It appears that special teams are also a major factor in this year's playoffs in the AHL as the Seattle Kraken's farm team, the Coachella valley Firebirds had one of the wildest games in their history as they won Game 3 by a score of 7-5 over the Calgary Wranglers which featured many power plays and terriIble penalty killing.
After splitting the first two games, game three became essentially a pinball after the firebirds took a 3-2 lead after the second period. From less than a minute into the third right till 10 seconds left in the game, there were goals steady.
During the third there were four power play goals, one shorthanded and one empty net. It was clear the fans were absolutely loving this game as within a minute or two of each goal they were back up on their feet or dreading the outcome as the team may lose.
Kraken management are likely watching this series and evaluating what they have in their roster as they're looking for offensive talent that may be ready to make it to the NHL. During the regular season, Max McCormick stood out in his numbers as he had played 68 games and scored 32 goals with 28 assists for 60 points and had 61 penalty minutes.
Firebirds balanced scoring showed over course of season
There were three other players who had over 20 goals during their campaign who include Ryan Winterton with 22, former first overall pick Shane Wright with 22 and Cameron Hughes with 25. All three players will certainly challenge next year's training camp as general manager Ron Francis appears to be ready to take this team to the next level.
His first duty is to look for a new head coach as he had recently fired former Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol. It's expected this summer will be a busy one for the Kraken as they wish to get back to their winning ways and back to the playoffs.
The Firebirds hold a 2-1 lead and they will play Game 4 in Coachella on Friday May 10th and game time will be 7:00PDT.
