The Colorado Eagles will face the Coachella Valley Firebirds (SEA) in a best-of-five series for the Pacific Division title starting on Wednesday, May 13. The Eagles were 4–2–1–1 in the regular season against the Firebirds.
2026 Calder Cup playoffs bracket, round 3.
Coachella Valley Firebirds
Through the last half of the regular season, the Ontario Reign (LAK) were a powerhouse in the Pacific. In the regular season series between the Reign and the Firebirds, Coachella went 3–3–2–0. The Reign, as the top seed in the Pacific, had a bye in round one of the playoffs. Coachella Valley, as the fourth seed in the division, had to beat the fifth seed Bakersfield Condors (EDM) to advance to round two, where they had to face the first-place Reign.
I think many expected Ontario to cruise easily through the second round, but the Firebirds had other plans. They took that best-of-five series all the way to the fifth game, which eventually ended in double overtime. I mention all this simply to highlight the fact that Coachella is crushing right now. They are absolutely on a roll. They may prove to be a truly formidable opponent.
Like Henderson, whom the Eagles played in the last round, Coachella Valley is a big team. They only have three players on their entire roster under six feet tall, and only two of those three played in the last series. Colorado has thirteen players under six feet tall, and people can expect at least half of them to start on any given night. But that’s nothing new. Colorado is a small, fast team that is used to being outsized.
The Firebirds’ top scorers in the regular season were Logan Morrison and Jagger Firkus. Their top scorer so far in the playoffs is Oscar Fisker Mølgaard, who has six goals and four assists in eight postseason games. Their starting goalie for the playoffs is Nikke Kokko, a 2022 second-round draft pick by the Seattle Kraken. He has a regular-season GAA of 3.13 and a save percentage of .901. So far in the playoffs, he has a GAA of 2.74 and a save percentage of .893.
Colorado Eagles
The Eagles struggled through the last half of the regular season, but they have been fantastic so far in the postseason. Part of that, according to Coach Mark Letestu, was getting Alex Gagne back after an extended injury. Coach Letestu also commented that the entire team had buy-in on defending first, creating multiple layers of defense for an opposing team to fight through to even get a shot on goal. This was critical in the last series against Henderson, who, prior to facing the Eagles, had been averaging over four goals per game. But the Eagles shut them out twice, and in the final game, held them to only two shots on goal in the second period.
Being outsized is nothing new to the Eagles. (Photo courtesy of Colorado Eagles.)
Part of the Eagles’ postseason success, in my opinion, is simply focus and discipline, things that might be hard to keep in mind late in the season when there’s not much left to fight for. The errors that were costing them games late in the season have almost entirely disappeared. They’ve taken very few penalties. They’ve stopped committing so many sloppy turnovers. Of course errors never go away completely because no matter what, these players are still human. But mostly, they’ve kept their errors to a minimum and haven’t let those mistakes cost them games.
Special teams, which were this team’s Achilles’ heel late in the season, have been very good as well. In the postseason, the Eagles’ power play is firing at 27.8 percent. Their postseason penalty kill is at 90.0 percent.
Trent Miner has been spectacular. He currently has a GAA of 1.10 and a .953 save percentage. And here are the Eagles’ top playoff scorers so far:
Eagles playoff points leaders.
The Matchup
The AHL is always trying to minimize travel expenses. When teams are geographically closer to each other (as was the case when Ontario played Coachella Valley), a best of five series will be split 2–2–1. However, because Colorado is too far away from any potential opponent for that, the series will be split 2–3. As the higher seed, the Eagles can choose to start at home or to start on the road. They’ve chosen the latter. The schedule is as follows:
Eagles round 3 schedule, courtesy of the Colorado Eagles.
AHLTV on FloHockey.com will stream all games.
This should prove to be a fast-paced, high-intensity matchup. The Firebirds are on a roll and have something to prove to the world. That can be dangerous. But if the Eagles can maintain the focus and discipline they’ve shown through the first two rounds, they should be able to come out of this series with their first Pacific Division Championship.
