AHL Morning Skate: May 16, 2025

GAME NOTES
Hershey and Charlotte get the Atlantic Division Finals underway tonight with Game 1 at Bojangles Coliseum... Both teams are coming off Game 5 wins in the last round, with the Bears knocking off Lehigh Valley and the Checkers outlasting Providence... Hershey finished two points clear of Charlotte in the regular-season standings, and were a league-best 24-6-5-1 on the road... Alex Limoges (1-5-6) leads the Bears in playoff scoring after tallying 17-27-44 in 53 regular-season contests... Hunter Shepard (2-2, 2.31, .898) made 19 saves in Game 5 against the Phantoms; in three winner-take-all games over the last three postseasons, Shepard has stopped 106 of 112 shots (3-0, 1.77, .946)... Charlotte got goals from 10 different skaters in their series win over the Bruins, including two from Tobias Bjornfot (2-0-2) in the decisive Game 5 win... The Checkers allowed only eight shots on net in the clinching victory, the fewest in any AHL game in nearly 10 years... The postseason history between these clubs includes a 2011 meeting in which the Checkers upset the two-time defending Calder Cup champion Bears... More recently, Charlotte swept a four-game series from Hershey in 2019, and the Bears prevailed three games to one in the division semifinals in 2023... The Bears’ nine consecutive series victories represent a new AHL record, surpassing the eight straight accomplished by the 2009 and 2010 Hershey teams.

GAME NOTES
Laval takes a 1-0 lead into Game 2 of the North Division Finals in Rochester tonight following Wednesday’s 5-4 victory... Oliver Kapanen scored his first North American pro goal with 4:38 left in regulation as the Rocket improved to 5-0-0 at Blue Cross Arena this season... The back-and-forth affair saw four ties, with Laval coming back from 1-0 and 3-2 down and Rochester erasing 2-1 and 4-3 deficits... Kapanen (1-1-2) also recorded an assist in Game 1, giving him his first two points since joining the Rocket... Logan Mailloux (2-3-5) also had a goal and an assist on Wednesday, and Owen Beck (1-2-3) and Joshua Roy (0-3-3) notched two assists each... Cayden Primeau (1-1, 3.62, .865) – whose uncle Wayne won a Calder Cup with Rochester in 1996 – made 23 saves for his first win of the postseason... Defenseman Kale Clague (4-3-7), who went 14 games without a goal to end the regular season, scored in his fourth consecutive playoff game for the Amerks... Lukáš Rousek (0-3-3) and Jiří Kulich (1-4-5) tallied two assists apiece in Game 1... After allowing two goals on 92 shots in the division semifinals vs. Syracuse, Devon Levi (3-1, 1.76, .944) stopped 29 of 34 shots on Wednesday and fell to 2-5-0 against the Rocket this season... Laval was 2-for-3 on the power play in Game 1, improving to 6-for-21 (28.6 percent) on the postseason... The teams’ Game 1 lineups featured seven first-round draft picks of the Canadiens (David Reinbacher, Mailloux) and Sabres (Konsta Helenius, Noah Östlund, Kulich, Isak Rosén, Ryan Johnson).

C1-Milwaukee Admirals vs. C2-Texas Stars
Game 2 – Sunday, 8:00 ET,
(Texas leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Thu., May 15 – TEXAS 4, Milwaukee 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 18 – Milwaukee at Texas, 8:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 21 – Texas at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 23 – Texas at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 25 – Texas at Milwaukee, 7:00
*if necessary... All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
The Pacific Division Finals begin at Abbotsford Centre tonight as the Canucks host the Eagles in Game 1... Colorado eliminated San Jose in the division semifinals, while Abbotsford dethroned the two-time defending Western Conference champions from Coachella Valley... Tye Felhaber (3-3-6), Jayson Megna (3-3-6) and Matthew Phillips (1-5-6) share the Eagles’ playoff scoring lead, accounting for more than half of the team’s offense in the division semis... Trent Miner (3-1, 1.96, .939) has stopped 123 of 131 shots in his four playoff starts for Colorado, including a 35-save effort in the series-clinching 3-1 win over the Barracuda on May 7... Sammy Blais (3-5-8) leads the Canucks with eight points in seven playoff games... Artūrs Šilovs (5-1, 1.74, .935) has a .947 save percentage on home ice this postseason, including shutouts in both series-clinching victories... Jonathan Lekkerimäki (0-1-1) tallied 6-2-8 in five games against Colorado during the regular season... The Canucks have killed off all 20 shorthanded situations they have faced this postseason, and are 5-for-25 on the power play... The Eagles are 4-for-14 on the power play but have allowed two shorthanded goals; they are also 14-for-16 on the penalty kill... Abbotsford won six of eight regular-season meetings from Colorado, including a 4-0-0 mark at home.

