The postseason has become Artūrs Šilovs’ time to shine.
A year ago, he made a major impression in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with Vancouver after being pressed into action by injuries to Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith. He backstopped the Canucks past Nashville with a 28-save shutout in Game 6, and had a 42-save night in Edmonton in the next round.
In 2023 at the IIHF World Championship, he helped co-host Latvia to a bronze medal, the country’s first-ever medal in the tournament, and was named the event’s top goaltender.
This spring is already shaping up to be another memorable one for Šilovs. He has already led Abbotsford past Tucson and Coachella Valley, going 5-1 with a 1.74 goals-against average, a .935 save percentage and two shutouts in seven playoff starts.
“It’s so much fun to play at the moment of the year,” the Abbotsford fan favorite said following the series clincher over the Firebirds. “You want to put everything on the line. You work the whole summer, whole season, just for these moments.”
Šilovs can also shake off a tough night. Coachella Valley chased him with three first-period goals in Game 2, but he returned for Games 3 and 4 to stop 54 of a combined 55 shots. His coaches and teammates took their cue from him.
“When he plays with confidence, I keep saying it, it goes through the whole group,” head coach Manny Malhotra said. “So when we know that he’s feeling it, and he’s comfortable and confident back in his net, we’re able to play our game.”
Could the Charlotte Checkers regain a key figure for their blue line when they host the Hershey Bears in Game 1 of the best-of-five Atlantic Division Finals tonight?
The Checkers went without defenseman Matt Kiersted, who led the entire AHL in plus/minus in the regular season, for the final two games of their division semifinal against the Providence after he left late in Game 3. Rookie Eamon Powell jumped in for Game 4 before head coach Geordie Kinnear inserted Dennis Cesana for Game 5. But Kiersted’s availability for this round against Hershey seems a little more promising.
“He’s day-to-day now, which is great,” Kinnear said this week as the Checkers prepared for the Bears. “I know the guys really wanted to see him play again, so I think that was a tipping point in the game – I think they were playing for Kiersted. They wanted to see him play again.”
The Bears, meanwhile, know what they’re dealing with in Charlotte.
After eliminating Lehigh Valley in a chippy and mostly tight-checking clash, Hershey now encounters the defensively dominant Checkers. Charlotte bottled up a quality Providence offense in their division semifinal, holding their opponent to nine goals in five games and just eight shots in the decisive Game 5.
But the Bears have displayed their own impressive defensive work, too, allowing 24 shots per game to Lehigh Valley and killing off 19 of 21 Phantoms power plays.
They also have goaltender Hunter Shepard, who returned to the crease for the series-clinching Game 5 against the Phantoms.
“He was awesome,” said forward Spencer Smallman, an integral part of Hershey’s defensive success as well. “He looked cool, calm, collected. He made some really big saves for us. When you make those big saves in big moments, especially in the playoffs, it allows our team to keep building momentum.”
It’s the details that matter, especially the later the Calder Cup Playoffs go.
The Amerks know that they can be better on their details. Wednesday’s back-and-forth 5-4 home loss to Laval provided a reminder that even a small slip-up here and there can be costly. Holding a 3-2 lead in the second period, Rochester’s too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty led to Brandon Gignac’s tying goal.
In a game in which Rochester had some long successful stretches, an ill-advised penalty, some blue-line turnovers, a few missed assignments, and getting pinned inside their defensive zone allowed a potential Game 1 victory to slip away.
“The margin for error is really small against a team like that,” head coach Michael Leone said. “You don’t want to beat yourself, and you’ve got to manage games.”
Still, the Amerks reaffirmed that they can match up with the AHL’s regular-season champion. It was an opening to the series that came down to one goal with 4:38 to go.
“It was a really, really hard-fought game,” Leone continued. “Two really good teams… It was five minutes to go, a tied game, and they made a play.”
― with files from Patrick Williams
