The Springfield Thunderbirds will continue their magical postseason run into the Atlantic Division Finals after completing the biggest upset in Calder Cup Playoff history in defeating the Providence Bruins in the previous round. Springfield had finished 38 points behind the Bruins during the regular season, but locked down the top team in the AHL in four games, allowing just six goals in the series.

Furthermore, Springfield netminder Georgi Romanov outdueled AHL Goaltender of the Year and MVP Michael DiPietro to lift the T-Birds to the series win. Since taking over the netminding duties in Game 2 of the T-Birds' First Round series in Charlotte, Romanov has posted elite numbers. His 5 wins are tied for the most among all AHL goaltenders in the postseason, and the Russian-born goaltender has also posted a staggering .954 save percentage, denying 186 of the 195 shots he has faced.

Romanov was instrumental in Springfield's 1-0 overtime clincher against Providence on Thursday, as he turned aside all 37 Bruins attempts to earn his first postseason shutout. He had Springfield's only shutout of the regular season as well on Nov. 21 against Utica (33 saves). 

Romanov is not the only standout Russian goaltender heading into the Division Finals, however. Rookie Sergei Murashov has posted a gaudy resume of his own during the 2025-26 season for the Penguins. An AHL All-Star and AHL All-Rookie Team selection, the right-hand-catching Murashov led all first-year goalies with a 2.20 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage, while finishing second among rookies with 24 victories.

As a team, the Penguins finished with 101 points, the third-highest total this season in the AHL, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took three of the four contests from Springfield during the regular season.

Murashov was even better in his first full postseason series, a 3-1 series triumph for the Penguins over their archrival Hershey Bears. Murashov played every second of the series in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton net, posting a 1.99 goals-against average and .937 save percentage against the Bears, allowing just eight goals in 126 shots in the four-game set.

During the regular season, both Murashov and Romanov got into two games of the four-game season series between the Penguins and T-Birds. Murashov won each of his starts in Springfield on Jan. 19 (25 saves on 27 shots) and Feb. 18 (30 saves on 32 shots), while Romanov went 1-1 in his two outings, defeating the Penguins 5-4 on March 4 in the final meeting between the clubs, stopping 27 of 31. 

Each club boasts a very balanced offensive attack so far in the postseason. For the Penguins, only Tristan Broz (four assists) and Ville Koivunen (1g, 3a) have averaged a point-per-game over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's four playoff games. 

The Penguins, like the T-Birds, were resilient in their series. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton trailed Game 3 by a 3-2 score with less than three minutes left in regulation, with Kirk MacDonald's team dangerously close to staring down a 2-1 series deficit. However, with Murashov pulled for an extra skater, Avery Hayes -- who registered a hat trick on Feb. 18 at Springfield -- scored the equalizer, and Rutger McGroarty added the winner in overtime, after which the Penguins never looked back, winning Game 4 two nights later by a final score of 4-1 to secure the series. 

Pittsburgh has also given their AHL affiliate a strong reinforcement from the Penguins' prospect pool with the arrival of Bill Zonnon, the 22nd overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Zonnon played just 35 games in the QMJHL this season for Blainville-Boisbriand, but the skilled forward managed 46 points (14g, 32a) in that timeframe. The Penguins' blue line also received young talent in the form of 2024 second-round pick Harrison Brunicke, who scored at a point-per-game clip with the WHL's Kamloops Blazers after appearing in nine NHL games for Pittsburgh at the start of the regular season. 

Springfield's hallmark in these playoffs has been one of relentless spirit. Of the T-Birds' seven postseason contests to this point, the T-Birds have trailed in six of them. Yet, in spite of that, Steve Ott's club has managed a remarkable five wins in their last six postseason contests, culminating in Dillon Dube's heroic overtime winner in a 1-0 Game 4 clincher against the Bruins. 

T-Birds captain Chris Wagner missed Game 1 against the Bruins, but continued to make his presence known, posting six points (2g, 4a) in his six games. Dube was Springfield's chief contributor on offense in the Providence series, tallying five points (2g, 3a) in four games after he had no points in three games against Charlotte. 

Defenseman Calle Rosen has found a goal-scoring touch for the T-Birds in the postseason, picking up his first two-goal game as a T-Bird in Game 3 of the Bruins series and leading all T-Birds with three goals thus far in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Rosen is a prior Calder Cup champion, having captured the Cup with the Toronto Marlies in 2018. 

If resilience has been Springfield's top attribute, their depth has been a close second, as Ott's team has battled a rash of injuries throughout the beginnnings of the postseason. In total, 25 different skaters have gotten into the T-Birds' lineup over the first seven playoff games, including Blues first-round prospects Adam Jiricek (16th overall, 2024) and Justin Carbonneau (19th overall, 2025), who each made their pro debuts in Game 4 on Thursday night.

The T-Birds and Penguins met in the postseason one previous time in 2022, during the Atlantic Division Semifinals. Springfield swept the series, 3-0, highlighted by Joel Hofer physically shooting and scoring the first goaltender goal in the history of the Calder Cup Playoffs in Game 2 of that series.

All games of the T-Birds/Penguins series can be seen on AHLTV powered by FloHockey and heard locally on NewsRadio 560 WHYN (+ the iHeartRadio app) & in St. Louis on 101 ESPN.