AHL Morning Skate: June 2, 2025

N1-Laval Rocket vs. A2-Charlotte Checkers
Game 4 – Tuesday, 7:00 ET,
(Charlotte leads series, 3-0)

Game 1 – Wed., May 28 – Charlotte 5, LAVAL 1 | Recap/Highlights
Game 2 – Thu., May 29 – Charlotte 5, LAVAL 2 | Recap/Highlights
Game 3 – Sun., June 1 – CHARLOTTE 5, Laval 1 | Recap/Highlights
Game 4 – Tue., June 3 – Laval at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 5 – Thu., June 5 – Laval at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 6 – Sat., June 7 – Charlotte at Laval, 3:00
*Game 7 – Sun., June 8 – Charlotte at Laval, 3:00
*if necessary... All times Eastern

GAME NOTES:
The Western Conference Finals resume tonight in Cedar Park with the Stars looking to get in the win column on home ice... Artūrs Šilovs made 26 saves for his fifth shutout of the playoffs on Saturday, backstopping the Canucks to a 1-0 win and a 2-0 series lead... Šilovs (10-3, 1.61, .941) is one shy of the AHL record for shutouts in a single postseason, set by Rochester’s Mika Noronen in 2000... Defenseman Akito Hirose (1-3-4) score the only goal of Game 2 with 12:21 remaining in regulation... Linus Karlsson (7-6-13) and Arshdeep Bains (0-9-9) assisted on the Hirose tally; both have points in three straight games... Abbotsford was 4-for-4 on the penalty kill in Game 2, improving to 39-for-40 (97.5 percent) on the postseason... Remi Poirier (4-3, 1.89, .933) made 28 saves for Texas but lost in regulation for the first time in these playoffs... Poirier has a 1.71 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage over his last five starts... The Stars were blanked four times during the regular season; they followed each of those shutouts with a win in their next game... With five shutouts in 14 playoff games, Abbotsford has matched its total from 72 regular-season contests... After scoring 27 goals in their first six postseason games – including at least four in each contest – the Stars have totaled just six goals in their last four outings... The Canucks have won 26 of their last 32 games going back to Mar. 8, and 13 of 15 on the road since the beginning of March... Twenty-five teams in AHL history have won a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games, most recently Hershey in the 2023 Calder Cup Finals vs. Coachella Valley.

The Canucks have set themselves up very well going into Game 3 tonight in Cedar Park.

Having taken back-to-back home wins, Abbotsford’s task of reaching the Calder Cup Finals is half-done. Now comes the next stage, which will be trying to take those final two victories as they face what could be as many as three games at Texas this week.

The Canucks have a 2-0 series lead, but this series has been exceptionally tight. After going to overtime in Game 1, the teams took a much more careful, deliberate approach in Game 2, with Abbotsford prevailing 1-0.

Artūrs Šilovs posted his fifth playoff shutout in Saturday night’s victory. In all, Šilovs has stopped 62 of 64 shots in the series.

“He has made it pretty clear that it’s going to be challenging to beat him,” forward Arshdeep Bains said.

Defenseman Alex Petrovic cleared waivers on Sunday and was assigned to Texas, where he collected 25 points in 58 regular-season games before becoming a regular on the Dallas blue line during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The 13th-year pro is a familiar face for head coach Neil Graham, having spent four seasons in Cedar Park. He was last in the Texas lineup on Apr. 6.

With Sunday being a travel day for both teams, it was not immediately known how Graham might work his defensive pairings for Game 3. Tommy Bergsland and Gavin White have split time as the Stars’ sixth defenseman so far this postseason.

― with files from Patrick Williams