Two teams destined for a heavyweight rematch? The Coachella Valley Firebirds raced out to a four-goal lead in Milwaukee Tuesday, then withstood a pair of attempted comeback goals to win 5-2 and take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference of the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Playoffs. Goalie Chris Driedger stopped all 15 Milwaukee shots in the third period to total 31 saves on the night.
In the AHL’s Eastern Conference final Tuesday, the Hershey Bears routed Cleveland for a 6-2 road win and their own 3-0 advantage in the series, one win away from a sweep, same as the Firebirds. Coachella Valley and Hershey went seven games and 10 minutes of overtime in last spring’s Calder Cup Final before the visiting Bears won the Cup.
Tuesday’s win is the ninth in a row for the Firebirds and head-coach-for-this-playoff-run Dan Bylsma. After losing Game 1 of a best-of-five divisional series against rival Calgary, Coachella reeled off three straight wins to advance to the next round, which finished quickly against Ontario in a three-game sweep of the Pacific Division final. After two wins in the southern California desert, the visiting Firebirds kept the streak alive with goals from D-men Cale Fleury (his fourth of the playoffs) and Ryker Evans (third) in the first nine minutes, followed by a late-period goal from rookie Ryan Winterton (his first pro postseason goal after a 22-goal regular season with CVF).
Fleury scored 31 seconds into the game, just three seconds slower than when Andrew Poturalski opened the scoring in front of a sold-out Acrisure Arena crowd in Game 2. Evans used his speed and high hockey IQ (also displayed in 36 Kraken games this season) to skate to the crease for a loose rebound, then, looking like he was going to shoot, instead wrapped around the net to tuck the puck inside the goaltender’s right post.
