With the AHL’s top seed stunned by a massive first-round upset, the Griffins' path to a title just widened. Now, Detroit’s affiliate must seize this golden opportunity.
In what may go down as one of the most stunning upsets in recent AHL history, the Providence Bruins, one of the most dominant regular-season teams the league has seen in years, were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by a Springfield Thunderbirds team that had barely earned the right to be there.
Providence finished the regular season at 54-16-2-0, a record that put them firmly alongside the Grand Rapids Griffins as the class of the AHL and the heavy favorite to be the Griffins' primary competition for the Calder Cup.
Instead, they ran into a Springfield team that went 32-32-6-2 during the regular season, scraped into the playoffs, and proceeded to make the Bruins look nothing like the juggernaut they were all year.
Springfield took Game 1 on the road, winning 3-2 in what felt like a fluke at the time. Providence answered in Game 2 to even the series and restore some order. But the Thunderbirds kept finding ways to win.
Back home for Games 3 and 4, Springfield won both in overtime, pulling off one of the more remarkable upsets in memory and eliminating Providence in a 3-1 series victory. A team that broke records during the regular season was sent home by one that barely qualified for the postseason.
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For the Grand Rapids Griffins, the implications are significant as the Detroit Red Wings affiliate had their own dominant regular season and have carried that form into the playoffs, losing Game 1 of their opening series against the Manitoba Moose before reeling off three straight wins to advance.
They now face the Chicago Wolves in the division finals, a team they know well, having gone 6-4 against Chicago during the regular season. Those close margins suggest the Wolves won't go quietly, and Grand Rapids will need to be at their best.
But with Providence gone, the Griffins' path to the Calder Cup looks considerably clearer than it did a week ago. Should they get through Chicago, they'd await the winner of the Coachella Valley and Colorado series on the other side of the conference.
Nothing in the playoffs is given, and Grand Rapids knows better than to look past a Wolves team that has pushed them all season. But the door that Springfield just kicked open for them is very real and the Griffins find themselves in the kind of position every contender hopes for heading into the second round.
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