with files from Patrick Williams
Day 6 of the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs includes three winner-take-all contests as the first round concludes and the playoff field gets whittled down to 16.
With their season one loss away from ending, the Manitoba Moose turned to Domenic DiVincentiis in net Friday night. And the decision paid off, as the Moose turned in a strong defensive effort and got 19 saves from their second-year goaltender in his Calder Cup Playoff debut.
DiVincentiis took over for AHL All-Star Thomas Milic, who had stopped 20 of 23 shots in Game 1. Throughout the regular season the pair split most of Manitoba’s goaltending workload, with Milic making 41 appearances and DiVincentiis playing 34 games.
“Amazing,” the 22-year-old DiVincentiis said of the win, a 2-1 victory that forced today’s deciding Game 3 with Milwaukee. “That’s a full team effort right there.”
Forward David Gustafsson provided the game-winner with 42.6 seconds to go in regulation. Drafted by Winnipeg in the second round in 2018, Gustafsson is in his seventh season with the Jets organization. But after spending most of the past three seasons in the NHL, he was back with the Moose full time in 2025-26, collecting 32 points in 48 games.
“Scoring playoff goals, those are the things you dream of,” Gustafsson said. “And at a time like that, it was awesome. That was the best game we played all season from every single guy in there. And that’s what you’ve got to do if you want to win in the playoffs.”
DiVincentiis is not one for drawn-out sentimentality going into today’s Game 3 on home ice (3 ET, 
).
“We haven’t done crap yet,” he said. “We still have another win to go here, and our focus is immediately to Sunday.”
In the visiting room, Milwaukee head coach Karl Taylor wasn’t dwelling on what might have been.
“That was a great hockey game,” he said. “I thought it was very even. It was a close game, both teams competed really hard. The fans got involved. It’s unfortunate that we lost, but that’s the way it goes. Sometimes you lose.”
The result is yet another winner-take-all game for the Admirals, their ninth under Taylor since 2019. They are 6-2 in the previous eight, including 2-0 against the Moose.
“Just play a hockey game like we always do,” Taylor said of the message for Game 3. “Same stuff I’ve said in all those other games we’ve had over the years. We focus on us. It’s not complicated. You’re going to see two desperate teams trying to extend their season, and those are fun games.
“Game 7, Game 5, Game 3, whatever… Fans love that, players love it, coaches love it too. It’s those enjoyable moments that you get once in a while that allow you to test yourself.”
The Rochester Americans have turned to goaltender Devon Levi time and time again during his three seasons with the club.
And they didn’t turn their backs on him with the season on the line Friday night after a 5-0 loss to Toronto in Wednesday’s Game 1. Levi got the call again and delivered a 29-save shutout to force today’s deciding contest at Coca-Cola Coliseum (4 ET, ). The Amerks had not responded to being shut out in a playoff game with a shutout of their own since 2000.
“We need him to be good,” head coach Michael Leone said after Game 2. “He wasn’t great last game. He was good tonight. But I also give the group a lot of credit. That’s a really good [opponent], and we defended hard. I give our group a ton of credit. We played hard. I thought we were the better team.”
Said Levi, “Just to even have one more opportunity to play hockey on Sunday is exciting for me, personally, let alone it being a big game, backs against the wall. Then again, it’s the same as every other game. It’s just another game.”
Along with Levi’s bounce-back effort, the Rochester blue line got two major pieces back for Game 2 in Vsevolod Komarov and Ryan Johnson. Each player contributed a third-period goal that put away the 4-0 win, but more importantly they added mobility, some postseason know-how, and ability to take key minutes. Komarov had not played since Apr. 10 while Johnson had last played March 28.
Levi always gives the Amerks a solid chance. But in Game 2, the Marlies managed just 17 shots through two periods, and Levi stressed the help that he got, making sure to compliment both Komarov and Johnson as well as the blueliners who had filled in while they were out.
“We’ve got a bunch of dogs that just work really hard,” Levi said.
“We challenged the group,” Leone said. “There’s three things I said: if we don’t have work ethic, we don’t compete, and we’re not ultra-detailed to what we do, we have no chance to be successful as a group. And they know that, and they responded big time in a huge way. I’m really proud of them.”
