With their eighth straight win last night, the Firebirds are entering rare air as they march on towards a possible second straight conference championship.
Only 12 teams in Calder Cup Playoff history have put together a longer postseason winning streak, most recently a 10-game run by Toronto in 2018. The Hershey Bears set the standard with a perfect 12-0 playoff record in 1988.
“We definitely got momentum in the room, momentum in the building,” Andrew Poturalski told reporters after last night’s 3-1 win in Game 2 against Milwaukee. “We got the job done on home ice but there’s still a long way to go and we’re not satisfied by any means. It takes four to win the series, we know that.”
Poturalski got the Firebirds on the board just 28 seconds into the game, following an electric national anthem performance by recently crowned American Idol Abi Carter – a native of nearby Indio, Calif.
“It’s not very often you get an American Idol winner in the building,” Kole Lind said. “She sounded unbelievable, and it definitely got us going. I know the boys were fired up on the bench.”
― with files from Patrick Williams