Firebirds eliminate Calgary with Game 4 shutout, will face Ontario Reign for division crown
By having the best record in the American Hockey League's Western Conference, the Coachella Valley Firebirds had a first-round bye in the Calder Cup Playoffs. With it, came a 12-day layoff from the regular season finale to their first playoff game, and there was some question whether the rest was worth the inevitable rust that would come.
But if it wasn't already evident that the rest was worth it, Friday night's decisive 3-0 series-clinching Game 4 win over the Calgary Wranglers inside Acrisure Arena showed it.
"That was our best game, to date, in the playoffs," Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma said. "Tonight was our best 5-on-5, tonight was our best defensively, tonight was our best offensively as well. Great to move on."
The Firebirds will now face the Ontario Reign for the Pacific Division crown. Game 1 of that best-of-five series is set for Wednesday at Acrisure Arena.
After losing Game 1 in Calgary by three goals, the Firebirds won Game 2 in overtime before returning home to the Coachella Valley for a convincing Game 3 win. Then, on Friday, in a closeout game, the Firebirds were the obvious aggressor. They played faster and with much more energy than the opponent facing elimination.
"It's fun to watch," Firebirds goaltender Chris Driedger said. "I have a pretty good seat to watch us do our thing out there. When we get firing on all cylinders, I don't know of too many teams that can compete with us. We came out flying in the first, and we just shut it down in the second and played aggressive, strong defensive hockey in the third."
Defenseman Cale Fleury scored first, followed by star rookie forward Shane Wright, in the first period. Veteran forward Devin Shore, who scored the walk-off goal in overtime in Game 2, added the exclamation point in the third period. The crowd of 7,936 erupted.
The star of the game may have been Driedger, who recorded 31 saves and the shutout two days after allowing five goals to the Wranglers.
"Chris Driedger was outstanding tonight," Bylsma said. "They did have some chances in the first period and he was outstanding right to the end. I'm glad he got the shutout."
Multiple times during the game, the home crowd broke out with a "Driedger! Driedger!" chant, similar to the "Joey!" chants for star goalie Joey Daccord last season.
Driedger got the shutout despite Calgary pulling its goalie with around six minutes to play with a man-advantage. Firebirds forward Kole Lind then went to the penalty box with a little more than a minute to play and Coachella Valley played the rest of the game with a 6-to-4 disadvantage.
"Having six minutes with the goalie pulled and to be able to thwart that is pretty impressive from our group," Driedger said. "A lot of huge blocks and just good, smart defensive hockey. That's a good game from us, and if we could keep playing like that, I like our chances."
For the game, the Firebirds were 0-for-3 on the power play but 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
In four games this series, the Firebirds scored 14 goals (3.5 per game) against Calgary's star netminder Dustin Wolf, the 2023 AHL MVP. Wolf had allowed 2.45 goals per game during the regular season, and allowed just three in two games against the Tucson Roadrunners in the series prior to this one.
"That was definitely our best game of the series," Shore said, "so that was encouraging to see with it being an elimination game. We're a confident group and I think all the way through the lineup we did a really good job closing it out. That being said, it's a brand new, fresh, clean slate, so we've got to rest up and keep it going."
The goals
1-0, Firebirds. Fleury scored his first goal of the postseason on a laser shot at the 6:40 mark of the first period. The shot came on a pass from forward Logan Morrison, with forward Luke Henman also recording an assist on the play.
2-0. Wright scored his first goal of the postseason on what may have been the best assist of the postseason for the Firebirds. Forward Cameron Hughes dished the puck to Wright just before getting blasted into the boards, leaving Wright on a one-on-one situation with Wolf. Wright fired the shot over Wolf's right shoulder to give Coachella Valley a two-goal lead.
3-0. Shore's goal was his third in four games this series. It came on an assist from Hughes and blueliner Gustav Olofsson.
Up next
Because Ontario is fewer than 300 miles, the format for the series will be 2-2-1, with the first two games being played at Acrisure Arena. Game 1 will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. Game 2 will then be Friday at 7 p.m.
Games 3 will be May 19 (Sunday) at Toyota Arena in Ontario. Game 4, if necessary, would be May 24 (Friday) in Ontario, and a potential Game 5 would be May 26 (Sunday) back at Acrisure Arena.
"We've said a million times how good our fans are and how fun it is to play in front of them, and they travel on the road," Hughes said. "I think there's been 'Let's go Firebirds!' chants in Ontario, so let's get some of those going and build on that."
Since last season, the Firebirds first as an AHL franchise, fans have talked about building a rivalry with Ontario, and the head-to-head games have been intense in nature.
"Rivalries usually don't start until you've played a team in the playoffs," Bylsma said. "So, I guess this one can start now."
Andrew John covers the Firebirds for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Firebirds eliminate Calgary with 3-0 win, will face Ontario next
