First Round of 2014 AHL Playoffs

Eastern Conference
(8) Norfolk Admirals defeat (1) Manchester Monarchs 3-1
(7) Providence Bruins defeat (2) Springfield Falcons 3-2
(6) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeat (3) Binghamton Senators 3-1
(4) St. John's IceCaps defeat (5) Albany Devils 3-1

Quarterfinal Matchups
(4) St. John's IceCaps vs. (8) Norfolk Admirals
(6) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins vs. (7) Providence Bruins

Western Conference
(1) Texas Stars defeat (8) Oklahoma City Barons 3-0
(2) Chicago Wolves defeat (7) Rochester Americans 3-2
(3) Toronto Marlies defeat (6) Milwaukee Admirals 3-0
(4) Grand Rapids Griffins defeat (5) Abbotsford Heat 3-1

Quarterfinal Matchups
(1) Texas Stars vs. (4) Grand Rapids Griffins
(2) Chicago Wolves vs. (3) Toronto Marlies

Analysis

The first round of the AHL playoffs was very interesting. In the East, all three division winners lost, while the West had the top 4 seeds advance. Norfolk, who beat out the Bears for the final spot in the playoffs, rode out great performances by John Gibson to defeat the top team in the East. After being down 2 games to 1 against Springfield, Providence was able to dominate games 4 and 5 by outscoring the Falcons 12-6 in those games. After going to overtime in the first three games of the series, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton decided to end the series early in game 4, as they dominated that game 5-1 against Binghamton. In the only non-upset of the East, St. John's took advantage of home ice by winning games 3 and 4 at home against Albany to win the series.

In the West, except for one tough series, the top 4 seeds had a pretty clean slate. Oklahoma city was able to take Texas to overtime in the first two games, but they could never get a win against the top team in the league. In the tough series of the West, Chicago was able to get past a blowout loss in game 4 to win the deciding game 5 against Rochester. Toronto's sweep of Milwaukee can be explained by saying that Toronto outscored the Admirals 13-4. It wasn't a close series at all. The final series was trouble for Grand Rapids with travel (if driving, Abbotsford is 34 hours away from Grand Rapids), but they were able to control the series pretty well anyways.

If there had to be a series to pick to be the most exciting, I'd say it would be a tie between two of them. St. John's vs. Norfolk will be a great series. St. John's is a strong team (led by former Bear Andrew Gordon), and Norfolk is full of NHL prospects (including goalie John Gibson). The other one would be Texas vs. Grand Rapids. The best team in the regular season plays against the defending Calder Cup champs.

Other News

It was announced yesterday that the Calgary Flames will be moving their AHL team (Heat) from Abbotsford, British Columbia to Glen Falls, New York. This is now the 2nd team relocating for next season, as the Phantoms (Flyers' AHL team) moved from Glen Falls to Allentown, Pennsylvania to become the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. It has not been announced if the team will still be the Heat, or if their name will be changed.