We’ve reached the goal line.
The 185th and final day of the American Hockey League’s 2022-23 regular season will feature six games, and the final pieces of the Calder Cup Playoff puzzle are ready to fall into place.
Sunday’s complete AHL Playoff Primer is here, and there is plenty still at stake after six months of regular-season hockey.
The Central Division’s top three teams are set, with Texas securing its first division title since 2014 with a win last night. And second-place Milwaukee will take on third-place Manitoba in the division semifinals. But the rest of the field will come down to the wire, with Iowa, Rockford and Chicago duking it out for the final two invites to the postseason. Chicago takes on Manitoba at 4 ET, with Rockford-Milwaukee and Iowa-Texas closing out the AHL’s regular-season schedule at 6 ET.
One game remains to be played in the Atlantic Division, but it affects all six of the division’s postseason teams. Providence hosts Springfield (3:05 ET) needing a win to capture the division title; a Bruins loss gives Hershey a first-place finish and keeps Providence in second.
A Thunderbirds win would vault Springfield into third place, setting up a first-round series against sixth-place Lehigh Valley and sending Charlotte into fourth place and a meeting with fifth-place Hartford. A Springfield loss would mean a playoff series pitting the T’birds and Wolf Pack, while the Phantoms would travel to face the Checkers.
In the North Division, Toronto has wrapped up a first-place finish and Syracuse is locked into second place. But third place — and a first-round bye — is on the line when Rochester visits Cleveland today (3 ET). The Amerks need a win over the Monsters to retake third place and set up a division semifinal meeting with the Crunch; Utica would drop to fourth and take on Laval in a best-of-three first-round series. A Rochester loss would mean Syracuse-Utica and Rochester-Laval.
The Pacific Division playoff picture is set, as all 10 teams completed their 72-game slate last night. Calgary locked up the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy with the best record in the AHL, finishing with 106 points following a 3-2 win over Abbotsford. The Wranglers get the division’s only bye; the first round will see Coachella Valley taking on Tucson, Colorado facing Ontario, and Abbotsford meeting Bakersfield in best-of-three series.
Full playoff schedules will be announced no later than at the conclusion of play tonight. The first round of the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs will be a best-of-three series, followed by best-of-five division semifinals and division finals, the best-of-seven conference finals and the best-of-seven Calder Cup Finals. Stay tuned to theahl.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates all day long.
Don’t get left out — Catch all of today’s climactic action on AHLTV, with coverage beginning with the first puck drop at 3 p.m. ET.
