Saturday's Morning Skate 4/30

The Portland Pirates can finish off the Hershey Bears tonight. Photo: Nina Weiss/The Home News

The 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs are all but set for round two as the Ontario Reign and San Diego Gulls punched their ticket to the Western Conference Semifinals with wins last night. The two teams will play each other in a best-of-seven series starting Thursday night in Ontario, California.

As for the Eastern Conference, there is one first round series still undecided. The Portland Pirates put the Hershey Bears on the brink of elimination Thursday night at the Giant Center after two unanswered goals - including Rob Flick's goal in triple overtime - gave the Pirates a big win. The Pirates can advance to the second round with a win tonight in Hershey.

If the Bears stave off elimination tonight, the two teams will battle in a winner take all Game Five Sunday afternoon with the winner advancing to play the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Atlantic Division finals.

The North Division finals series between Albany and Toronto kicks off Wednesday night in Toronto in an intriguing match up between a high flying offense (Toronto) and a solid shut it down defense (Albany). It's a match up of the top two teams in the East in most people's minds, with the winner one step away from the Calder Cup Finals.




Eastern Conference Playoff Scores

No Scores

Western Conference Playoff Scores

Ontario - 4, San Jose - 1 (ONT wins series 3-1)
San Diego - 6, Texas - 2 (SDG wins series 3-1)

Saturday's Playoff Schedule

Portland at Hershey - 7:00 p.m. ET (POR leads series 2-1)