
Haaland: If I go down like everyone else, Gabriel gets a red card
Haaland says Gabriel should have been sent off for headbutt in City's win over Arsenal.
The Springfield Thunderbirds clinched a playoff spot in the Calder Cup after a strong finish to the season, including a 7-1 victory over Lehigh Valley. Key players like Aleksanteri Kaskimaki and Akil Thomas contributed significantly, with Kaskimaki reaching 20 goals this season.
It was a long, tough climb for Springfield of the American Hockey League to even fathom getting into a playoff chase. But when the St. Louis Blues decided to make an organizational coaching change and put associate coach **Steve Ott** in Springfield after replacing **Steve Konowalchuk** on Jan. 19, they were 13-18-4-2 and laboring at the bottom of the Atlantic Division but started 2-10-2-1. But a 19-14-2-0 run, capped by an emphatic 7-1 win at home over Lehigh Valley on Wednesday, it clinched their spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs, which was finalized on Sunday, and the Thunderbirds (32-32-6-2) come in as the No. 6 seed and will face third-seeded Charlotte in a best-of-3 first round series that begins Wednesday:
The stage is set
Off to Charlotte we go βοΈ pic.twitter.com/AyI1tEgmKr
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 19, 2026 And leading the way not just this past week but for several weeks now was **Aleksanteri Kaskimaki**, a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, who finished the season on a three-game point streak (two goals, three assists); he had a goal and an assist Wednesday in the rout of the Phantom, and many have been like this one around the net: OH MY KASKIMAKI pic.twitter.com/RVDF3pdSwH
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 16, 2026 And in a 7-5 loss to Hartford on Friday, Kaskimaki reached the 20-goal marker: MAKE THAT 2β£0β£ FOR KASKI pic.twitter.com/vtfDTKZLS9
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 18, 2026 He would have an assist in the season finale, 4-3 over Hartford at home Saturday and it would mark a stretch of games where the forward would finish with 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) over the final 15 games of the season and finish with 44 points (20 goals, 24 assists) in 64 games, nearly doubling his goal total from his first season last year (11). **Juraj Pekarcik** (2023, third round) had an up-and-down first season in the AHL, but the forward capped things off with this nice goal on the backhand on Saturday to finish with a goal and an assist in the final two games: PEKARCIK DANGLES
The Thunderbirds secured their playoff spot by going on a 19-14-2-0 run after a coaching change, culminating in a decisive 7-1 victory over Lehigh Valley.
Standout players included Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, who scored 20 goals, and Akil Thomas, who had eight points in nine games after recovering from injury.
The Thunderbirds will face the third-seeded Charlotte in a best-of-3 series in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Aleksanteri Kaskimaki finished the season with 44 points, including 20 goals and 24 assists, nearly doubling his goal total from the previous season.

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β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 18, 2026 We haven't mentioned **Hugh McGing** (2018, fifth round) a ton in these spaces, but the forward also finished strong with four goals in the final four games, including two on Friday: PAY DAY FOR CHA-CHING π€ pic.twitter.com/JZHOjgsMPR
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 18, 2026 MCGING THE MAGICIAN πͺ pic.twitter.com/wa5huatJiM
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 18, 2026 And one on Saturday to give him 31 points (12 goals, 19 assists) in 66 games this season: STAY HOT MCGING pic.twitter.com/zh823sXcvl
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 18, 2026 **Dylan Peterson** (2020, third round) has played the bottom six and done so well with his physicality but finished with 24 points (12 goals, 12 assists) in 57 games after scoring in the finale on Saturday: PETERSON WITH THE STARE DOWN CELLY pic.twitter.com/YQCqLzkUFh
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 15, 2026 What a strong finish it was for **Akil Thomas** (2018, second round, Los Angeles Kings), acquired in the **Nikita Alexandrov** trade; Thomas finished the season with eight points (five goals three assists) in nine games after having just one assist in his first 11 games with the Thunderbirds having not played much due to a lower-body injury. He scored twice against Lehigh Valley in the playoff clincher on Wednesday: AKIL THOMAS GETS THIS GAME STARTED ON THE RIGHT FOOT pic.twitter.com/PSbq9lYVzi
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 15, 2026 THOMAS HAS 2 ON THE NIGHT pic.twitter.com/9OINpPhTZv
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 16, 2026 And then finished things off with a goal and an assist on Friday in the loss to the Wolfpack: SNIPER SNIPER SNIPER π― pic.twitter.com/4pE5hHcy2D
