The AHL playoffs begin on Tuesday, and the league's top two teams are in the Pacific Division. Carol Schram digs into the Pacific and explains the format.
Within the AHL, the Pacific Division is its own unique beast. And this year, its teams could make some serious noise in the Calder Cup playoffs.
On Saturday night, the Calgary Wranglers captured the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL's top regular-season team after a 3-2 road win over the Abbotsford Canucks. One year after the Stockton Heat relocated to the same city as their NHL affiliate, the Wranglers finished with a .736 points percentage, ninth-best in the long history of the AHL.
It's the first league title for a Calgary Flames affiliate and the first for a team from the Pacific Division, which was founded in 2015 as part of the AHL's push to align more closely with NHL geography.
On Monday, Wranglers coach Mitch Love was also awarded the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award given to the AHL's most outstanding bench boss of the season. He won the award in his second season coaching the team.
As dominant as the Wranglers have been this season, first place came down to the wire. After starting their final three-game set 0-2 in Abbotsford earlier in the week, Calgary went into Saturday night with a narrow one-point lead in the standings over the AHL's newest team, the first-year Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Early in the third period, the Wranglers trailed Abbotsford 2-1. Around the same time, the Firebirds made a late push against the Bakersfield Condors, tying their game 2-2. If Coachella Valley won and Calgary lost, the Firebirds would take over first place.
Then, after Calgary struggled to get pucks past Abbotsford goalie Arturs Silovs for much of the game, Dryden Hunt connected on the power play at 5:18. Adam Klapka tipped a long shot past Silovs at the eight-minute mark for what proved to be the game-winner.
Three days after picking up his first NHL win in his debut with the Flames on Wednesday, Wranglers goalie Dustin Wolf finished with 28 saves and his 42nd win of the year on Saturday night.
The 22-year-old Californian posted a .932 save percentage, 2.09 goals-against average and seven shutouts in a league-high 55 AHL games played this season. He was named to the first all-star team along with Wranglers forward Matthew Phillips.
In the end, the Firebirds lost 4-2 to the Condors while the Wranglers stepped up to control their own destiny — earning not just the regular-season title but also a bye through the AHL's first-round best-of-three sprint.
Here's a quick rundown of who plays in the first round and how the format works:
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In the three more eastern divisions, the first round is essentially a play-in round for lower-seeded teams — similar to what the NBA is now using and what some people are advocating for the NHL to use.
But in the Pacific, the stakes are high, and seeding is huge. Nearly all qualifying teams participate, and with the teams more spread out geographically, the higher seeds host all three of their games.
It eliminates the time and toll of travel, offers a massive on-ice advantage to the higher-ranked team and funnels some extra box-office bucks into their coffers.
"There's not much margin for error, that's for sure," said first-year Abbotsford coach Jeremy Colliton of the best-of-three format, which he couldn't recall having coached any other time in his career.
"You want to have a good start. I think if you win the first game, that's the biggest thing. So certainly, we're going to be zeroed in on that."
In 2022, all three first-round series in the Pacific were two-game sweeps by the home team. The AHL Canucks, in their first season, narrowly missed out on home ice after losing the tiebreaker when they finished in a tie with the Condors. Each team had 84 points in 68 games.
Just four days later, Abbotsford's season was over. They dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Bakersfield in Game 1, then lost 3-2 in Game 2 — in no small part thanks to lights-out goaltending from now-graduated Condors goalkeeper Stuart Skinner.
Sixteen Canucks holdovers from that 2022 squad will get a crack at revenge this year.
"Whenever you play a team in the playoffs, you don't forget — whether you win or whether you lose," said Colliton. "Especially if you lose. So certainly, guys will be ready."
Abbotsford newcomer Christian Wolanin was also named a first-team all-star. He led all AHL defensemen with 55 points despite an NHL call-up in mid-February limiting him to 49 AHL games. He is expected to be available for the Canucks during the playoffs.
A three-game set on home ice against the AHL's best team to close out the regular season served as perfect preparation for Abbotsford to get dialled into post-season mode.
Now, the Wranglers will have the opportunity to rest up and watch the six qualifiers in the Pacific duke it out. Coachella Valley will host the seventh-seeded Tucson Roadrunners in a desert classic for their best-of-three.
Like most things associated with the Seattle Kraken, the Firebirds have been an out-of-the-box success. Under coach Dan Bylsma, they finished second overall in the AHL with 103 points, the only team other than Calgary to hit the century mark.
And like their parent club, the Firebirds' high-octane offense has been fuelled by balanced scoring. Five players broke the 50-point plateau. The Firebirds also have a strong starting goaltender in Joey Daccord, who finished the year with a record of 26-8-3 to go along with a .918 save percentage and 2.38 GAA.
The third matchup in the Pacific Division's first round will see the third-seeded Colorado Eagles face the sixth-seeded Ontario Reign. The Eagles are led by two names that will be especially familiar to fans of the Montreal Canadiens — Charles Hudon and Alex Galchenyuk. For Ontario, T.J. Tynan has carried the offensive load, and Cal Petersen has settled well into the net after his mid-season reassignment from the Los Angeles Kings.
All three Pacific Division series begin Wednesday, Apr. 19. Blink and you might miss them!