AHL All-Stars defeat Färjestad BK

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. … In the first international contest in AHL All-Star history, the American Hockey League All-Star team posted a 7-2 victory over Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League in the 2014 AHL All-Star Game at a sold-out Mile One Centre on Wednesday night.

Forwards Brandon Pirri of the Rockford IceHogs and Mike Hoffman of the Binghamton Senators recorded three points each to lead the AHL side. Pirri, who won the American Hockey League’s scoring title in 2012-13, netted two goals and an assist and was named the Assante Wealth Management Most Valuable Player; Hoffman, who is second in the league in scoring so far in 2013-14, added a goal and two assists and was the AHL player of the game.

Ryan Strome of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers scored twice, while Joe Whitney of the Albany Devils and Brian Gibbons of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins registered two assists each. Jake Allen of the Chicago Wolves (14 saves) and Dustin Tokarski of the Hamilton Bulldogs (20 saves) combined to stop 34 of 36 shots by Färjestad, the nine-time Swedish league champions who became the first SHL club ever to play in North America.

Magnus Nygren and Rickard Wallin scored for Färjestad, which got 23 saves on the night from the goaltending duo of Frederik Pettersson-Wentzel and Pekka Tuokkola. Forward Christian Berglund was selected as Färjestad’s player of the game.

The road to the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs continues when the American Hockey League’s 78th season resumes on Friday.