Before the finals begin on Tuesday night, we wrap up an unforgettable round that saw the bottom four seeds continue.
Springfield’s historic elimination of Providence in the Atlantic Division semifinals continues as the Thunderbirds prepare for their next challenge.
The Thunderbirds are the first AHL team to win two playoff series after finishing the regular season at or below .500 since the 2001 Hershey Bears. Next is the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with 101 points.
“Obviously it’s another big team we’re facing,” the Springfield coach Steve Ott said. “There is no easy road, especially when you finish where we finished, playing with big hockey teams.”
Ott turned to the Springfield crease George Romanov after an 8-1 loss to Charlotte to start the playoffs. Romanov responded by turning away 186 of 195 shots he faced in six starts (5-1, 1.42, .954), including 37 shutouts in the Bruins’ series win.
“When you have a good goal, you give yourself a chance,” Ott said.
When Ott came off the Springfield bench for the first time on Jan. 23, his team was last in the Atlantic Division. They finished the regular season 19-13-2-0 under his direction and have now upset the defending Eastern Conference champions from Charlotte and the 2025-26 regular season champions from Providence to reach the division finals.
“The team … heroes,” said Romanov. “We fight for everyone.”
Only eight points separated first and fourth place in the North Division during the regular season, so while Cleveland and Toronto’s undefeated division finals were shocking, both of their ways to get here were impressive.
Cleveland beat Syracuse, three games to one, winning two overtime games en route to getting past the Crunch. Zach Aston-Reese score at 7:53 of triple overtime on May 3 to end the streak and end the longest streak in franchise history.
“He builds practices, details, the way he wants the team to play in order to be successful,” said the Monsters coach. Trent Vogelhuber said. “Between the two games (at Syracuse)… I felt good where we were. You bend (but) you don’t break. We get points in both games, and then we come back and find a way. There are a lot of great things to build on.”
Toronto entered the hostile Place Bell and knocked off Laval with a 3-2 victory on Saturday, the Marlies’ first victory in a sweep. After being shut out in Game 4, Toronto trailed by two goals in Game 5 earlier Vinnie Lettieri scored the winner with 9:38 to play.
“We showed great resilience,” said Lettieri. “It was a full team effort all the way to the end.”
Seventh year specialist Reese Johnson scored his first playoff goal, and a rookie defenseman Blake Smith – who had one goal in 62 regular season games – scored in his first postseason game.
“We stayed with it. We didn’t deviate from the plan,” head coach Marlies John Gruden said.
The Coachella Valley became the third team to take out a division winner this postseason JR Avon scored in double overtime in Game 5 on Saturday night, lifting the Firebirds past Ontario.
For Avon, who scored 10 goals in 45 games during the regular season, it was his fourth goal of the series and fifth in eight playoff contests.
With Ontario, Laval and Providence all eliminated in the division semifinals, this is the first elimination season since 2014 in which three regular division winners have failed to win at least one playoff series.
The Firebirds have already won their last four games this season, rallying from an 0-1 deficit to get past Bakersfield in the first round of a best-of-three before winning their final two games against the Reign.
The win sets up a sectional final between Coachella Valley and Colorado. The Eagles shut down Henderson’s potent offense, allowing six goals and 103 shots in their four-game winning streak. Alex Barré-Boulet (3-4-7), TJ Tynan (1-5-6) and Tristen Nielsen (4-1-5) led Colorado’s offense in the series, while Trent Miner posted a .942 save percentage and two shutouts.
