AHL Morning Skate: May 21, 2025 | TheAHL.com

The Abbotsford Canucks obtained a reminder of what the Colorado Eagles are able to on Sunday evening.

Colorado scored 1:57 into the competition, ultimately taking a 5-2 victory that evened the sequence at one sport every. After shutting out the Eagles in Sport 1, the Canucks anticipated a powerful response and so they obtained it.

“I think we saw how fast and competitive they are,” Canucks forward Arshdeep Bains said after the loss. “It’s a five-game series. We knew they needed to come out here and try to take one. We played dipping our toes in the water a little bit in this game. They came out fast, and they’re a good team, so we’ll learn from this.”

Now the Canucks should work out a approach to go on the highway for the rest of the sequence and deal with the Eagles, whose 26-6-2-2 regular-season dwelling file topped the AHL. Colorado had a plus-60 purpose differential (149-89) at dwelling in regular-season play as nicely. However the Canucks did maintain their very own in 4 contests at Colorado within the common season, profitable a 2-1 shootout resolution on Oct. 18 after which grabbing a 5-4 time beyond regulation victory there Feb. 7.

“They’ve got a building like ours,” Bains continued, “and it’s going to be loud. It’s going to be competitive, and we’ve had some success there. I think we’re going make some adjustments.”

Checkers head coach Geordie Kinnear has leaned closely on goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen, who in flip has proven that he can deal with the workload.

Kähkönen was acquired by the Florida Panthers from Winnipeg on Mar. 6 and performed 12 of the Checkers’ ultimate 18 regular-season video games, going 8-4-0 with a 2.30 goals-against common and .906 save share. He has began all seven playoff video games thus far.

Kinnear felt assured sufficient in Kähkönen’s sturdiness to start out him on back-to-back nights to open the sequence with Hershey over the weekend.

“He’s been really good, obviously,” Kinnear said after Game 2 on Saturday. “It’s a younger back end, so to have that experience is huge for those guys. Another elite athlete that takes care of himself so he can play those back-to-backs.”

One of many prime prospects within the Washington Capitals group has joined Hershey, because the Caps reassigned ahead Andrew Cristall from Spokane of the Western Hockey League on Tuesday. The 20-year-old Cristall, a 2023 second-round decide, had a league-leading 132 factors (48 targets, 84 assists) in 57 regular-season video games between Kelowna and Spokane. He then helped lead Spokane to the WHL finals with one other 41 factors (21 targets, 20 assists) in 19 playoff video games, ending second within the league.

Hershey head coach Todd Nelson has not made any indication as as to whether Cristall might be an choice for Sport 3 or past.

“Our effort matched our execution, and I think that’s a critical piece for us.”

That’s how Milwaukee Admirals head coach Karl Taylor described his staff’s 6-4 win in Sport 2 at Texas on Sunday. Following a 4-2 loss in Sport 1, the Admirals took management in Sport 2 with 5 consecutive targets after which fought off a late-game rally by Texas.

“We tried hard in the first game,” Taylor elaborated, “but it was a little bit misdirected and not together. We weren’t going in the same direction. It was a little bit individual.”

Whereas Taylor doesn’t put a variety of inventory in having home-ice benefit within the postseason, the Admirals did earn that privilege by capturing the Central Division regular-season title. Based mostly on these previous two conferences, Taylor expects there might be a variety of hockey to be performed this week in Milwaukee. For these two intense rivals separated by solely two factors within the common season, any margin of error is minimal.

“Game 1, it’s over,” Taylor stated. “Didn’t mean anything. Game 2, now it’s over. Doesn’t mean anything other than the series is tied. So you can anticipate a five-game series. It’s just the way it’s gone with Texas over the years. It’s probably going to come down to Sunday.”

Rochester threw a curveball at Laval in Sport 2.

Even after scoring 4 instances of their Sport 1 loss, Amerks head coach Michael Leone did some tinkering along with his ahead strains for Sport 2. Noah Östlund stepped in for Brett Murray on the left facet of their prime line with Sabres first-round picks Jiří Kulich and Isak Rosén. Rosén had a pair of targets and an help whereas Kulich additionally scored and chipped in an help in Rochester’s 5-3 victory.

Murray shifted to a line with Mason Jobst and Lukáš Rousek whereas Anton Wahlberg, Tyson Kozak and Konsta Helenius stuffed out the third line.

“You can get some different looks, I think,” Rosén said. “For Laval, too, maybe they have to think different.”

Neither the Admirals nor the Stars make any effort to hide their admiration for a way one another performs the sport. With a number of widespread hyperlinks amongst gamers and coaches for the 2 groups together with Calder Cup Playoff conferences the previous two years, the groups have constructed up appreciable historical past and respect between one another.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Stars head coach Neil Graham said after Sunday’s loss. “We know it’s going to be a tight series. It is every year.”

Though the Stars now must face Milwaukee for as many as three video games on the highway, Graham is assured in his staff’s means to deal with a tough opposing constructing. By advantage of geography, the Stars can discover themselves on prolonged highway journeys every season, and he believes that point away from dwelling has been useful. Texas tied for the AHL lead with 24 regular-season highway victories.

“The one thing I’ve always said about this team is that their competitive spirit is the highest that I’ve seen of any team I’ve coached in 13 years,” Graham stated. “I feel early within the season, particularly a few of our newer guys, they have been actually trying on the grind of our highway schedule, how we journey, how we undergo it, and I feel our guys discovered. They discovered methods to have enjoyable on the highway collectively, some team-building. They discovered methods to acknowledge how we put together, how we begin, how we end, and albeit we needed to earn that.

“We’re going to have to be at our best, but it’s something we prepared for all year.”

― with information from Patrick Williams