Springfield, Manitoba, Coachella Valley rally from Game 1 losses to win series
Three Game 1 losers flipped the first round, led by Springfield's 8-1 comeback from the brink. The safest path in these AHL playoffs now looks like weathering the opener.
The loudest number from the opening round was not a score line so much as a pattern: three teams survived best-of-three series after dropping Game 1, and Springfield did it after taking an 8-1 beating that now stands alone in Calder Cup Playoff history. In a format built to magnify one bad night, the Thunderbirds, Manitoba Moose and Coachella Valley Firebirds all turned the series around, turning first-game panic into a ticket to the next round.
Springfield’s escape was the most improbable of the three. Charlotte had come into the matchup with a regular-season record of 37-5-2-0 when scoring first, then blasted the Thunderbirds 8-1 in Game 1 at BoJangles Coliseum. That should have been enough to tilt the series for good. Instead, Steve Ott’s club kept climbing back, won Game 2 with Hugh McGing’s shorthanded goal with 3:13 left, then finished the turnaround by coming from behind again in Game 3. The Thunderbirds had been outscored 24-5 in their previous three games in Charlotte before the reversal, a collapse that turned into the most eye-catching comeback of the round.
Manitoba’s path was tighter, cleaner and just as revealing. The Moose edged Milwaukee 2-1 in Game 3 on April 26, with Domenic DiVincentiis making 31 saves to finish a series in which he stopped 50 of 52 shots across his two starts. Mark Morrison praised the rookie goalie for handling traffic and rebound chances, and the Moose rewarded that steadiness with just enough offense, including goals from Walker Duehr and David Gustafsson. For Manitoba, the series win was its first since 2018, a long-awaited breakthrough after the club sealed its playoff berth on April 7 with a 4-3 win over Milwaukee. Next comes Grand Rapids in the Central Division semifinals.
Coachella Valley followed a different script at home, but the ending was the same. After being blown out in Game 1, the Firebirds regrouped, then closed out Bakersfield 6-2 in Game 3 at Acrisure Arena. Nikke Kokko steadied after allowing six goals on 23 shots in the opener, stopping 11 of 15 in Game 2 and helping lock down the deciding game. Derek Laxdal said his team improved as the series went on, and the numbers back him up: Coachella Valley improved to 23-7 all-time in home playoff games and now moves on to face Ontario in the Pacific Division semifinals, with Game 1 set for Wednesday night.
The bigger lesson from the first round is simple: in a 23-team playoff with best-of-three openers, the first goal and the first response carry outsized weight. The teams that survived did not just recover from a bad start. They changed the series before one loss could define it.
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