AHL Morning Skate: April 25, 2026

with files from Patrick Williams

Day 5 of the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs features this year’s first winner-take-all battle, as Charlotte hosts Springfield with a trip to the division semifinals at stake.

After an easy win in Game 1, the Charlotte Checkers hit a record-scratch moment in Game 2 last night.

And now their season is on the line.

Everything was looking great for the Checkers. They had gotten an absolute haul of players back from the Florida Panthers just before the final weekend of the regular season. Then they completely overwhelmed Springfield on Wednesday to open their best-of-three first-round series, taking a 4-0 first-period lead, extending it to 7-0 early in the second, and rolling to an 8-1 win.

Last night looked like it might have been heading the same way when Trevor Carrick scored 3:52 into the contest. But the Thunderbirds fought back, ultimately scoring the final four goals in a 5-2 victory to even the series.

Just about every Calder Cup Playoff team will reach that gut-check moment. Last year’s club saw a 2-0 series lead disappear to Providence in the division semis, but they went on to win eight straight games and reach the Calder Cup Finals. Last night’s lineup featured 10 skaters who were part of Charlotte’s run a year ago. So there are enough players on hand who know how to manage pressure. But they will need to figure out a few things first.

One of those items is the power play. Although it performed well late in the regular season, it still finished 27th in the AHL at 15.2 percent, and the Checkers are 0-for-5 thus far in the series. They also gave up a back-breaking shorthanded breakaway goal to Hugh McGing with 3:13 left in regulation as Charlotte was trying to tie the game late.

The Checkers also got a much steelier performance from Springfield. The Thunderbirds didn’t back down, striking quickly when opportunity arose. Trailing 2-1 late in the second period, Zach Dean scored to pull Springfield back even. Then a Charlotte penalty off the next face-off led to a Chris Wagner power-play goal. Two goals in 49 seconds gave Springfield its first lead of the series, one they would not relinquish. Wagner tacked on another shorthanded goal – this one into an empty net with the Checkers skating six-on-four – and Georgi Romanov, who had been relegated to third-string duties in Game 1, finished with 29 saves in his Game 2 start.

Springfield head coach Steve Ott made one other lineup move in Game 2, slotting defenseman Wyatt Newpower in for an injured Hunter Skinner. Newpower scored his first goal as a Thunderbird to tie the game at 1-1 in the second period.

“I thought in the third we got to it, and I think we learned a valuable lesson,” said Carrick. “You can’t play one period. You take what you can, but you also want to move on. Sleep it off and come in with a new attitude. You’ve just got to take what you can and learn from it.”

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Charlotte is facing a winner-take-all game on home ice for the fourth postseason in a row. They defeated Lehigh Valley in 2023 and Providence in 2025, but lost to Hartford in 2024. In all, the Checkers are 2-3 in such games in their Calder Cup Playoff history.

The Thunderbirds lost a Game 3 at Providence in the first round last spring. In 2022, they defeated Laval in Game 7 to advance to the Calder Cup Finals.

Tonight’s only other game pits Bakersfield against Coachella Valley in Game 2 of their Pacific Division first-round series. The Condors advance to a date with Ontario if they win; the Firebirds are trying to force a Game 3 on Sunday.

Bakersfield’s 6-1 win in Thursday’s opener was important because it came in the Condors’ only home game of the series. Seth Griffith scored his first of two goals just 4:10 into the contest as his team snapped a seven-game postseason losing streak after they had been swept out of the playoffs in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

“I thought we had a great start on home ice,” head coach Colin Chaulk said. “The fans – you could tell they were playoff hockey fans. They gave us a lot of energy. The fans being behind us, giving us that juice, really made it a lot of fun.”

The crowd of 6,083 fans at Dignity Health Arena saw the Condors score twice in each period. And Matt Tomkins stopped 38 of 39 Firebirds shots while helping Bakersfield’s penalty killing go a perfect 6-for-6 on the night.

“They’ve got a great power play with a lot of different options,” Tomkins said. “It was a point of emphasis for us. Guys just executed great. We hope to build off it and continue next game.”

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Second-year defenseman Ty Nelson scored the only goal for Coachella Valley in Game 1. Jagger Firkus was held off the scoresheet after recording 14 points in his previous seven games against Bakersfield.

Nikke Kokko allowed all six goals on 23 shots before being relieved by Victor Östman at the 4:07 mark of the third period.

The Firebirds are 22-7 all-time during the playoffs at Acrisure Arena.