The Springfield Thunderbirds have made history in the Calder Cup Playoffs by eliminating the Providence Bruins, the regular-season champions, in a major upset. They previously defeated the Charlotte Checkers and are set to face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins next.
Next up: the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The Springfield Thunderbirds have already made history just seven games into the Calder Cup Playoffs. Now theyâll try to take out another Calder Cup contender.
They had already rallied in opening-round play against the Charlotte Checkers to win that series. But their biggest upset came this last Thursday night when they eliminated the Providence Bruins, the AHLâs regular-season champion and a team that had flirted with the leagueâs best single-season record until the final week of the campaign. Providence (110 points) had finished 38 points ahead of the Thunderbirds (72 points), making it the single-biggest upset in Calder Cup Playoff history.
Long before the postseason arrived, it had already been an eventful six months for the Thunderbirds. Head coach Steve Konowalchuk was fired Jan. 19 and replaced by Steve Ott, an assistant with the parent St. Louis Blues. They dealt a pair of veteran forwards in the second half, AHL All-Star Matt Luff and captain Matthew Peca.
Frankly, little to nothing from this team portended anything like this run so far through the postseason.
They barely qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs, finishing sixth in the Atlantic Division and needing until the final week of the season to secure that playoff berth. In the second-to-last game of their season, they took a 7-5 thumping from the Hartford Wolf Pack, the AHLâs last-place team. Once the Calder Cup Playoffs started, it went even worse in Game 1 at Charlotte, where the Checkers thrashed them, 8-1. Starter Vadim Zherenko surrendered four first-period goals, and reliever Will Cranley gave up another four.
The Springfield Thunderbirds eliminated the Providence Bruins, the AHL's regular-season champions, marking the biggest upset in Calder Cup Playoff history.
The Thunderbirds rallied to win their opening-round series against the Charlotte Checkers before defeating the Providence Bruins.
The Springfield Thunderbirds will face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the next round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Providence Bruins finished with 110 points, 38 points ahead of the Springfield Thunderbirds, who had 72 points.
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Georgi Romanov stepped in for Game 2, and Charlotte scored 3:52 into that game. Here we go again? No, they eventually took a 3-1 lead before two shorthanded strikes sealed up a 5-2 victory. Captain Chris Wagner picked up a pair of goals and an assist, Romanov had 29 saves, and the Thunderbirds had started on their way.
Since then Romanov has dominated even more. In Game 3, he delivered 34 saves. Going into the third period down 1-0, defenseman Calle RosĂ©nâs goal sent the game into overtime, where former Checker Julien Gauthier â the return in the Luff deal â ended the series.
Then came the P-Bruins, an opponent that the Thunderbirds had caused trouble for at times in the previous six months. They went into Providence and pulled out a Game 1 victory. The P-Bruins rallied in Game 2 at home before the series moved to Springfield for the Thunderbirdsâ first game at MassMutual Center this entire postseason. Zach Deanâs overtime goal won Game 3 before the teams went scoreless into a Game 4 overtime. Dillon Dube needed all of 4:01 to end that game, that series, and set up this match-up with the Penguins.
Along with Providence's first-place finish, Charlotte earned the AHL's fifth-best regular-season record.
To be sure, this is not the same Springfield team that it was earlier. Forward Otto Stenberg came back in the final week of the regular season after a 32-game look with the Blues. Theo Lindstein, another first-round pick, returned with Stenberg. Michigan State defenseman Colin Ralph, a 2024 St. Louis second-round pick, joined the Thunderbirds late in the regular season and has since settled in as a regular in Ottâs line-up. In time for Game 4 against Providence, the Thunderbirds got yet another first-rounder, forward Justin Carbonneau, from the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. In came yet one more first-round pick, defenseman Adam JiĆĂÄek of the Brantford Bulldogs, for the series-clinching win as well.
Romanov has gone 5-1 | 1.42 | .954 in his six playoff games. This from someone who was 9-12-3 | 3.29 | .896 in the regular season and never managed to secure the number-one job.
But after taking out the likes of Charlotte and Providence, can they keep it up now?
Another stout test comes in the form of the Penguins, who finished right between Providence and Charlotte before dispatching the Hershey Bears last round. Like Springfield, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has no concerns in terms of potential roster disruption from the NHL parent team. The Pittsburgh Penguins went home in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and their AHL affiliate has gotten some of its own help lately. Forward Bill Zonnon, a Blainville-Boisbriand teammate of Carbonneauâs, has joined Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He went to Pittsburgh as the 22nd overall pick in last yearâs NHL Draft.
This has been a wildly unpredictable postseason, one where the P-Bruins are not the only top contender to go home early. Three of the four division winners are out as the Laval Rocket and Ontario Reign joined Providence on Saturday.
Springfield has not needed to feast on the power play so far, ranking just 16th in the postseason at 10.3 percent. Springfieldâs penalty kill is fourth-best at 91.7 percent. A standout penalty kill is not necessarily a must-have for Calder Cup Playoff success. The Abbotsford Canucks won a Calder Cup last season with the AHLâs seventh-ranked postseason penalty kill. Hershey won back-to-back Calder Cups with a penalty kill that was eighth in 2024 and 11th a year earlier. Still, every little edge helps with May and June hockey, and a reliable kill can bail out the Thunderbirds when needed.
Wilkes-Barre/Scrantonâs roster saw a steady exodus of scoring talent, with Danton Heinen, Sam Poulin, Phil Tomasino, and Val Puustinen all departing via trades. And so the Penguins have gradually evolved to become a stout four-line team that can beat opponents with its scoring depth.
In just four game against Hershey, they got goals from 11 different players. Tristan Broz does not have a goal, but he had four assists and caused Hershey considerable difficulty. Forward Mikhail Ilyin joined the team in April following a 44-point KHL season with Severstal Cherepovets and has quickly taken well to the AHL.
In his second AHL season, he went 24-9-4 | 2.20 | .919 in 38 games and earned an AHL All-Star selection. Heâs just one half of a fearsome goaltending duo for head coach Kirk MacDonald as well. He had a 3-1 | 1.99 | .937 effort against Hershey as well. And should Murashov falter, this team can turn to the very reliable Joel Blomqvist, who was 16-5-4 | 2.40 | .913 in 26 regular-season appearances.
So, yes, itâs going to be tough for Springfield to take out a third Atlantic Division power. Game 1 is Tuesday night at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which means more time on the road for a team that has already done plenty of that this spring.
But itâs supposed to be difficult, and it could well become that much more difficult this round. Maybe this will be the end for Springfield. But, as Charlotte and Providence have painfully found out in seeing their seasons vanish before them thanks to the Thunderbirds, maybe not.
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