Calder Cup Playoff Stock Report: Upsets Upending The Postseason

Q: Which teams were eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs?

The Providence Bruins, Ontario Reign, and Charlotte Checkers, all top-five finishers, have been eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Q: How did the Springfield Thunderbirds perform in the Calder Cup Playoffs?

The Springfield Thunderbirds, ranked 22nd, have knocked out two top-five teams and are competing against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Q: What is the current status of the Calder Cup Playoffs?

There are now eight teams remaining in the Calder Cup Playoffs after a series of surprising upsets.

Q: What factors contributed to the upsets in the Calder Cup Playoffs?

The postseason has been unpredictable, with lower-seeded teams outperforming expectations and eliminating higher-ranked opponents.

Another round of cuts, and it’s now an eight-team field left in the Calder Cup Playoffs.

It has been a spring of upsets. Top-five finishers in the Providence Bruins (first), Ontario Reign (fourth), and Charlotte Checkers (fifth) are all out. Meanwhile, the Springfield Thunderbirds (22nd) knocked out two of those top-five teams and have a chance to do the same to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (third).

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It has been anything but a predictable postseason. Let’s examine who is rising, holding, and falling among those Calder Cup Playoff teams – past and present.

Rising

Colorado EaglesThe Eagles look like a problem.

Trent Miner has three shutouts in six games. These mobile Eagles jam up every bit of ice and mostly stymied the Henderson Silver Knights, the AHL’s highest-scoring club in the regular season. For a team that has been a playoff disappointment in past years, this is a group with returnees who have appeared to learn lessons from those previous setbacks.

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Springfield ThunderbirdsIt’s simple. The Thunderbirds are fresh off the biggest upset in Calder Cup Playoff history. This is a trophy that teams have fought for in 89 previous postseasons. But this year, Springfield knocked out the regular-season champion Providence Bruins, a team that had finished 38 points ahead of the Thunderbirds. That gap is the largest in league history.

Goaltender Georgi Romanov has starred for Springfield, taking over in Game 2 of the team’s opening-round matchup with the Charlotte Checkers, winning that series, and then dispatching Providence in four games. Facing the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will be a considerable challenge. But so was facing Charlotte and Providence, and those teams are home now.

Toronto MarliesThe parent Toronto Maple Leafs have taken criticism for their prospect depth, but the Marlies’ ongoing playoff run is giving the organization a chance to audition some of that talent further.

Forward Easton Cowan (2-4-6 in eight games) will get another round of playoff experience as the Marlies face the Cleveland Monsters. It’s another line on his resume after a solid rookie season spent in the NHL with the Leafs. Now, rather than going home, he is playing well into May.

Ben Danford could be the Leafs’ next prospect to sample the Calder Cup Playoffs. The Brantford Bulldogs defenseman’s OHL season ended last week, and he joined the Marlies on Monday. Like Cowan, Danford has packed a lot of learning into the past eight months. He had 3-17-20 in 45 regular-season games split between the Oshawa Generals and Brantford while also winning a bronze medal for Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship this past January.

Holding

Grand Rapids GriffinsUnlike other top regular-season teams, the Griffins handled business in their first playoff matchup.

That said, the Manitoba Moose were not expected to be a serious threat to the Griffins, and they were not. The Moose grabbed a Game 1 win, but the Griffins took control of the series from there. After winning Game 2 on the road, well, the Griffins were not going to fall back on home ice. They did not.

The Chicago Wolves should be a better barometer for the Griffins.

Falling

Providence BruinsMaybe it was a sign that the P-Bruins sputtered in the final weekend of the regular season. With a chance to secure the best regular season in AHL history, Providence instead was swept in a home-and-home series with the Utica Comets. It was a decidedly sluggish performance against a hungry Comets team bidding for a playoff berth. Providence then had a 13-day break before facing Springfield, had a poor Game 1, and sputtered further from there.

It’s the seventh consecutive early exit for Providence, a team that has failed to reach the final eight group of playoff teams since a 2017 run to the Eastern Conference Finals. Providence’s abundant scoring vanished at the worst possible time of the year.

Laval RocketThe second regular-season division winner to fall, penalty trouble and a faulty penalty kill doomed Laval.

By the time the Rocket corrected those issues, they had already gotten themselves into deep trouble. They managed a 4-0 win in Game 4 at Toronto to set up Game 5 last Saturday at home. They even took a 2-1 lead into the final period, but two Toronto goals ended what had been a promising Laval season.

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