AHL Morning Skate: May 11, 2025

A1-Hershey Bears vs. A5-Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Game 5 – Today, 5:00 ET,
(Series tied, 2-2)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 30 – HERSHEY 3, Lehigh Valley 0 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 2 – Lehigh Valley 3, HERSHEY 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Sun., May 4 – LEHIGH VALLEY 4, Hershey 2 | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 9 – Hershey 6, LEHIGH VALLEY 4 | Recap
Game 5 – Sun., May 11 – Lehigh Valley at Hershey, 5:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
The Bears and Phantoms complete the latest chapter of their historic rivalry with a decisive Game 5 at Giant Center this evening... This is the 349th meeting all-time between the franchises since the Philadelphia Phantoms joined the AHL in 1996, and the fourth time they are meeting in a winner-take-all Calder Cup Playoff game; Hershey won the previous three, in 1997 (Game 7), 2000 (Game 5) and 2017 (Game 5)... The Bears scored three times in the opening 14:15 of Game 4 on Friday night and held off Lehigh Valley, 6-4, to stave off elimination on the road for the first time since Game 7 of the 2023 Calder Cup Finals at Coachella Valley... Bogdan Trineyev (2-1-3), Chase Priskie (2-1-3) and Mike Vecchione (1-1-2) gave the Bears the early 3-0 lead in support of Clay Stevenson, who made 28 saves in his first career Calder Cup Playoff start after Hunter Shepard had started each of Hershey’s last 43 postseason games... Pierrick Dubé (2-1-3) netted his first two goals of the series for the Bears, and Alex Limoges (1-4-5) extended his scoring streak to four games with a pair of assists... Zayde Wisdom (3-1-4) and Rodrigo Ābols (2-0-2) scored 35 seconds apart early in the second period of Game 4 for the Phantoms... Jacob Gaucher (3-3-6) recorded a goal and an assist for Lehigh Valley, and leads all Phantoms with four points in the series... The Bears are 16-5 all-time at home in winner-take-all games, including 5-1 at Giant Center... The Phantoms are 0-2 in winner-take-all games since moving to Lehigh Valley, losing at home to Hershey in 2017 and at Charlotte in 2023... Today is the 28th anniversary of Hershey’s 3-2 triple-overtime win over the Philadelphia Phantoms in Game 6 of their 1997 division final, squaring the series at three games apiece.

A2-Charlotte Checkers vs. A3-Providence Bruins
Game 5 – Today, 3:00 ET,
(Series tied, 2-2)

Game 1 – Fri., May 2 – Charlotte 5, PROVIDENCE 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 4 – Charlotte 2, PROVIDENCE 0 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 7 – Providence 3, CHARLOTTE 2 | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 9 – Providence 3, CHARLOTTE 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 5 – Sun., May 11 – Providence at Charlotte, 3:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
The Checkers and Bruins wrap up their Atlantic Division semifinal series at Bojangles Coliseum this afternoon with a winner-take-all Game 5... The road team improved to 4-0 in the series when Providence captain Patrick Brown (1-2-3) scored 7:08 into overtime on Friday to give the Bruins a 3-2 win in Game 4... Brown played five seasons in Charlotte, captaining the Checkers to a Calder Cup championship in 2019... John Farinacci (1-0-1) and Oliver Wahlstrom (3-1-4) also scored for the Bruins in Game 4, and Brandon Bussi stopped 31 of 33 shots after replacing an injured Michael DiPietro just 2:22 into the contest... Bussi has a 2.17 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage in nine career playoff appearances for Providence... Wilmer Skoog (2-0-2) and Ben Steeves (3-0-3) scored for the Checkers, who are 0-4 – all at home – over the last two postseasons with a chance to close out a series... Kaapo Kähkönen (2-2, 1.72, .938) made 31 saves in Game 4... Both teams are 1-for-14 (7.1 percent) on the power play in the series... Providence has already won four elimination games in these playoffs, and is looking to join the 2017 Bruins as the only teams in AHL history to stave off elimination four times on the road in the same postseason... Thirteen teams in Calder Cup Playoff history have come back from 0-2 down to win a best-of-five series; Providence is bidding to become the first ever to do so by sweeping the last three games on the road... The Bruins have played 14 winner-take-all games in their history and have won 10 of them, including an 8-3 record on the road... The Checkers are 1-3 all-time in winner-take-all games in the Calder Cup Playoffs.

