with files from Patrick Williams
Day 12 of the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs features a three-game schedule:
Thirteen days after the regular season ended, the Grand Rapids Griffins finally get their Calder Cup Playoffs underway this afternoon as they visit the Manitoba Moose in Game 1 of their Central Division semifinal series in Winnipeg (3 ET, 
).
“It’s been a long break, but we’ve had good practices and now we’re ready to continue,” said forward Griffins. Sheldon Dries.
Manitoba came back from an early series hole to eliminate Milwaukee in the first round, dropping hard-fought decisions by identical 2-1 scores in Games 2 and 3. Domenic DiVincentiis (2-0, 1.00, .962) stopped 50 of 52 shots in the two wins, and David Gustafsson (1-2-3) scored the game-winning goal in the final minute of Game 2 before assisting on both Moose scores in Game 3.
The break from the Moose schedule was not as long as it was for the Griffins, but they still had five days to reset and prepare for today’s tournament.
“He’s trying all kinds of different things,” Moose’s head coach said Mark Morrison he said to fill the time, “but nothing really simulates a hockey game. Since we’re in our lineup, and they’re a little bit off, we’re going to want to go after them.”
Grand Rapids ran away with the Central Division title in the regular season — their 20-point margin over second-place Chicago was the largest of any AHL division winner since 2012-13 — and went 6-1-1-0 against the Moose, including a back-to-back win at Canada Life Center in early April. They also had a top-ranked defense and the second-best offense in the AHL.
But the Griffins know they shouldn’t take anything for granted as they begin their quest for a third Calder Cup.
“It doesn’t matter what happens in the regular season,” said Dries, whose 37 Calder Cup Playoff games include a trip to the Finals as a rookie with Texas in 2018. “The Playoffs are a whole different animal.”
Like Grand Rapids, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had a long layoff between the end of the regular season and the start of their semifinal series against Hershey.
The Penguins needed just over three minutes to get on the board Thursday night and go on to a 4-2 victory. They lead their series 1-0 in Game 2 tonight (6:05 ET, ).
“The support staff that we have, the coaches, have done a great job of pushing us over the last 12 days,” the Penguins forward said. Aidan McDonoughwho scored his first playoff goal in Game 1. “(I was) maybe a little rusty on some of the fights and maybe some of the fine details in the first shift, but after that it felt like a normal hockey game. Credit to everybody for doing the job to make us feel good.”
“We fought with the power of emotions,” the head coach of Pens Kirk MacDonald said. “You can tell the boys care a lot and stick to the plan.”
However, the 3-0 lead almost disappeared as the Bears pulled away with another goal Ilya Protas again Henrik Rybinski. Avery Hayes‘ empty netter with 54.1 seconds remaining completed the win.
“We fought hard,” said head coach Hershey Derek King. “I liked the way we competed. We can stay with them for three whole times, and we will give them a good game on Saturday.”
The mood shifts to Chicagoland as the Wolves and Stars continue the Central Division semifinals at Allstate Arena tonight (8 ET, ) after Chicago’s back-to-back overtime win at Cedar Park evened the series on Thursday.
After being shut out in Game 1, Chicago erased three separate one-goal deficits in regulation before the AHL All-Star defenseman. Domenick Fensore scored 10:27 into OT to give the Wolves a 5-4 win in Game 2.
Juuso Välimäki two points again Cal Foote added a goal and an assist; the Wolves blue line accounted for four of the five goals in the victory. Cayden Primeau made 25 saves in Chicago, stopping all 11 shots he faced in the third period and overtime.
Matthew Seminoff, Michael Karow again Ellis Rickwood he got a goal and an assist for the Stars, too Rémi Poirier stopped 26 shots.
“We knew it was going to be a long series,” the Stars coach said Toby Petersen said after losing Game 2. “What I can take away from it is that our team is capable – even when we didn’t have everything we had, we were still there, we scored a goal.”