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 18, 2026 There hasn't been a ton of offense from defenseman **Michael Buchinger** (2022, third round) this season, but he did pick up his sixth goal against the Phantoms: WITH THE QUICK RELEASE, BUCHINGER MAKES THIS GAME 3-0 pic.twitter.com/2rSOoppiW4
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 15, 2026 And a player that's had two injury-riddled seasons along with healthy scratches, **Simon Robertsson** (2021, third round) was able to get on the board with just his second goal in 40 games this season on Friday: ENJOY THIS ROBERTSSON GOAL pic.twitter.com/mvffqXCxQd
β Springfield Thunderbirds (@ThunderbirdsAHL) April 18, 2026 Defenseman **Colin Ralph** (2024, second round), who signed his entry-level contract after leaving Michigan State recently, picked up two helpers in back-to-back games on Wednesday and Friday; and I'd be remiss to mention **Quinton Burns** (2023, third round), who has played in 31 games this season in the AHL and has he supplied some nastiness on the blue line, a physical player the Blues really like. **Otto Stenberg** (2023, first round, No. 25) and **Zach Dean** (2021, first round, No. 30, Vegas Golden Knights) each had two assists Wednesday, and Springfield heads into its series with the Checkers (44-23-5-0) playing with confidence. Β \* **Justin Carbonneau** returned to juniors this season in hopes of winning a title/titles. The 2025 first-round pick (No. 19) took another step towards that when Blainville Boisbriand clinched its second-round series on Sunday, downingΒ Terre-Neuve. The series was tied 1-1 when the Armada would head to the road, and Carbonneau had a goal and an assist last Monday in a 4-1 win by opening the scoring at 12:51 of the first period, but his assist that put the game on ice at 17:33 was something special: Justin Carbonneau, mesmerizing! π€©
What a tremendous pass for Vincent Desjardins, and @ArmadaBLB leads 2-1 in the series with a 4-1 win
β QMJHL (@QMJHL) April 14, 2026 He also scored in Game 4 of a 5-4 loss, tying the game 2-2 at 2:08 of the third period, then scored this beauty of a wrister on Friday in Game 5 of a 3-0 win at at 9:46 of the second period to break a scoreless game: pic.twitter.com/Q1DtL7ZTfl
β ArmadaBLB (@ArmadaBLB) April 17, 2026 Carbonneau didn't score in the clincher on Sunday, a a 5-3 win but he did have three assists to finish the series with three goals, five assists and a plus-5. The Armada, the fourth seed, will take on No. 1 Moncton with dates and times TBA. \* How about **Adam Jiricek** (2024, first round, No. 16) and Brantford, finishing off its second series sweep in the second round by disposing North Bay in four games. The Bulldogs were up 3-0 in the series when they played Game 4 on Wednesday, and Jiricek had a goal and an assist in a 5-3 win to close the series with nine points (three goals, six assists): Bulldogs score in bunchesπΆ
Adam Jiricek doubles the @BulldogsOHL lead just 20 seconds after the opening goal.#BFDvsNB | #stlbluespic.twitter.com/xmYbG34ODF
β Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) April 15, 2026
The defenseman is now up to 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in eight playoff games as Brantford moves into the Eastern Conference Final to face Barrie beginning with Game 1 on Wednesday.
\* For **Lukas Fischer** (2024, second round) and **Antoine Dorion** (2024, seventh round), their respective junior seasons have ended with Fischer and Sault Ste. Marie losing to Kitchener in five games, including 4-3 in Game 3 before keeping its season alive, winning 4-2 in Game 4, then falling in Kitchener in Game 5 on Friday, 5-1.
Fischer had two assists in the series and was a minus-6.
As for Dorion and Quebec, the Remparts were swept in the second round byΒ Chicoutimi, losing 4-0 in Game 3 at home last Monday and 5-0 in Game 5 last Wednesday. Dorion did not have a point in the series.
\* The season also ended for **Dmitry Buchelnikov** (2022, second round, Detroit Red Wings) and CSKA Moscow, which was knocked out in the second round of the gagarin Cup by Avangard Omsk in five games.
Avangard had a 3-0 series lead when CSKA stayed alive with a 3-1 win in Game 4 last Tuesday but were eliminated with a 2-1 loss in Game 5 on Thursday.
Buchelnikov had just one assist in the series and finished the postseason with a goal and three assists in 10 games.
\* And last but not least, **Ondrej Kos** (2024, third round) and Ilves are in the semifinals of the Liiga playoffs in Finland and the fourth-seeded Lynx lead their best-of-7 series with top-seeded Tappara 2-0.
Ilves opened with a 3-2 road win on Thursday, and Kos had an assist on what amounted to be the game-winner at 1:23 of the third period and played 14:01.
Kos didn't account for any points in Game 2 but Ilves won handily, 6-0, but the forward did play 12:56 and had a shot on goal.
Kos has four assists thus far in seven playoff games and is a plus-4.