The North Division semifinals wrap up this afternoon with a win-or-go-home Game 5 between Laval and Toronto at Place Bell (3 ET, 
).
Laval’s 4-0 road win in Game 4 on Tuesday, backed by 18 saves from Kaapo Kähkönen, tied the series.
Samuel Blais, who has won both a Calder Cup (Abbotsford, 2025) and a Stanley Cup (St. Louis, 2019) in his career, scored twice in Game 4, and Laurent Dauphin recorded a goal and two assists, giving him six points in the series after he missed the final 12 games of the regular season due to injury.
Defenseman Adam Engström made his first appearance of the series in Game 4 after rejoining the Rocket from the parent Montréal Canadiens.
After scoring 12 goals in the previous two games, Toronto was shut out on home ice for the first time since Jan. 1, 2025.
“You’ve really just got to leave it all out there,” said Marlies forward Jacob Quillan, whose winner-take-all résumé includes scoring the overtime winning goal for Quinnipiac University in the 2023 national championship game. “You don’t want to have any regrets. You’ve got to just lay it all on the line and compete every second for every inch.”
The Rocket are 2-1 in winner-take-all games all-time; the Marlies are 6-4, but 0-4 on the road.
Today’s winner advances to face Cleveland beginning Thursday night.
The Colorado Eagles take a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 against Henderson tonight (8:05 ET, ) with a chance to reach the division finals for the third time in five seasons.
The Eagles have stifled the Silver Knights’ top-ranked offense in the series, holding them to four goals and 80 shots over 10-plus periods of play. On the season, Henderson is averaging 1.91 goals per game in 11 meetings with Colorado, but 3.88 goals per game against the rest of the league.
With his 20-save effort in Wednesday’s 4-0 win, Colorado’s Trent Miner (4-1, 0.94, .960) became the first AHL goaltender since Rochester’s Mika Noronen in 2000 to begin a postseason with three shutouts in a span of five starts.
“We’re blocking shots, we’re playing tight defensively,” Miner said. “We’re playing a full 60 minutes. Everyone’s bought in and making the right decisions.”
Tristen Nielsen (3-2-5) scored twice for Colorado in Game 3 while Alex Barré-Boulet (2-4-6) notched three assists. Rookie defenseman Alex Gagne (2-0-2) potted his second goal of the playoffs after scoring once in 58 regular-season games.
Carl Lindbom, who turned aside 23 of 26 shots in net for the Silver Knights in Game 3, is now 2-5-1 (2.32, .926) in eight starts against the Eagles this season, and 25-2-4 (2.14, .924) against the rest of the AHL.
The final game of the night is the finale of the Pacific Division semifinal series between Ontario and Coachella Valley (9 ET, ), a winner-take-all Game 5 between the SoCal rivals.
On Thursday, the Firebirds survived their third brush with elimination already this postseason, a 6-2 victory in Game 4 that improved them to 8-3 all-time in must-win playoff games.
J.R. Avon (4-1-5), who scored a career-high 10 goals in the regular season for Coachella Valley, scored his fourth goal of the postseason in Game 4, and rookie defenseman Kaden Hammell (1-1-2) scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal and added an assist for his first two playoff points as a pro.
“The message was to come out strong and continue that effort,” said defenseman Gustav Olofsson, who has played all 57 postseason games in the Firebirds’ four-year history. “Even with a lead we didn’t want to sit back. When you’re desperate that happens, and the guys did a good job doing what was needed.”
Outshot 15-5 in the first period of Game 4, Ontario still managed to reach intermission tied at 1-1. But Coachella Valley scored twice late in the second and once more early in the third to put the game out of reach.
“Fortunately, we get another crack at it,” Reign head coach Andrew Lord said, “(but) we definitely need to be better from the start. We all need to be better to a man, which I have full confidence we will be.”
The Firebirds are 4-1 all-time in winner-take-all games, but tonight will be the first time they take part in one on the road. The Reign’s only previous such Calder Cup Playoff contest was a 4-1 loss at San Diego in the 2017 division semifinals.