In the case of the Kraken affiliate Coachella Valley Firebirds, it’s not just first place in the division, like the NHL Kraken, it’s first place in the entire American Hockey League.
With a 4-0 win over the San Diego Gulls on Saturday night, the Kraken’s top farm team ran it’s record to 30-7-3-and-1. That would be wins, regulation losses, overtime losses, and losses in a shoot-out.
The win extended the club’s win streak to eight games and it’s point streak to 16 straight matches.
Chris Gibson pitched the shut-out in net for the Firebirds at home in Palm Springs. Captain Max McCormick tallied two goals and an assist. The home team scored twice on the power play.
With the win, the Firebirds share top spot in the AHL Pacific Division with the Calgary Wranglers, both with 64 points. The big difference being winning percentage, with the Firebirds having played three less games, they clearly have the best winning percentage (.780) in the entire league entering the all-star break.
Kraken-AHL Stars to Quebec
Laval, Quebec will host the American Hockey League’s all-star skills competition on Sunday night, followed by what’s called the All-Star Challenge on Monday evening. The Challenge is similar in format to the NHL’s 3-on-3 All-Star Game match-up, although the games are shorter, ten minutes instead of twenty, and the AHL version is a true round robin, featuring six games. Each of the four divisions play one another once.
McCormick has been added to the Pacific Division roster, replacing fellow forward Andrew Poturalski. Rookie defenseman Ryker Evans, one of our earlier prospect profiles, will also represent the Firebirds and the Kraken organization. Evans had an assist on McCormick’s goal on the man advantage in the second period to round out the scoring. The young blueliner has 27 points in 41 games played.
The Firebirds next league game is Friday night against the Gulls again, this time in San Diego.
