Home teams are 1-4 so far during the divisional playoffs, a streak that Coachella Valley will need to overcome to clinch the split before heading to Colorado.
The Firebirds host the Eagles in Game 2 tonight (10 ET, 
) after Trent MinerThe fourth shutout of the season helped Colorado to a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Miner (6-1, 0.95, .958) has started each of the Eagles’ three playoff series this spring with a Game 1 shutout.
“They are a good team, a deep team, but we also hurt ourselves a little bit,” said the Firebirds striker John Hayden said. “We’ve been waiting a little bit to get started, and we know in this five-game series that’s not going to happen.”
Jake O’Brien made his professional debut for the Firebirds in Game 1. The 18-year-old Toronto native was the eighth pick in the 2025 NHL Draft by Seattle, and was Brantford’s (OHL) leading scorer with 93 points in 53 games this season.
“He’s an attacking player,” the head coach said Derek Laxdal said. “I thought he showed well. He didn’t slow down that time. He did a great job of holding on to the puck and making plays.”
Ronnie Attardstreak of Colorado’s past two games, opened the scoring on Wednesday. Daniel Gushchin again Bryan Yoon began its playoff run, as the Eagles did not Jack Ahcan (if you remember the Avalanche parent), Sean Behrens and the captain Jason Megna.
“It’s not easy to stay ready, come in and contribute,” said the Eagles coach Mark Letestu he said in his words after the game to his team. “That’s as good a road game as you could ask for.”
The Springfield Thunderbirds wrote another chapter in their 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs storybook last night, claiming a 4-3 overtime victory at Wilkes-Barre to even the Atlantic Division finals a game apiece.
Down 3-0 entering the third period – and after being shut out in Game 1 – Springfield got a shorthanded goal. Hugh McGingtwo more goals from Dillon Dube and the match-winner came off a consistent bounce Akhil Thomas at 13:44 of the extra session.
“The way we have to play, we saw it in the third and we saw it in overtime,” the head coach Steve Ott said. “We’re a team that doesn’t give up and we’re still in the hunt. If you play the game the right way, you’re rewarded.”
The protector Calle Roséna Calder Cup champion with Toronto in 2018 and a member of the Thunderbirds’ 2022 finals team, he assisted on all three third-period goals in Game 2. George Romanov allowed three goals in a game for the first time this postseason but still finished with 39 saves and improved to 4-0 in overtime.
“The first two halves our goalkeeper was very good,” said Ott. “There are things we can definitely clean up (but) we had a big contribution from other guys who played hard minutes.”
