Before the division finals get started on Tuesday night, we wrap up a memorable round that saw four lower seeds advance.
Springfield’s historic elimination of Providence in the Atlantic Division semifinals is still reverberating 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 .500 or lower since the 2001 Hershey Bears. Next up is the 101-point Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
“Obviously it’s another great team that we’re facing,” Springfield head coach Steve Ott said. “There’s no easy road, especially when you finish where we finished. We’re playing great hockey teams.”
Ott turned the Springfield crease over to Georgi Romanov after an 8-1 loss in Charlotte to begin the playoffs. Romanov has responded by turning aside 186 of the 195 shots he has faced in six starts (5-1, 1.42, .954), including a 37-save shutout in the series-clinching win over the Bruins.
“When you have great goaltending, you give yourself a chance,” Ott said.
When Ott stepped behind 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 guidance 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 is…warriors,” Romanov said. “We fight for everyone.”
Only eight points separated first place from fourth in the North Division during the regular season, so while Cleveland and Toronto reaching the division finals doesn’t qualify as shocking, both of their paths to get here were impressive.
Cleveland knocked off Syracuse, three games to one, winning two overtime games on the road to get past the Crunch. Zach Aston-Reese scored at 7:53 of triple overtime on May 3 to wrap up the series and end the longest game in both franchises’ histories.
“You’re building all year the habits, the details, the way you want the team to play to have success,” Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber said. “Over the course of the two games (in Syracuse)… I felt good as a whole about where we were. You bend (but) don’t break. We get scored on first both games, and we come back and find a way. A lot of really good stuff to build on.”
Toronto went into a hostile Place Bell and ousted Laval with a 3-2 victory on Saturday, the Marlies’ first ever road victory in a winner-take-all game. After being shut out in Game 4, Toronto trailed twice by a goal in Game 5 before Vinni Lettieri scored the winner with 9:38 to play.
“We showed a lot of resiliency,” said Lettieri. “It was a full team effort all the way down.”
Seventh-year pro Reese Johnson scored his first career playoff goal, and rookie defenseman Blake Smith – who had one goal in 62 regular-season games – scored in his postseason debut.
“We stayed with it. We didn’t stray away from the process,” Marlies head coach John Gruden said.
Coachella Valley became the third team to knock off a division winner this postseason when J.R. Avon scored in double overtime of Game 5 on Saturday night, lifting the Firebirds past Ontario.
For Avon, who scored 10 goals in 45 games in 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 postseason since 2014 in which three regular-season division winners failed to win at least one playoff series.
The Firebirds have already won four elimination games this postseason, rallying from 0-1 down to get past Bakersfield in the best-of-three first round before winning the final two games against the Reign.
The win sets up a division finals matchup between Coachella Valley and Colorado. The Eagles shut down a potent Henderson offense, allowing just six goals and 103 shots in their four-game win. Alex Barré-Boulet (3-4-7), T.J. Tynan (1-5-6) and Tristen Nielsen (4-1-5) led Colorado’s attack in the series, while Trent Miner posted a .942 save percentage and two shutouts.