Pick a comeback, any comeback. The weekend was filled with hockey magic and rallies by Kraken prospects and their teammates. Let’s skate through an update of three intense playoff series in the American Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League.
Firebirds Split Pair of Road Games
After dropping a 4-1 game in Calgary that was closer than the final score Friday to begin a best-of-five second-round series in the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs, affiliate Coachella Valley came back not once but twice in the third period to push the home-squad Wranglers into overtime. Seven-plus minutes into extra time, Devin Shore, who appeared in 21 Kraken games this season, pulled the Firebirds out of a must-win-next-three-games-or-else predicament to even the series at 1-1.
During a delayed penalty call on Calgary, veteran forward John Hayden skated hard to the net with two defenders blanketing him. The puck stayed deep in the zone with Calgary players scrambling. Shore took the puck behind the net and scored a wrap-around goal to beat Calgary star and former WHL Everett Silvertip standout goalie Dustin Wolf. Shore’s first postseason AHL score since he was a 20-year-old rookie just off the University of Maine campus completed some 27 minutes of back-and-forth suspense for two teams that met in last year’s playoffs, with the Firebirds winning the decisive Game 5 in overtime on the way to becoming Western Conference champions.
CVF regular-season leading scorer Kole Lind (17 goals, 48 assists) put the visitors ahead 1-0 going into the second intermission. The hosts scored twice before the five-minute mark of the third period to make it 2-1 and worrisome for the Firebirds/Kraken faithful. Andrew Poturalski, a stalwart scorer in the AHL, took a high hockey-IQ pass from Coachella Valley defenseman Cale Fleury to make it a 2-2 game with a bit more than 11 minutes remaining in regulation. But Calgary struck back with less than eight minutes left to ratchet up the stress meter once more, making it 3-2.
Remember this: The Firebirds played five postseason rounds last spring, winning four series and ending up one overtime goal short of winning the Calder Cup. In each of the five series, Coachella Valley won the opening game. This time around, Calgary clung to a 2-1 lead late in its Game 1 victory, icing the contest with two empty-net goals.
Anxious to avoid three straight must-win games back home in the Southern California desert, the Firebirds put together strong shifts after the Calgary score. Defenseman Connor Carrick put a hard shot on net that caromed off captain Max McCormick’s skate at the goal crease and past Wolf to set the opportunity for Shore to be a hero.
There were other heroes to note as Coachella Valley now will host Game 3 Wednesday: Chris Driedger made 30 saves in net and was especially superb stopping the first ten shots of the game, all from Calgary, and playing a starring role in a four-minute first-period penalty kill. The Firebirds killed all five penalties whistled on teammates Sunday, with Kraken draft choices and AHL rookies, forward Ryan Winterton (third round, 2021) and defenseman Ville Ottavainen (fourth round, 2021) playing extended PK time on ice.
D-man Ryker Evans scored the lone goal in Game 1, returning to the CVF roster after the Kraken season (he played in his first 31 NHL games). Sunday, Evans assisted on the all-important late tying goal to push the game into OT, setting up the aforementioned Carrick’s shot. Just as vitally, Evans, while falling to the ice, expertly swatted a net-front puck away from a sprawled Driedger and gaping net danger just 40 seconds into overtime. Game 4 of the rivalry series is Friday, and Game 5, if necessary, is Sunday. All games can be viewed at AHLTV.com.
Nelson Delivers in Big Moments for OHL North Bay
The North Bay Battalion’s Eastern Conference final against Oshawa didn’t start well, losing three straight. But Kraken 2022 third-rounder Ty Nelson and his squad outlasted Oshawa to win Game 4 in overtime to extend the series.
Then Nelson pulled out his A-game in all zones in last Friday’s Game 5 in Oshawa, racking up two assists on earlier-game goals before tying the score at 4-4 with less than eight minutes left in the third period. North Bay had jumped out to a 2-1 lead at the second intermission, only to see Oshawa strike early in the final period of regulation to make it 3-2 in the Generals’ favor. Nelson notched a primary assist on a response goal to bring the score back to even at three apiece, but Oshawa seized the lead yet again with a goal at the 11:00 mark of the third period. Nineteen seconds later, Nelson tied it at 4-4 and then scored the game-winner and series-saver less than five minutes into overtime.
In a Game 6 victory at home Saturday night before a sold-out, high-decibel crowd, Nelson earned an assist on the game-winning goal, a stat happily somewhat lost in the fact the North Bay scored the first five goals en route to an 8-1 romp that sets up the winner-moves-on-the-OHL-final Game 7 in Oshawa Monday. Nelson now has five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 15 games, including seven points (those two pivotal goals and five assists) when his team needed them most in his last four postseason games. A win on Monday would place Nelson and North Bay into the OHL final, this time against London.
WHL Update: Firkus, Jugnauth Still in Hunt for Conference Final
Look for a full report with Thursday’s installment of Depth of the Sea: Playoff Edition, but here’s a quick check-in on the Western Hockey League postseason. Kraken 2022 second-rounder (35th overall) Jagger Firkus and his Moose Jaw Warriors are knotted at three games apiece against Saskatoon in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Final after a Moose Jaw overtime home win Sunday. Firkus is second in WHL postseason scoring with 26 points (11 G, 15 A) in 15 games. Game 7 is Tuesday in Saskatoon.
In the WHL Western Conference final, Portland leads the series against Prince George, three games to two, after dropping a 6-1 affair Thursday in Portland. The Winterhawks won Games 3 and 4 in Oregon, with Kraken 2022 fourth-rounder Tyson Jugnauth notching a pair of assists in both wins. The series format is 2-3-2 per the two teams’ agreement (Prince George is a 12-hour bus ride from Portland). Game 6 is on Monday in B.C., with Game 7, if necessary, on Wednesday. Jugnauth has four goals and ten assists in 13 postseason games and has been a solid defender in the defensive and neutral zones for Portland.
