A1-Charlotte Checkers vs. A6-Bridgeport Islanders
(Charlotte wins series, 3-1)
Game 1 – Charlotte 3, BRIDGEPORT 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Charlotte 7, BRIDGEPORT 6 (2OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Bridgeport 3, CHARLOTTE 2 | Recap
Game 4 – CHARLOTTE 4, Bridgeport 0 | Recap
A2-Springfield Thunderbirds vs. A4-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
(Springfield wins series, 3-0)
Game 1 – SPRINGFIELD 4, W-B/Scranton 1 | Recap
Game 2 – SPRINGFIELD 6, W-B/Scranton 2 | Recap
Game 3 – Springfield 7, W-B/SCRANTON 6 | Recap
A1-Charlotte Checkers vs. A2-Springfield Thunderbirds
Game 1 – Sunday, 3:05 ET, 
Game 1 – Sun., May 22 – Charlotte at Springfield, 3:05
Game 2 – Wed., May 25 – Charlotte at Springfield, 7:05
Game 3 – Sat., May 28 – Springfield at Charlotte, 6:00
*Game 4 – Sun., May 29 – Springfield at Charlotte, 6:00
*Game 5 – Tue., May 31 – Springfield at Charlotte, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
N1-Utica Comets vs. N5-Rochester Americans
Game 5 – Thursday, 7:05 ET,
(Series tied, 2-2)
Game 1 – UTICA 6, Rochester 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Rochester 4, UTICA 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – ROCHESTER 4, Utica 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Utica 4, ROCHESTER 2 | Recap
Game 5 – Thu., May 19 – Rochester at Utica, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
N2-Syracuse Crunch vs. N3-Laval Rocket
(Laval wins series, 3-2)
Game 1 – SYRACUSE 5, Laval 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Laval 3, SYRACUSE 2 | Recap
Game 3 – LAVAL 4, Syracuse 1 | Recap
Game 4 – Syracuse 3, LAVAL 0 | Recap
Game 5 – Laval 3, SYRACUSE 2 (OT) | Recap
C1-Chicago Wolves vs. C4-Rockford IceHogs
(Chicago wins series, 3-0)
Game 1 – CHICAGO 6, Rockford 2 | Recap
Game 2 – CHICAGO 4, Rockford 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Chicago 4, ROCKFORD 1 | Recap
C2-Manitoba Moose vs. C3-Milwaukee Admirals
(Milwaukee wins series, 3-2)
Game 1 – MILWAUKEE 3, Manitoba 2 | Recap
Game 2 – MILWAUKEE 2, Manitoba 1 | Recap
Game 3 – MANITOBA 5, Milwaukee 2 | Recap
Game 4 – MANITOBA 7, Milwaukee 3 | Recap
Game 5 – Milwaukee 2, MANITOBA 1 | Recap
C1-Chicago Wolves vs. C3-Milwaukee Admirals
Game 1 – Saturday, 8:00 ET,
Game 1 – Sat., May 21 – Milwaukee at Chicago, 8:00
Game 2 – Sun., May 22 – Milwaukee at Chicago, 4:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 25 – Chicago at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 27 – Chicago at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 29 – Milwaukee at Chicago, 4:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
P1-Stockton Heat vs. P4-Bakersfield Condors
(Stockton wins series, 3-0)
Game 1 – STOCKTON 3, Bakersfield 1 | Recap
Game 2 – STOCKTON 3, Bakersfield 2 | Recap
Game 3 – Stockton 6, BAKERSFIELD 4 | Recap
P2-Ontario Reign vs. P3-Colorado Eagles
(Colorado wins series, 3-0)
Game 1 – COLORADO 10, Ontario 1 | Recap
Game 2 – COLORADO 5, Ontario 4 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Colorado 5, ONTARIO 2 | Recap
P1-Stockton Heat vs. P3-Colorado Eagles
Game 1 – Monday, 9:30 ET,
Game 1 – Mon., May 23 – Colorado at Stockton, 9:30
Game 2 – Tue., May 24 – Colorado at Stockton, 9:30
Game 3 – Fri., May 27 – Stockton at Colorado, 9:05
*Game 4 – Sun., May 29 – Stockton at Colorado, 9:05
*Game 5 – Tue., May 31 – Stockton at Colorado, 9:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
Following a 4-2 loss to the Utica Comets in Game 4 of the teams’ North Division semifinal series last night, Rochester Americans head coach Seth Appert sought to stress a few key points about the growing pains that young prospects must endure in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Comets, who finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, had just delivered a thumping to the upstart Amerks. Faced with elimination, the Comets’ key veterans led the way and overwhelmed the Amerks to set up a deciding Game 5 in Utica on Thursday night.
