Guttman, Primeau, and Ivan Ivan Named AHL Three Stars of Wednesday Night

Cole Guttman had never scored three professional goals in a single game. That changed in the most emphatic way possible Wednesday at Acrisure Arena, where Guttman notched his first professional hat trick and added an assist to power the Ontario Reign to a 7-0 dismantling of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the most lopsided offensive performance of their season. The AHL rewarded him with first-star honors, naming Guttman alongside Chicago Wolves goaltender Cayden Primeau and Colorado Eagles forward Ivan Ivan as the Three Stars of the Night.

Guttman's four-point performance was the centerpiece of an Ontario effort so dominant that the Reign outshot the Firebirds 13-3 in the first period alone. His goals, the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of his season, came at different moments across all three periods, framing the night as a sustained individual statement, not a lucky flurry. Andre Lee set up three of Ontario's seven goals with four assists, and Pheonix Copley backstopped the shutout with 23 saves for his first clean sheet of the year, his fourth straight win and seventh in his last eight decisions. Ontario's record stands at 42-19-3-2. With Guttman now showing four-point capacity in the final stretch, the question for the Reign shifts from whether he belongs on the top line to whether anyone can keep him off it heading into the Calder Cup playoffs.

In Chicago, Primeau made the case that the Wolves enter the postseason with perhaps the most settled goaltending situation in the Western Conference. The veteran netminder turned aside all 30 shots he faced in a 5-0 road shutout of the Iowa Wild, his fourth shutout of the season. His .912 save percentage places him sixth among all AHL backstops, and after Chicago clinched its playoff berth, Wednesday's result reinforces that the Wolves are not simply a team that qualified; they are one built to advance. Noah Philp scored twice and Evan Vierling added a goal and two assists to support Primeau on the opening leg of the Wolves' final five-game road trip.

Ivan Ivan delivered the third star with a three-point effort, scoring twice and adding an assist in Colorado's 5-2 win over the Bakersfield Condors. The 23-year-old undrafted forward from Ostrava, Czech Republic, who has split the season between the AHL and periodic recalls to the Colorado Avalanche, found the net in the opening moments of the game by collecting a rebound in the low slot and finishing backhanded. Danil Gushchin and Valtteri Puustinen each contributed multi-point nights for the Eagles, while goaltender Trent Miner made 23 saves. Ivan's two-goal night against Bakersfield at this stage of the season does more than pad a stat line; it gives Colorado's coaching staff a strong argument to keep him in the lineup as the playoff picture tightens.