After defeating the Tucson Roadrunners in the first round, the Abbotsford Canucks will meet the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs semifinals. Abbotsford enters as the higher seed, but will start on the road, as they have elected to host Games 3, 4 and 5. The series will begin on May 1, with Game 5 scheduled for May 11. 

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This season, the AHL Canucks struggled against the Firebirds. In four games, Abbotsford picked up only one win and finished the season series with ten goals. One major reason why the Canucks struggled was special teams, as they finished with an 11.1% power play and a 75% penalty kill against their Pacific Division rivals. 

Just like Abbotsford, Coachella Valley is stacked with prospects, who will be a handful all series. Some players to watch include Jagger Firkus, David Goyette, Ty Nelson, and Jani Nyman, who are all projected to be part of the Seattle Kraken's roster in the next few seasons. The Firebirds also have some experienced players like Mitchell Stephens and John Hayden, who have each played over 300 games combined at the NHL and AHL levels. 

3 Takeaways From The Abbotsford Canucks First Two Games Of The 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs After two games, the Abbotsford Canucks find themselves tied in their first-round series of the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs. After Abbotsford took the first game, the Tucson Roadrunners picked up a win in Game 2, forcing a series-deciding Game 3 on Saturday night. Here are three takeaways from the series so far. <br>

If the Canucks want to win this series, they need their top goal scorers to get going. Despite having strong campaigns, both Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Danila Klimovich finished the first round with zero points. If these two can pot a few goals, it could be the difference between heading to the Division Final and the 2024-25 season coming to a close. 

Abbotsford will also need some big performances from Artūrs Šilovs. The Latvian goaltender was impressive in the first round and will enter Thursday's game having not allowed a goal in over 80 minutes of play. If Šilovs can limit Coachella Valley to two or fewer goals a game, the Canucks should be able to advance past the semifinals.

Overall, these two teams match up very well against each other. They both have plenty of goal-scoring talent and a strong goaltender who can steal them games. In the end, this series feels like it will go the distance, with most games being decided by one goal. 

Semifinal Schedule:

Game 1 at Coachella Valley– Thursday, May 1 at 7:00 pm PT
Game 2 at Coachella Valley– Saturday, May 3 at 6:00 pm PT
Game 3 at Abbotsford– Wednesday, May 7 at 7:00 pm PT
*Game 4 at Abbotsford– Friday, May 9 at 7:00 pm PT
*Game 5 at Abbotsford– Sunday, May 11 at 7:00 pm PT

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