While the Comets set an AHL franchise record with 13 consecutive wins to open the season and remained in first place for the duration, the Amerks had to grind their way through a lengthy stretch drive simply to qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs on the final day. Then after two punishing opening-round games against the Belleville Senators, they managed to split two games in Utica before taking a raucous 4-3 overtime win on Sunday at a packed Blue Cross Arena to deliver the first bona fide threat to Utica’s season yet.
Utica pushed back, and hard.
The Comets brought the Amerks back to reality with a lesson on what an extended Calder Cup Playoff run would feel like. A team continuously raising its standard through the postseason is a requirement.
“They’re a great team,” Appert told the Rochester media via the team website. “They have a lot of pride. They believe they’re a Calder Cup contender. That’s what I expected from them. I think that as much as you talk to your team about it, I thought that we had too many guys on their heels, especially in the first part of the game, for that level of urgency, physicality, and intensity.”
The Amerks had just received a master class in playoff hockey. Now Appert must hope that his players can quickly process the stern lessons that Utica veterans A.J. Greer, Chase De Leo, Brian Flynn, and others delivered. Such is the learning process that a Calder Cup hopeful must undergo.
“There’s another level of competitiveness that a championship-caliber team rises to when their back is against the wall,” Appert said. “They did, and it took us too long to get to that level.”
To the east of Rochester on I-90, the Syracuse Crunch had their own wounds to address last night.
Syracuse’s season is over after the team lost a 2-0 lead to the Laval Rocket and were eliminated in Game 5 of the teams’ North Division semifinal series. The Rocket will face the winner of the Rochester-Utica series in the North Division Finals.
“[Comebacks are part of the] playoffs,” Crunch head coach Ben Groulx told local media after the game. “That’s all it is. And I thought when they scored their first goal, I thought our energy went down, theirs went up big time, and we became nervous.
“It’s a game of momentum, and they deserved their win. No doubt about it.”
Groulx was in the Syracuse dressing room for a lengthy period of time before emerging.
“I just wanted to thank the players,” Groulx said. “It’s a grind every day. They’ve been here since September practicing almost every day. And so I thanked them for their effort, their competitiveness. Good hockey players. Good hockey players that they want to learn. I think they all got better this year. And I think there’s always an opportunity to learn.
“When we’re going to reflect on this season, obviously we’re going to be disappointed with this result here, but overall I think it’s been a good season for us.”
ALUMNI WATCH
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In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, Josh Manson scored 8:02 into overtime to lift Colorado to a 3-2 win over St. Louis in Game 1 of their series... Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves as Tampa Bay opened its series with a 4-1 win over Florida.
In action at the 2022 IIHF World Championship yesterday, Rasmus Asplund scored twice and Magnus Hellberg made 16 saves as Sweden shut out Great Britain, 6-0... Denis Malgin scored a goal for Switzerland in a 3-2 win over Kazakhstan... Mathias Bau scored the winning goal for Denmark in a 2-1 victory over Italy.
Watch the Calder Cup Playoffs on AHLTV
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2022 Calder Cup championship. AHLTV features live streaming of every AHL game in high definition on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices, as well as OTT platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. A subscription is just $29.99 for the entire postseason, or just $8.99 for a day pass. Visit AHLTV.com for details.
