO 0 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – San Jose vs. Ontario, 9:00 (at Los Angeles, Calif.)
*Game 3 – Mon., Apr. 28 – San Jose at Ontario, 10:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
After shutting down the Reign in Game 1, San Jose can close out Ontario with another victory in Game 2 tonight at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles... The Barracuda got third-period goals from Pavol Regenda and Filip Bystedt and 17 saves from Yaroslav Askarov to secure a 2-0 win in Thursday’s series opener... Regenda, making his playoff debut, redirected a wrister from defenseman Ethan Frisch to snap a scoreless tie with 12:40 to go in regulation of Game 1... Bystedt followed just 1:18 later to give San Jose a two-goal cushion... AHL All-Rookie defenseman Luca Cagnoni assisted on both Barracuda goals in Game 1... For Askarov, it was his first shutout in 18 career postseason appearances and his second shutout of the Reign this season, having blanked Ontario on opening night, Oct. 12... Pheonix Copley stopped 23 of 25 shots in net for the Reign, who were shut out in a playoff game for the first time since a 1-0 loss to Texas on Apr. 24, 2018... San Jose was without their two top-scoring forwards in Game 1, as Andrew Poturalski and Danil Gushchin were both missing from the lineup; that duo combined for 58 goals and 124 points during the regular season... The Reign are 1-7 all-time when facing postseason elimination; their only win came vs. San Diego on May 1, 2017.

P4-Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. P5-Calgary Wranglers
Game 2 – Tonight, 9:00 ET,
(Coachella Valley leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Tue., Apr. 22 – COACHELLA VALLEY 4, Calgary 3 (3OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Calgary at Coachella Valley, 9:00
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 27 – Calgary at Coachella Valley, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
The Firebirds and Wranglers resume their series at Acrisure Arena tonight... The teams have had plenty of time to recover after Tuesday’s triple-overtime affair, which ended after four and a half hours on Mitchell Stephens’ goal 2:00 into the sixth period... Stephens’ game-winner, his second goal of the night, salvaged the victory for Coachella Valley after Calgary had erased a three-goal deficit in the third period... John Hayden, who led the Firebirds with nine goals in last year’s playoffs, opened the scoring in Game 1 just 3:39 into the contest... Brandon Biro, made it 2-0 less than four minutes later; Biro had scored just one goal over his final 30 games during the regular season... After Stephens gave the Firebirds a 3-0 lead, the Wranglers got goals from Dryden Hunt, Lucas Ciona and Rory Kerins in the final frame, with the equalizer coming with 7.0 seconds left on the clock... AHL All-Rookie goaltender Nikke Kokko made 36 saves in the win for Coachella Valley... Waltteri Ignatjew finished with 46 stops for Calgary... The Firebirds are now 4-5 in playoff overtime games – 4-0 against the Wranglers, and 0-5 against the rest of the AHL.

P1-Colorado Eagles vs. TBD

TBD vs. TBD

The Cleveland Monsters had to sweat out their Game 1 win Thursday night against the Toronto Marlies. But giving up two late goals and having to pull out the win in overtime were not about to shake head coach Trent Vogelhuber.

Vogelhuber led his team to overtime of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last June after they had lost the first three games of the series to Hershey. He saw the many highs and lows – be they period-to-period, game-to-game, or series-to-series – that come with a team making its way through the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Vogelhuber believes that playoff hockey is process-oriented, not results-oriented.

“Managing ups and downs,” he said after the Game 1 victory over Toronto. “When you manage your emotions, and you don’t base what you’re doing off the result, you end up on the better side. It’s easy to talk about it, but putting it in practice is different. You just keep going, and you don’t worry about the result. You keep playing and stay about your business.”

Cleveland benefited from the return of defenseman Denton Mateychuk for Game 1. The 20-year-old rookie, taken 12th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, had an exceptional start with the Monsters this season before his December recall to Columbus. He made his pro debut for Cleveland during last year’s conference finals.

Mateychuk has experience beyond his years, including the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Memorial Cup and World Junior Championships – to say nothing of his 45 games in the NHL this season.

“The guys in the room... It wasn’t getting down on ourselves,” Mateychuk told reporters after Game 1. “It was, ‘Let’s go out there and get it back.’ It was a really positive message, and I think that sets you up well for that overtime.”

San Jose Barracuda head coach John McCarthy provided quite the understatement Thursday night.

“I thought we executed the game plan pretty well,” he said following a 2-0 masterpiece road victory against Ontario in Game 1 of the teams’ first-round series.

The Barracuda held Ontario to 17 shots on goal, including just one in the third period. When Ontario did manage to generate opportunities, the Barracuda had Yaroslav Askarov to handle any trouble. Playoff hockey is nothing new to Askarov, who reached the conference finals with Milwaukee in 2023 and again in 2024. Gaining more big-game experience can mean dealing with a busy night in net. Or it can mean adjusting to something much quieter like Game 1.

“We took care of the puck,” McCarthy continued. “I thought we played tight. I thought our gaps were tight. I thought we tracked well, took care of the puck, no unnecessary turnovers. I thought we played well, played with passion.”

The Reign picked up some potential postseason help Friday when the Los Angeles Kings reassigned 2024 first-round pick Liam Greentree to the team.

Greentree, a 19-year-old forward, went to the Kings with the 26th overall pick in last June’s NHL Draft. He had an outstanding season with Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League, where his 119 points (49 goals, 70 assists) in 64 regular-season games placed him third in OHL scoring. He added a league-leading 14 goals in 11 playoff games before Windsor was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs this week.

― with files from Patrick Williams

In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, 2025 AHL All-Star defenseman Simon Nemec scored his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal at 2:36 of double overtime to give New Jersey a 3-2 win over Carolina... Cole Caufield notched a goal and an assist and Jakub Dobeš got the win in relief of an injured Sam Montembeault as Montreal doubled up Washington, 6-3... Former AHL All-Stars Evan Bouchard and Connor Brown each scored twice to lift Edmonton to a 7-4 win over Los Angeles.