The Marlies, meanwhile, returned home and wasted no time getting down to work Saturday morning.
“Execution” was a key talking point.
“I thought they executed their game plan, and we didn’t do a very good job executing ours,” Toronto head coach John Gruden said after Game 2. “It shouldn’t be a surprise what we need to do. Now it’s just a matter of us wanting to do it consistently and then we can maximize our potential.”
Execution becomes much easier with a simplified game.
“I think when you’re connected and when you’re willing to simplify things, everything happens naturally,” he continued. “When you go off-script and you try to do things on your own, you get nothing done, and things break down.
“This is playoff hockey. Playoff hockey is supposed to be hard, and we should embrace the hardness.”
The Cleveland Monsters had two goaltending choices going into Game 1 against Syracuse.
Ivan Fedotov played 47 regular-season games this season for Cleveland and has 29 games of career NHL experience as well. Zach Sawchenko has been in the AHL since 2019-20, playing 135 regular-season games between San Jose, Chicago and Abbotsford.
Head coach Trent Vogelhuber went with Sawchenko, who made 29 saves – 16 of them in the third period – in a 3-2 win to open the best-of-five series. Game 2 is today at Rocket Arena (4 ET, ).
“His performance I thought was really good,” Vogelhuber said after Game 1. “I think when we’ve been at our best, we’ve used both, and Saw has a track record – off a long week, the first of a weekend, he ramps up and he’s ready to go.”
Having two capable goaltenders is a commodity, especially in the playoffs. Ten years ago, Vogelhuber was a forward on a Monsters team that turned to both Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo on their way to a Calder Cup championship.
“That’s a day-by-day decision that we’re talking about all the time,” he added. “Both guys are going to play, because that’s how we found that we’re at our best as a group and that they’re at their best as goalies.”
In Syracuse’s crease, Jon Gillies got the Game 1 start after shutting out Belleville in the Crunch’s regular-season finale on Apr. 18. Making just his fourth AHL start this season, and his first Calder Cup Playoff appearance since 2017, Gillies allowed three goals on six shots in the first period. Brandon Halverson came on in relief, facing just nine shots in two periods. Syracuse finished with a 31-15 advantage in shots on goal.
The first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs will wrap up with tonight’s late game, a deciding Game 3 between Coachella Valley and Bakersfield at Acrisure Arena (8 ET, ).
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard scored twice in the third period – including the winning goal with 3:10 remaining – to give the Firebirds a season-saving 5-4 victory in Game 2 last night.
It was another memorable moment this season for the 21-year-old forward who made his NHL debut with Seattle in November and skated for Denmark at the Olympics in February.
“I’ve been told to shoot more pucks,” Fisker Mølgaard said with a smile. “Turn the switch off and just let it go. Luckily it went in. That was a huge goal for us.”
The winning tally came after the Condors had erased a 4-2 deficit on goals 38 seconds apart by Atro Leppanen and Riley Stillman.
“This team is never out of games. That’s a special thing about this team,” Bakersfield head coach Colin Chaulk said. “Coachella tracked, and had good sticks, and were physical, and they were playing for their lives. You have to expect that from them, and unfortunately they got one more than us.”
Eduard Šalé, Jagger Firkus and Mitchell Stephens also scored for the Firebirds, who improved to 23-7 all-time during the playoffs on home ice.
Alec Regula and Quinn Hutson had the other goals for Bakersfield, and Viljami Marjala notched three assists – giving him five helpers in the two games.
Firebirds head coach Derek Laxdal said he made sure the message was the same to his team after last night’s victory as it was following Thursday’s 6-1 setback in Game 1.
“Once the game’s done, win or loss, you move on.”
This evening will be the Condors’ first winner-take-all in a Calder Cup Playoff game, although they did win a pair of Game 3’s during the Pacific Division playoff following the COVID-abbreviated 2020-21 season. The Firebirds won three straight winner-take-all games in 2023 before dropping Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals.
Said Chaulk: “Both teams’ seasons are on the line. It’s going to be a great experience for our prospects. Either way we’re going to make some memories.”