Potential future Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks will go head-to-head starting on Thursday night in the Calder Cup Playoffs, as the American Hockey League postseason skates into the best-of-five second round.
The Kraken farm team Coachella Valley Firebirds advanced with a 2-0 mini-sweep of the Calgary Wranglers, a team they beat the last two springs en route to reaching the Calder Cup Final.
Vancouver’s farm team in Abbotsford moved along with a 2-1 series win over the Tucson Roadrunners. The baby Canucks wrapped things up with a 5-0 victory in Game-3 on Saturday.
The Firebirds will host Games-1 and 2 on Thursday and Saturday with Abbotsford gaining home ice for Game-3 and Games 4 and 5 if necessary. That would be next Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Abby finished 2nd in the Pacific Division with 92 points, just two behind the first place Colorado Eagles, while the Firebirds ended the regular season in 4th place, eight points behind Abbotsford.
Mitchell Stephens leads the Firebirds with three points. Abbotsford’s Sammy Blais and Arshdeep Bains share the postseason lead in scoring with four other AHLers, all of them with four points.
