with files from Patrick Williams
The fifth day of the fifth month brings five games, including a winner-take-all Game 5:
It should come as little surprise that the Penguins and Bears reach tonight’s Game 3 of their Atlantic Division semifinal series (7 ET, 
) tied at one game apiece.
The teams have played eight previous playoff series, with each club winning four. They have now played 42 postseason games against each other, split 21-21.
Giant Center hasn’t been kind to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the playoffs, though. The Penguins have a 2-16 postseason record in Hershey since the building opened (although they did win twice at Hersheypark Arena in 2001). Overall, the Bears are 70-36 on home ice in the playoffs since moving into their new rink.
“The start is going to be huge,” Penguins forward Rafaël Harvey-Pinard said. “We know they have a good crowd over there, so we’re going to need a really good start, get the legs moving and establish our forecheck.”
The Penguins took 37 shots on goal in Game 2, but Clay Stevenson stopped 36 of them – 21 in the third period alone – to preserve a 2-1 Bears win.
“I thought we did a good job blocking shots, getting in lanes, forcing pucks to go down low,” Hershey head coach Derek King said of the frenetic final period on Sunday. “But they were shooting pucks from everywhere, so good on Clay.”
An 11-0 scoring run has swung the North Division semifinals in Toronto’s favor, but they still need one more victory to close finish off the division champions from Laval.
Tonight’s Game 4 (7 ET, ) follows 6-2 wins by the Marlies to give them a 2-1 series lead. After falling behind 2-0 early in Game 2, Toronto scored 11 consecutive goals over 81:05 – a little more than four periods – of playing time.
Game 3 began with Laval captain Lucas Condotta taking a high-sticking penalty off the opening faceoff, and Toronto captain Logan Shaw scoring six seconds into the power play to give Toronto a 1-0 lead at the 11-second mark of the contest.
“It starts right away by us taking advantage of a power play, then that carries on to the five-on-five game,” Marlies head coach John Gruden said. “All four lines were outstanding, six defensemen and the goaltender – we set the tone with everyone.”
“Everyone’s contributing right now, but I think that we just have to keep our foot on the gas and keep doing what we’re doing,” Shaw said. “They’re first place for a reason. We knew coming into the series, it wasn’t going to be easy. Our guys are up to that task of playing hard and doing the little things that we have to do.”
“All year, when we faced adversity, we responded well,” Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent said after Game 3. “Nothing tells me we don’t have what it takes.”
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Shaw’s goal was the third-fastest from the start of a Calder Cup Playoff game in the last two decades:
8 seconds – Loui Eriksson, Iowa Stars (vs. Chicago, 5/10/07)
9 seconds – Greg Stewart, Hamilton Bulldogs (vs. Grand Rapids, 4/26/09)
11 seconds – Josh Lopina, San Diego Gulls (vs. Ontario, 5/4/22)
11 seconds – Logan Shaw, Toronto Marlies (vs. Laval, 5/3/26)
Springfield’s wild playoff ride so far has taken place entirely on the road. Tonight, the Thunderbirds are back at MassMutual Center to host Providence in Game 3 of their Atlantic Division semifinal series (7:05 ET, ).
The Bruins survived a late push from the Thunderbirds in Game 2 on Sunday and pulled out a 2-1 win, ending Springfield’s three-game winning streak and deadlocking their best-of-five series at one game apiece.
The Birds won five of their last six home games during the regular season, helping them secure a playoff spot in Game 70 of their 72-game slate. The Bruins were a league-best 27-7-2-0 on the road in 2025-26, but two of the seven regulation losses came in Springfield.
The Thunderbirds’ Georgi Romanov (4 GA on 57 shots) has matched AHL MVP Michael DiPietro (4 GA on 54 shots) essentially save for save in the series, and now has a 1.66 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage in his four playoff starts.
“He’s a good goalie, and we’ve got to do a better job of getting to him,” Providence head coach Ryan Mougenel said of Romanov. “Traffic, making him uncomfortable, working to the net as opposed to away from the net. At times I’d like more of a shot mentality and work off that shot.”
Matěj Blümel has scored two of the Bruins’ four goals in the series, giving him 27 points (14-13-27) in 23 games over the last three postseasons.
Chicago and Texas square off in the finale of their Central Division semifinal at Allstate Arena tonight (8 ET, ), with the winner moving on to face either Grand Rapids or Manitoba in the next round.
The Wolves appeared to be on their way to wrapping up the series in Game 4 on Sunday, taking a 4-2 lead into the late stages of the third period. But Vladislav Kolyachonok scored with 7:54 to play, and Kole Lind tied things up with a mere 10.1 seconds on the clock.
“There’s just no quit in this group at all,” said Lind, who had scored only two goals in his previous 29 games before Sunday.
And after Bradly Nadeau caught Trey Taylor with a high stick 5:48 into overtime, the Stars completed the comeback when Artem Shlaine scored his third goal – and second game-winner – of the series on the ensuing four-minute power play.
“These guys just keep finding ways to battle and stay in the fight,” Texas head coach Toby Petersen said, “and that’s a huge quality for a team that’s trying to win a championship.”
Noah Philp scored for the second straight game for Chicago and Cayden Primeau made a couple of 10-bell saves, including a diving glove stop on Matthew Seminoff in OT.
All of it leads to tonight’s Game 5. Both teams have won a tight low-scoring affair in the series, and both teams have won a 5-4 overtime battle. The Wolves are 9-3 in their AHL history in winner-take-all playoff games, most recently a 4-2 victory over Grand Rapids in the division semis in 2019. Current Stars captain Curtis McKenzie recorded two assists for Chicago in that contest, one of six winner-take-all appearances in his AHL career.
Texas is 4-3 all-time in winner-take-all games, including a 6-5 win at Chicago in Game 7 of the division finals in 2010 on an overtime goal by rookie Jamie Benn.
With one exception – Evan Vierling drawing in for Charlie Cerrato after Game 1 – the Wolves have gone with the same lineup for each of the first four games of the series. But head coach Spiros Anastas could have another option for Game 5 after defenseman Charles Alexis Legault was sent down from Carolina on Monday. The 22-year-old Legault played 24 games with Chicago during the regular season and 12 more with the Hurricanes, but did not see any action in Carolina’s first-round playoff series against Ottawa.
Coachella Valley hosts Game 3 of their Pacific Division semifinal tonight (10 ET, ) after earning a split of the first two games back in Ontario.
The Reign responded to a 3-0 shutout loss in Game 1 with a 5-1 victory on Friday night, getting a late second-period goal from Glenn Gawdin to snap a 1-1 tie before tacking on three more goals in the third period.
What was different in Game 2 for Ontario compared to the opener?
“Everything,” head coach Andrew Lord said. “We were back to ourselves. We were faster, execution was far better. We stayed the course really well, stayed composed.”
Pheonix Copley, who had a 1.65 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage in his three regular-season starts against the Firebirds this year, got the call in Game 2 and made 34 saves. Copley is 10-9 (2.03, .936) in his career in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
“As a team we played a lot better game from the defensive zone out,” Copley said after Game 2. “We knew we had to be better. It looked like a complete team game from my vantage point and that’s what we needed.”