N1-Laval Rocket vs. N2-Rochester Americans
Game 1 – Wednesday, 7:05 ET,

Game 1 – Wed., May 14 – Laval at Rochester, 7:05
Game 2 – Fri., May 16 – Laval at Rochester, 7:05
Game 3 – Wed., May 21 – Rochester at Laval, 7:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 23 – Rochester at Laval, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 25 – Rochester at Laval, 4:30
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C1-Milwaukee Admirals vs. C5-Rockford IceHogs
Game 5 – Today, 5:00 ET,
(Series tied, 2-2)

Game 1 – Thu., May 1 – Rockford 3, MILWAUKEE 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 3 – Rockford 6, MILWAUKEE 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 7 – Milwaukee 6, ROCKFORD 2 | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 9 – Milwaukee 3, ROCKFORD 2 | Recap
Game 5 – Sun., May 11 – Rockford at Milwaukee, 5:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
The road team has won every game of the Central Division semifinal between the Admirals and IceHogs as Milwaukee hosts the decisive Game 5 this evening... Turner Ottenbreit (1-0-1) and Kyle Marino (1-1-2) scored their first career Calder Cup Playoff goals for the Ads in Game 4, and Ozzy Wiesblatt’s power-play goal with 5:33 left in the second period stood up as the difference in a 3-2 Milwaukee victory... Matt Murray (2-2, 3.00, .878) made 23 saves for the Admirals, who have won 10 potential elimination games over the last three postseasons... Jackson Cates (1-1-2) and Aidan Thompson (2-2-4) scored for Rockford in Game 4, and Samuel Savoie (2-4-6) registered an assist for his sixth point in the last three games... Drew Commesso (4-2, 2.07, .934) stopped 23 of 26 shots in Friday’s loss... Rockford has outscored Milwaukee 6-1 in the third period and overtime over the first four games... The Admirals are 2-for-13 on the power play in the series, while the IceHogs are 1-for-11... Milwaukee won all five of Rockford’s regular-season visits to Panther Arena in 2024-25 but dropped Games 1 and 2 to open this series... Since Karl Taylor became head coach in 2018-19, the Admirals have played 10 playoff series; this is the seventh to go the distance, and they are 5-1 in the previous six... Overall, Milwaukee is 7-5 in winner-take-all games in the Calder Cup Playoffs; Rockford is 0-1, losing a Game 7 at Chicago in 2008... Thirteen teams in Calder Cup Playoff history have come back from 0-2 down to win a best-of-five series, including the Admirals in 2024 (vs. Texas).

P1-Colorado Eagles vs. P2-Abbotsford Canucks
Game 1 – Friday, 10:00 ET,

Game 1 – Fri., May 16 – Colorado at Abbotsford, 10:00
Game 2 – Sun., May 18 – Colorado at Abbotsford, 9:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 21 – Abbotsford at Colorado, 9:05
*Game 4 – Fri., May 23 – Abbotsford at Colorado, 9:05
*Game 5 – Mon., May 26 – Abbotsford at Colorado, 5:05
*if necessary... All times Eastern

The status of Checkers defenseman Matt Kiersted remains unknown going into Game 5 today. Kiersted, who departed in the third period of Game 3 and missed Game 4, has been a staple on the Charlotte blue line since the 2021-22 season. He had 29 points and a league-best plus-34 rating for the Checekrs in the regular season, and had recorded one assist through the first three games of this series.

With Kiersted out for Game 4, head coach Geordie Kinnear turned to Eamon Powell, who had played five regular-season games with the Checkers after joining the team from Boston College. A captain in his final two NCAA seasons, Powell had 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) in 32 games with BC.

“Be ready.”

That is a go-to favorite quote for head coaches, especially in the postseason. Fortunately for the Bruins, Brandon Bussi had kept himself primed to go. When a crease collision 2:22 into Game 4 took AHL goaltender of the year Michael DiPietro out of the Providence crease, Bussi came on in relief and took control, stopping the Checkers on 31 of 33 shots and holding his team in the game long enough for captain Patrick Brown to win it in overtime, 3-2.

It was Bussi’s first game action since April 11 when he had 23 saves in a win at Hartford.

Providence has not disclosed DiPietro’s status for this afternoon. Nolan Maier, who spent most of this season in ECHL Maine, is the third goaltender on the Bruins’ roster. He has played 11 AHL games over his three pro seasons.

Give Todd Nelson four days to prepare for a must-win Calder Cup Playoff game, and there is a strong chance that he will come up with an effective plan.

