Goaltenders Dominant As The Calder Cup Playoffs Unfold

Eight teams remain alive for a chance to lift the Calder Cup in June.

• Calder Cup Playoff Bracket
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Goaltending has been a dominant story through early-round play. Through 53 playoff games, teams have averaged 2.62 goals per game, and that number has been bloated by late-game blowouts and empty-net tallies. Twenty-three of the contests have been decided by one goal, and that stingy play does not look to ease up as the playoff field goes through further cuts.

It’s mainly a crop of prospects and young veterans anchoring teams in net. Last year NHL veteran Kaapo Kähkönen steered the Charlotte Checkers to Game 6 of the Calder Cup Finals. Two years ago it was a Chris Driedger-Hunter Shepard battle in the Calder Cup Finals. Shepard also took the Hershey Bears to the 2023 Calder Cup title. And in 2022, the first year of the AHL’s current playoff format, Alex Lyon took the Chicago Wolves to a title.

This year, it’s bit of a different look.

The Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, one of just two remaining teams from the AHL’s top-five regular-season clubs, will meet the Springfield Thunderbirds to settle the Atlantic Division. In the North Division, the Cleveland Monsters will face the Toronto Marlies; the teams finished third and fourth in the division, respectively. In the Western Conference, a decades-old rivalry will have the Grand Rapids Griffins matched up with the Chicago Wolves. The Colorado Eagles and Coachella Valley Firebirds will fight it out in the Pacific Division. All series will use a best-of-five format this round.

Let’s review the goaltenders that each of these remaining teams mainly have relied on so far.

Atlantic Division

**Springfield Thunderbirds – Georgi Romanov (6 GP | 5-1 | 1.42 | .954)**Romanov, who did not even dress for the Thunderbirds’ first playoff game, has been perhaps the top story of the postseason. After an 8-1 debacle at Charlotte in that opening game, Romanov took over the following game and has never let go of his hold on the Springfield net. This springtime performance follows a subpar regular season in which he finished 9-12-3 | 3.29 | .896. But this is someone who did not pan out in the San Jose Sharks organization and had to take a training-camp tryout from the New Jersey Devils last September before finding his way to Springfield. The Thunderbirds will need that top-level performance to continue against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, a score-by-committee group that can run a deep forward group.

**Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins – Sergei Murashov (4 GP | 3-1 | 1.99 | .937)**While Romanov has bounced around NHL organizations, the 22-year-old Murashov is a high-end prospect and possibly the Pittsburgh Penguins’ future in net. An AHL All-Star this season, he finished 24-9-4 | 2.20 | .919 in 38 games. Exceptionally mature and heretofore unflappable, opponents have struggled to rattle Murashov, who is in his first full AHL season. He also has had to fight for this starting job with the highly capable Joel Blomqvist right there behind him.

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2026 Springfield Thunderbirds vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

North Division

**Cleveland Monsters – Zach Sawchenko (3 GP | 3-0 | 1.51 | .946)**Like Romanov, Sawchenko drifted around the AHL before blossoming this postseason. After a Game 1 win against the Syracuse Crunch, head coach Trent Vogelhuber went with Ivan Fedotov for Game 2. But after yanking Fedotov after the first period in that loss, he turned back to Sawchenko. It was the right call. Sawchenko took Game 3 and then had 46 saves in triple-overtime road victory that took that series for the Monsters.

**Toronto Marlies – Artur Akhtyamov (6 GP | 4-2 | 2.14 | .917)**When the Marlies faced a must-win Game 5 last Saturday afternoon at Laval, head coach John Gruden chose Akhtyamov over Dennis Hildeby. The Marlies held the Rocket to 22 shots, but nothing is safe against an opponent with an offense like that. That’s where Akhtyamov, 24, came through as he took the Marlies to a 3-2 win. Should Akhtyamov stumble, though, the Marlies have Hildeby, someone who has been an AHL All-Star and has spent time with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Central Division

**Grand Rapids Griffins – Michal Postava (4 GP | 3-1 | 1.25 | .945)**First-round pick Sebastian Cossa for the Calder Cup Playoffs? No, it was Postava who got the Game 1 start and has remained there ever since. He won Czech Extraliga title last season with HC Kometa Brno before signing a two-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings. He has handled the move to the AHL well, going 17-6-0 | 1.71 | .937 in the regular season. Cossa remains an option, but Postava’s play has kept the first-round pick on the bench so far this postseason.

**Chicago Wolves – Cayden Primeau (5 GP | 3-2 | 2.27 | .918)**Primeau is a familiar face this time of year. He took Laval to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022 and 2025. After a chaotic start to the season in which he went to the Leafs via waivers and was then re-claimed by the Carolina Hurricanes, he has been Chicago’s anchor in net. He got them past a stubborn Texas Stars team last round.

Pacific Division

**Colorado Eagles – Trent Miner (6 GP | 5-1 | 1.10 | .953)**Is this the year for the Eagles, a team that has disappointed several times in recent postseasons? If Miner keeps up his absurd numbers, it may well be. Two of his three shutouts so far came against the Henderson Silver Knights, an opponent that had overwhelmed goaltenders for the better part of the past three months. Colorado’s defensive structure is exceptional, and in the rare event of a breakdown, there is Miner to clean up any mistakes.

**Coachella Valley Firebirds – Nikke Kokko (8 GP | 5-3 | 2.74 | .893)**If it’s May, there is a strong chance that the Firebirds are still playing. They went to the Calder Cup Finals in each of their first two seasons. The difference then was that they had strong pro experience in Joey Daccord (2023) and Driedger a year later. As the Firebirds have shifted toward a much more youthful and prospect-flavored roster, that trend has extended to their goaltending. Only 22 years old, the 2022 second-round pick got a late-season look with the Seattle Kraken. While his playoff numbers are far from great, he has been matched up against two strong offenses in the Bakersfield Condors and Ontario Reign. The most important number come April, May, and June – wins – stands dominant in Kokko’s stat line.

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