Patrick Williams delivers the FloHockey AHL Power Rankings each week throughout the regular season.
AHL history is there for the taking when the Providence Bruins begin their weekend.
After clinching the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL’s regular-season champion last Sunday on home ice, the P-Bruins can set a new record for the best regular-season in the league’s 90-season history.
Go back to April 1993 when the Binghamton Rangers established a new record with a .775 finish, thanks to a 57-13-10 record. That was an 80-game season, however. These P-Bruins could finish with 56 wins – in eight fewer games than that Binghamton team needed – and establish a new league mark. As it is, their 54 wins have already given them the AHL record for wins in a 72-game season. Through 70 games, Providence has 110 points and a .786 points percentage.
They visit the Utica Comets on Friday night before concluding their regular-season calendar with a return match-up in Providence against those same Comets. To break Binghamton’s record, they need two of a possible remaining four points. Any combination of points adding up to two would give them a .778 points percentage and break a mark that has stood for 33 years.
Two years ago, it was the Hershey Bears who made a run at Binghamton’s record. The Bears finished with 53 wins and a .771 performance before going on to win their second consecutive Calder Cup title. And it was until last week that Providence had a potential challenger in the Grand Rapids Griffins, who had started the season a remarkable 29-1-1-1. But a pair of weekend losses ended the Griffins’ chances; at best they can finish with 109 points and a .757 effort.
Sometimes top teams that have long wrapped up a playoff spot struggle to find motivation before the postseason. Providence, however, has every reason to be ready once the puck drops this weekend.
1) Providence Bruins (--)The P-Bruins have had some excellent teams through the years. This season’s group is their best chance to bring the Calder Cup back to Rhode Island for the first time since 1999.
2) Grand Rapids Griffins (--)The tension and angst around the Detroit Red Wings organization can be felt far beyond that city’s boundaries. After missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 10th consecutive season, all sorts of questions are being raised about the Red Wings, their plan up until this point, and what the organization may have mapped out for the future. The Griffins, who have put together a fantastic season, are an organizational bright spot; however, the pressure on them to justify the organization’s long-term plans with a strong postseason run will be considerable.
3) Ontario Reign (--)Time at home – or at least nearby with a pair of visits to Coachella Valley – is suiting the Reign well as they fine-tune themselves for the Calder Cup Playoffs. After clinching the Pacific Division title, they get two more home dates this weekend when the rival San Diego Gulls and Abbotsford Canucks visit Toyota Arena. From there, it will be a lengthy bye that will allow them to prepare further to challenge for the Western Conference. The main challenge will be the potential for rust, but the well-regarded Ontario coaching staff led by Andrew Lord will be mindful of that.
4) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (--)All season long the Penguins have quietly gone about their business even as the roster changes and departures have piled up for them. Every now and then, they have a clunker of a night, but this has been a remarkably resilient team that has just three regulation losses since the AHL All-Star break. They get three games at home before their first-round bye.
5) Charlotte Checkers (--)After losing at home last Saturday to the Hershey Bears, the Checkers unloaded on the visitors the following afternoon with a 6-1 win. Last season’s Calder Cup finalist, Charlotte has another group capable of doing some significant postseason damage.
6) Colorado Eagles (--)The Eagles can send themselves into the Calder Cup Playoffs on a good note this weekend. They have the last-place Calgary Wranglers in town for a pair of games, and University of Michigan captain T.J. Hughes is joining the club after signing with the Colorado Avalanche. They need to make it a good weekend, too. They missed out on a division title and could well be facing the San Diego Gulls, an opponent that ha played them tough this season, in a perilous best-of-three series.
7) Henderson Silver Knights (+2)Henderson is by far the AHL’s biggest second-half story. It took the Silver Knights 45 games to record their first 19 wins. They have needed just 24 games since then to pile up their next 19 victories. In all, they are 19-2-1-2 going back to Feb. 20. They hung nine goals on the San Jose Barracuda last Friday night and have become an offensive force. It’s not just the veterans leading the way, either. Braeden Bowman, Trevor Connelly, and Ben Hemmerling are among the young contributors to a team that has the talent to create some playoff havoc.
8) Laval Rocket (--)The Rocket still are having their down nights. They surrendered seven goals at home to the Belleville Senators last Friday. They get one last regular-season tune-up with a pair of weekend games in Toronto as they try to wrap up their second North Division title in a row.
9) Syracuse Crunch (-2)Lately the Crunch have not always matched the desperation of opponents who are trying to break into the postseason field. Brandon Halverson has taken on a lot of work lately for a team that has been dealing with some NHL recall issues. This weekend’s home-and-home series with Belleville is Syracuse’s last chance to make a run at a division title this year.
10) Chicago Wolves (+5)It has been a hectic time for the Wolves, who have had a large contingent of players pulled up to the Carolina Hurricanes for playing time there. In the meantime, the Wolves had a 3-in-3 weekend to handle, and they mostly did. It started with a 4-1 win at Grand Rapids and concluded as they dealt a loss to the visiting Rockford IceHogs in taking five of the weekend’s six points.
11) Coachella Valley Firebirds (-1)With goaltenders Nikke Kokko and Victor Östman both recalled to the Seattle Kraken, the Firebirds turned to Logan Turness from their ECHL affiliate, the Kansas City Mavericks. Turness, who has gone 21-3-0 with the Mavericks, delivered 33 saves to earn Coachella Valley a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to Ontario.
12) Bakersfield Condors (-1)When the Condors are bad, they’re really bad. They have allowed 37 goals in their past six losses. Connor Ungar’s recall from the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears gives the Condors another potential goaltending option.
13) Bridgeport Islanders (+3)The Islanders made it an emotional week as they played their final regular-season home game. In front of a strong turnout on home ice, they hammered the archrival Hartford Wolf Pack to secure a playoff berth for only the 11th time in the team’s 25 seasons. For a team that has won just one playoff series of any type since 2003 – and it was not a best-of-seven series – it was the kind of happy moment that has all too often eluded the patient fans who have stuck with them through so many rough seasons. The team hit rock-bottom in 2024-25 with a horrendous 37-point campaign but has come back strong with new head coach Rocky Thompson. Maybe Bridgeport fans can get a few more of these moments this spring. With the New York Islanders failing to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Bridgeport could be a dangerous postseason opponent.