The postseason has become Artūrs Šilovs’ time to shine.

A year ago, he made a major impression in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with Vancouver after being pressed into action by injuries to Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith. He backstopped the Canucks past Nashville with a 28-save shutout in Game 6, and had a 42-save night in Edmonton in the next round.

In 2023 at the IIHF World Championship, he helped co-host Latvia to a bronze medal, the country’s first-ever medal in the tournament, and was named the event’s top goaltender.

This spring is already shaping up to be another memorable one for Šilovs. He has already led Abbotsford past Tucson and Coachella Valley, going 5-1 with a 1.74 goals-against average, a .935 save percentage and two shutouts in seven playoff starts.

“It’s so much fun to play at the moment of the year,” the Abbotsford fan favorite said following the series clincher over the Firebirds. “You want to put everything on the line. You work the whole summer, whole season, just for these moments.”

Šilovs can also shake off a tough night. Coachella Valley chased him with three first-period goals in Game 2, but he returned for Games 3 and 4 to stop 54 of a combined 55 shots. His coaches and teammates took their cue from him.

“When he plays with confidence, I keep saying it, it goes through the whole group,” head coach Manny Malhotra said. “So when we know that he’s feeling it, and he’s comfortable and confident back in his net, we’re able to play our game.”

Could the Charlotte Checkers regain a key figure for their blue line when they host the Hershey Bears in Game 1 of the best-of-five Atlantic Division Finals tonight?

The Checkers went without defenseman Matt Kiersted, who led the entire AHL in plus/minus in the regular season, for the final two games of their division semifinal against the Providence after he left late in Game 3. Rookie Eamon Powell jumped in for Game 4 before head coach Geordie Kinnear inserted Dennis Cesana for Game 5. But Kiersted’s availability for this round against Hershey seems a little more promising.

“He’s day-to-day now, which is great,” Kinnear said this week as the Checkers prepared for the Bears. “I know the guys really wanted to see him play again, so I think that was a tipping point in the game – I think they were playing for Kiersted. They wanted to see him play again.”

The Bears, meanwhile, know what they’re dealing with in Charlotte.

After eliminating Lehigh Valley in a chippy and mostly tight-checking clash, Hershey now encounters the defensively dominant Checkers. Charlotte bottled up a quality Providence offense in their division semifinal, holding their opponent to nine goals in five games and just eight shots in the decisive Game 5.

But the Bears have displayed their own impressive defensive work, too, allowing 24 shots per game to Lehigh Valley and killing off 19 of 21 Phantoms power plays.

They also have goaltender Hunter Shepard, who returned to the crease for the series-clinching Game 5 against the Phantoms.

“He was awesome,” said forward Spencer Smallman, an integral part of Hershey’s defensive success as well. “He looked cool, calm, collected. He made some really big saves for us. When you make those big saves in big moments, especially in the playoffs, it allows our team to keep building momentum.”

It’s the details that matter, especially the later the Calder Cup Playoffs go.

The Amerks know that they can be better on their details. Wednesday’s back-and-forth 5-4 home loss to Laval provided a reminder that even a small slip-up here and there can be costly. Holding a 3-2 lead in the second period, Rochester’s too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty led to Brandon Gignac’s tying goal.

In a game in which Rochester had some long successful stretches, an ill-advised penalty, some blue-line turnovers, a few missed assignments, and getting pinned inside their defensive zone allowed a potential Game 1 victory to slip away.

“The margin for error is really small against a team like that,” head coach Michael Leone said. “You don’t want to beat yourself, and you’ve got to manage games.”

Still, the Amerks reaffirmed that they can match up with the AHL’s regular-season champion. It was an opening to the series that came down to one goal with 4:38 to go.

“It was a really, really hard-fought game,” Leone continued. “Two really good teams... It was five minutes to go, a tied game, and they made a play.”

― with files from Patrick Williams

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs yesterday, 2015 AHL All-Stars Connor Hellebuyck (22 saves) and Vladislav Namestnikov (goal, assist) helped Winnipeg to a 4-0 win over Dallas... Seth Jarvis recorded a goal and an assist and Frederik Andersen made 18 saves as Carolina eliminated Washington with a 3-1 victory.

In yesterday’s action at the 2025 IIHF World Championship, Will Cuylle tallied a goal and an assist as Canada defeated Austria, 5-1... Eeli Tolvanen scored four goals and Teuvo Teravainen registered six assists in Finland’s 9-1 win over Slovenia... Vili Saarijarvi added a goal and two assists for the Finns... Sven Andrighetto scored four times and Denis Malgin had four assists for Switzerland in a 5-1 victory over Germany... David Pastrnak notched two goals and an assist in Czechia’s 6-1 win over Hungary.