The five-time Calder Cup champion has been through pressure situations before. So going into Game 4 on Friday night, following back-to-back losses and facing an early elimination, the Bears came through with a 6-4 road win to force this evening’s decisive Game 5 on home ice.

Nelson vowed after Game 3 that changes were on the way, and he meant it. Forward Mike Sgarbossa, scoreless in the first three games of the series, was scratched for Game 4, as was Dalton Smith. Brad Hunt and Garrett Roe dressed for the first time this postseason as Nelson went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

“Brad Hunt, that’s why he’s here,” Nelson said after Game 4. “That’s why we went out and got him, to get pucks going to the net, and he really gave our power play a lift.”

Even more dramatically, Nelson turned to Clay Stevenson in net. Hunter Shepard could not be faulted for the Bears’ two losses, but Nelson has a way of getting his players’ attention.

“As for Clay,” Nelson said, “he’s always played well against Lehigh. I just wanted to shake things up, and I just thought if we’re going to go down, we’re going down swinging.”

Playing in the Calder Cup Playoffs sometimes means facing uncomfortable situations. For the Phantoms, that means going into Giant Center today to play for their season.

But the Phantoms have already shown that they can handle one of the AHL’s toughest buildings for a visitor. They won three of their five visits during the regular season, and controlled Hershey in a 3-1 win in Game 2 of this series.

With goaltender Parker Gahagen out with an injury suffered during Game 3, head coach Ian Laperriere turned to Cal Petersen for the Game 4 start, with Carson Bjarnason serving as the back-up. Bjarnason spent this season with Brandon of the Western Hockey League and was a 2023 second-round pick by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Laperriere quickly dismissed any talk of asking a 19-year-old goaltender to make his pro debut in a winner-take-all Calder Cup Playoff game.

“Cal’s our guy,” Laperriere said. “I'm going back with him. I think it’s great Carson’s on the bench, learning... It’s a good experience for him.”

Do the Milwaukee Admirals have more confidence after twice fighting off elimination in Rockford?

“The bottom line is none of it matters,” head coach Karl Taylor replied after the Admirals again extended their postseason with a 3-2 win Friday in Game 4.

“As a group we just want to make sure that we play a great game, give us the best opportunity to win, and just play confident and play with our foot on the gas. We definitely don’t want to hang around (and) see what happens.”

Ideally for the IceHogs, of course, they would have wrapped up this series on home ice in either Game 3 or 4 and been resting up this weekend to prepare for the Texas Stars in the Central Division Finals.

That didn’t pan out, though, but they are trying to find the positives in their situation. One is that from a development perspective, these young Chicago Blackhawks prospects have shown that they can match up with a top team like Milwaukee.

“We’re not worrying about what was,” interim head coach Mark Eaton said after Friday’s Game 4 loss. “We’re worrying about what is and that these guys embrace this opportunity. This is why we play the game. This is the most fun part of hockey…playing those winner-take-all games. Winner moves on. Loser goes home.

“It’s an opportunity (that) I’m going to encourage these guys to enjoy and go out there and play free and play hard and enjoy that opportunity. We’re going to a decisive Game 5 against a good team, and it’s going to be fun.”

Today is just the second day in Calder Cup Playoff history to feature three winner-take-all games. Three first-round Game 3’s were contested on April 28 of last year.

Home teams are 121-81 (.599) in such games all-time.

The 2024 postseason saw seven series go the distance, with three of those deciding games going to overtime.

― with files from Patrick Williams

In yesterday’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, 2017 AHL All-Star Jack Roslovic recorded a goal and an assist and Frederik Andersen made 21 saves as Carolina shut out Washington, 4-0, to take a 2-1 lead in their series... Reilly Smith scored his second goal of the game in the final second of regulation to give Vegas a 4-3 win over Edmonton... 2019 Calder Cup champion Nicolas Roy also scored for the Golden Knights... Corey Perry picked up a pair of goals for the Oilers, who still lead the series two games to one.

In Saturday’s action at the 2025 IIHF World Championship, 2025 AHL All-Star Dylan Garand and Canada shut out Slovenia, 4-0... Dans Ločmelis, who had 12 points in six games with the Providence Bruins at the end of the regular season, scored twice for Latvia in a 4-1 win over France... Mika Zibanejad scored twice in Sweden’s 4-2 win over Austria... 2015 AHL All-Star Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves as Germany defeated Hungary, 6-1... Tyler Moy registered two goals and an assist in Switzerland’s 5-2 victory over Denmark.