Great news from Coachella Valley. The American Hockey League Firebirds eliminated Pacific Division rival Calgary for the third straight postseason in the CVF franchise’s three-year history. This time in the first round of the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs, shutting out the visiting Wranglers, 2-0, behind 21-year-old goalie prospect Nikke Kokko, to sweep the best-of-three series. It is the 2022 second-round goaltender’s first AHL shutout after posting 20 wins during the regular season and earning AHL First-Team Rookie All-Star honors.
Kokko picked an ideal time to collect the shutout benchmark, punctuating it with three big saves in the game’s final four minutes. His most pivotal and final save was with 40 seconds of the game, making the stop on a deflection and keeping his poise to smother the puck to prevent any rebound chance.
Twenty-six seconds later veteran forward John Hayden intercepted a pass and scored an empty-net insurance goal to salt the game and advancing to the next round against the Abbotsford Canucks. That 26-second interlude no doubt felt way longer to the raucous Acrisure Arena crowd with the team’s avid fans recalling Calgary tying Tuesday’s series openers with seven seconds left in regulation, only for the Firebirds to win late in the first overtime on a goal by veteran Mitchell Stephens.
"These best-of-3 series are almost like three individual Game 7s," said Firebirds coach Derek Laxdal in his post-game press conference. "You get that first win, now you get two cracks to seal it against a team that's playing for their lives. Give our kids credit, they worked hard for what they got. I thought all over the ice, our guys did a great job of taking away their time and space."
Stephens scored the game’s first goal in the southern California desert 15 minutes into the second period to give Coachella Valley a one-goal margin that the Firebids upheld with Kokko’s performance, a stifling third-period defensive structure and not taking the pace off their offensive rushes and overall prowess. In fact, Calgary had only one shot on goal until later third period in the final frame.
True to his animated nature, when the end-of-game horn sounded, Kokko flipped up his mask and motioned a “Whew!” swipe across his brow as if to wipe away sweat and/or indicate what a close game it was. His teammates reciprocated with lots of warp-the-amrs hugs, especially from the likes of stalwart D-man Max Lajoie. Kokko finished the two-game series with a .952 save percentage and 1.11 goals against average. He blanked Calgary in seven of eight periods in the series.
Prospects Delivering Big Assists
Stephens, who played 28 games for the Kraken this year, scored three goals in the two-game set, including both game-winners. Not to be overlooked: Five of the six Coachella Valley goals (Hayden’s was unassisted) in the victorious series were tallied thanks to five primary assists by five different Kraken prospects: Saturday night’s clutch goal from Stephens came on a four-on-two CVF rush with 18-year-old Nathan Villeneuve (2024 second-rounder) setting up the play for his first professional postseason point.
Tuesday night, 2021 fourth-round pick and stellar Firebirds defenseman Ville Ottavainen assisted on the game-winning-game goal with a hard shot from the right point that Stephens redirected. The other three Firebirds’ primary assists in CVF’s 4-3 overtime win were logged by Jani Nyman, Jagger Firkus, and Jacob Melanson, while fellow prospects Logan Morrison and David Goyette notched secondary assists as part of the Tuesday scoresheet.
“I'm so proud of a lot of these young guys,” said Hayden. “I can't believe how young some of them are when I see their birth dates. "It's great seeing them perform and stay present in these moments.”
Last spring, Coachella Valley knocked out Calgary in the divisional semifinals and in Year 1 the teams met in a tight, dramatic five-game Pacific Division final series, including a Game 3 triple overtime game that Kraken D-man Ryker Evans won by scoring the game-winner. The No. 4 seed Firebirds will face the No. 2 Abbotsford Canucks in a second-round best-of-five divisional series that starts Thursday and Saturday in Coachella Valley before the series moves to B.C. for Game 3 plus Games 4 and 5 if necessary.
