AHL Morning Skate: May 29, 2025

GAME NOTES:
The Rocket and Checkers go right back to work tonight in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals after Charlotte drew first blood with a 5-1 victory last night... Five different Checkers scored and Kaapo Kähkönen (7-2, 1.76, .926) made 30 saves as Charlotte won its fifth game in a row overall and its ninth straight on the road... In its four road playoff games, Charlotte is outscoring its hosts by an 18-5 margin and Kähkönen has stopped 112 of 117 shots (.957)... Sandis Vilmanis (2-3-5) opened the scoring just 1:44 into Game 1, and Justin Sourdif (2-3-5) and Oliver Okuliar (2-1-3) extended the Checkers’ lead to 3-0... John Leonard (4-3-7) scored Charlotte’s fourth – and his third – shorthanded goal of the playoffs... Leonard is the first player with three SHG in a single postseason since Syracuse’s Tyler Johnson in 2013... The Checkers, who were 6-for-6 on the penalty kill in Game 1, are 30-for-32 (93.8 percent) during the playoffs and are outscoring their opponents 4-2 while shorthanded this postseason... Matt Kiersted (0-3-3) returned to the Charlotte lineup after missing the previous five games and recorded two assists last night... Oliver Kapanen (3-2-5) scored the only goal for Laval, which is 3-3 on home ice this postseason after going 24-9-2-1 in the regular season... Joshua Roy (3-6-9) picked up an assist to extend his scoring streak to four games... Cayden Primeau (3-2, 2.40, .906) stopped 15 of 19 shots for the Rocket... The Game 1 winner has taken 17 of the 19 series completed so far in the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs.

GAME NOTES:
The Western Conference Finals get underway tonight with Abbotsford hosting Texas... The Canucks are making their first-ever appearance among the AHL’s final four, and the first by a Vancouver affiliate since Utica reached the Calder Cup Finals in 2015... The Stars are in their fourth conference final series, defeating Hamilton in seven games in 2010, Toronto in seven games in 2014 and Rockford in six games in 2018... Both the Canucks and Stars advanced with Game 5 wins on the road against division champions in the last round, Abbotsford getting past Colorado and Texas eliminating Milwaukee... Artūrs Šilovs (8-3, 1.73, .936) made 34 saves on Monday for his third series-clinching shutout of the playoffs... Šilovs is the first AHL goaltender with four total shutouts in a single postseason since Grand Rapids’ Petr Mrázek had four in 2013... Linus Karlsson (7-3-10) and Phil Di Giuseppe (5-3-8) each scored twice for the Canucks in Monday’s win... Justin Hryckowian (7-8-15) scored a goal in all five games against Milwaukee last round (6-3-9) and has points in each of the Stars’ eight playoff games... Cameron Hughes (3-11-14) also has an eight-game scoring streak for Texas, giving him 7-46-53 in 52 games over the last three postseasons... Remi Poirier (4-1, 1.87, .926) has a .945 save percentage in five road starts for the Stars in these playoffs... Tonight is the first-ever meeting between the Stars and the Canucks, and Texas’ first visit to Abbotsford Centre since a 4-3 overtime win over the Abbotsford Heat on Mar. 5, 2014... Current Stars captain Curtis McKenzie and assistant coaches Travis Morin and Max Fortunus were all in the Texas lineup that night... Texas is 4-1 all-time in playoff series against teams from Canada.

With a lengthy travel day behind them, the Stars are now in place to begin their Western Conference Finals in Abbotsford tonight.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” head coach Neil Graham said before the Stars headed to the airport Wednesday morning. “You go through two excellent teams in Grand Rapids and Milwaukee. We have a lot of respect for both of those opponents. They were hard-fought series. That battle-readiness is only going to help us down the road. We’ve had a few days to reset and refocus...and now it’s important to execute.”

While the Stars had a lighter schedule early in the postseason, playing only eight games in the last 39 days, the pace will increase considerably. After games in Abbotsford tonight and Saturday night, the teams move to Cedar Park for games Monday, Wednesday and, if necessary, next Friday. The series would then come back to Abbotsford for two more games if needed. Add it up, and it could mean as many as seven games in 12 nights with significant travel as well. So Graham is stressing the need for a quick start to this series for his players despite the lack of familiarity between the teams. He and his coaching staff have spent their time preparing for the Canucks and digging for information.

“There’s no time this time of year to get into things slow or feel it out,” Graham outlined. “We have to start on time. We have to be ready to go. I expect our opponent to be ready to go.”

Rookie forward Justin Hryckowian, whose 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in eight games lead the AHL in playoff scoring, is ready as well. The Stars flew back home from Milwaukee on Monday, learned who their next opponent would be, and got to work preparing for the Canucks.

“We dug in deep there (against Milwaukee) to come out on top, and it was a great feeling to win it in their barn,” Hryckowian said. “We enjoyed the night together, and then as we traveled back, (we) got our minds back on what’s next.

“This league is very competitive from top to bottom. We know we’re going to play a very strong team with a great identity. We’re up for the challenge.”

The Checkers got a key piece of their lineup back for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals last night.

Defenseman Matt Kiersted re-entered the Charlotte lineup after missing the past five games. Kiersted contributed 29 points (one goal, 28 assists) and a league-best plus-34 rating in 64 regular-season games.

Head coach Geordie Kinnear paired Kiersted with rookie Marek Alscher, and the veteran blueliner picked up two third-period assists in Charlotte’s 5-1 win.

Charlotte and Texas are the first teams since 2019 to reach the Calder Cup conference finals in the same season that their parent teams reached the same round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (Florida and Dallas, respectively).

That year, Charlotte and Carolina both made their respective conference finals.

The last pair of affiliates to reach the Finals in the same season was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Pittsburgh in 2008. The last affiliates to win the championship in the same spring were the Albany River Rats and New Jersey Devils in 1995.

― with files from Patrick Williams

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs yesterday, 2018-19 AHL scoring champion Carter Verhaeghe scored the go-ahead goal with 7:39 left in regulation as Florida captured its third consecutive Prince of Wales Trophy with a 5-3 win over Carolina... Verhaeghe, who played 211 games in the AHL before making his NHL debut in 2019, has recorded 69 points – including 12 game-winning goals – in 86 career Stanley Cup Playoff games.