with files from Patrick Williams
Day 12 of the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs features a three-game schedule:
Thirteen days after the end of the regular season, the Grand Rapids Griffins finally get their Calder Cup Playoffs underway this afternoon as they visit the Manitoba Moose in Game 1 of their Central Division semifinal series in Winnipeg (3 ET, ).
“It’s been a long break, but we had some good practices and now we’re just ready to get going,” said Griffins forward Sheldon Dries.
Manitoba came back from an early series hole to eliminate Milwaukee in the first round, pulling out hard-fought decisions by identical 2-1 scores in Games 2 and 3. Domenic DiVincentiis (2-0, 1.00, .962) stopped 50 of 52 shots in the two victories, and David Gustafsson (1-2-3) scored the winning goal in the final minute of Game 2 before assisting on both Moose tallies in Game 3.
The break in the Moose’s schedule hasn’t been as long as the Griffins’ has, but they have still had five days to reset and prepare heading into today’s contest.
“You try all sorts of different things,” Moose head coach Mark Morrison said of filling the time, “but nothing really simulates a game of hockey. Being in our rink, and them laid off a little bit, we’ll want to go after them.”
Grand Rapids ran away with the Central Division title in the regular season – their 20-point margin over second-place Chicago was the largest for any AHL division winner since 2012-13 – and they were 6-1-1-0 against the Moose, including back-to-back wins at Canada Life Centre in early April. They also had the top-ranked defense and the second-best offense in the AHL.
But the Griffins know not to take anything for granted as they begin their quest for a third Calder Cup.
“It doesn’t matter what happens in the regular season,” said Dries, whose 37 career Calder Cup Playoff games include a trip to the Finals as a rookie with Texas in 2018. “Playoffs are a whole different animal.”
Like Grand Rapids, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had a long layoff between the end of the regular season and the start of their division semifinal series against Hershey.
The Penguins needed just over three minutes to get on the board Thursday night and held on for a 4-2 win. They take their 1-0 series lead into Game 2 this evening (6:05 ET, ).
“The support staff we have, the trainers, did a really good job pushing us over the last 12 days,” said Penguins forward Aidan McDonough, who scored his first career playoff goal in Game 1. “(I was) maybe a little rusty in some of the battles and maybe some of the finer details on the first shift, but after that it felt like a normal hockey game. Credit to everyone for doing the work to get ourselves feeling good.”
“We fought through the nervous energy,” Pens head coach Kirk MacDonald said. “You could tell the guys care a lot and stuck to the plan.”
Still, a 3-0 lead nearly slipped away as the Bears pulled to within one on goals by Ilya Protas and Henrik Rybinski. Avery Hayes’ empty-netter with 54.1 seconds remaining finished off the win.
“We battled hard,” said Hershey head coach Derek King. “I liked the way we competed. We can stay with them for a whole three periods, and we’ll give them a good game Saturday.”
The scene shifts to Chicagoland as the Wolves and Stars continue their Central Division semifinal at Allstate Arena tonight (8 ET, ) after Chicago’s overtime win back in Cedar Park evened the series on Thursday.
After being shut out in Game 1, Chicago erased three separate one-goal deficits in regulation before AHL All-Star defenseman Domenick Fensore scored 10:27 into OT to give the Wolves a 5-4 win in Game 2.
Juuso Välimäki scored twice and Cal Foote added a goal and an assist; the Wolves’ blue line accounted for four of their five goals in the victory. Cayden Primeau made 25 saves for Chicago, stopping all 11 shots he faced in the third period and overtime.
Matthew Seminoff, Michael Karow and Ellis Rickwood notched a goal and an assist each for the Stars, and Rémi Poirier stopped 26 shots.
“We knew it was going to be a long series,” Stars head coach Toby Petersen said after the Game 2 loss. “What I can take from it is our team is capable – even when we didn’t have our best, we were still right there, a shot away.”
