AHL Morning Skate: 5.20.17

Photo: Mark Newman

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s AHL Morning Skate.

Playoff Brackets | Today’s Scoreboard | League Stats | Series Infographics


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Game 2 – Sunday, 7:05 ET, AHL Live
(SYR leads series, 1-0)

Six different Crunch players scored, 11 skaters recorded a point and Mike McKenna made 33 saves as Syracuse took Game 1 (recap) of the Eastern Conference Finals, 6-3, at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence last night… Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is set for Sunday (7:05 p.m. ET).

Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M” (best-of-7)
A4-Providence Bruins vs. N1-Syracuse Crunch
Game 1 – Fri., May 19 – Syracuse 6, PROVIDENCE 3
Game 2 – Sun., May 21 – Syracuse at Providence, 7:05
Game 3 – Wed., May 24 – Providence at Syracuse, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 26 – Providence at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 27 – Providence at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 30 – Syracuse at Providence, 7:05
*Game 7 – Wed., May 31 – Syracuse at Providence, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern


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Game 1 – 9:00 ET, AHL Live
 

Following a week off, San Jose and Grand Rapids open the Western Conference Finals tonight at SAP Center… Both teams closed out their second-round series last Saturday night, with the Barracuda eliminating San Diego and the Griffins finishing off Chicago… San Jose’s Ryan Carpenter (7-6-13) leads all AHL skaters in goals and points this postseason, and is also first among league forwards in plus/minus rating (+8)… Barclay Goodrow (4-5-9) had 3-2-5 in the Barracuda’s second-round series, including the winning goal in the decisive Game 5… Troy Grosenick (7-3, 2.21, .920) made 34 saves in last Saturday’s 2-0 win at San Diego, his second shutout of the playoffs and 12th overall this season… Grand Rapids has won seven of eight games to start this postseason, and is averaging a league-high 4.25 goals scored per game through two rounds… Tyler Bertuzzi (5-5-10) is the Griffins’ top scorer this postseason, and now shows 19-11-30 in 31 career playoff games… Bertuzzi, Mitch Callahan (3-5-8), Tomas Nosek (4-4-8) and Eric Tangradi (1-7-8) all notched six points in Grand Rapids’ five-game win over Chicago in the division finals; four other Griffins had five points in the series… Jared Coreau (7-1, 2.64, .908) shut out the Barracuda for 65 minutes in his only appearance against San Jose this season, a 1-0 shootout loss on Mar. 11… The Griffins have reached the conference finals for the third time in five years (2013, 2015, 2017)… The Barracuda are making the first Calder Cup conference finals appearance by a San Jose Sharks affiliate since the Kentucky Thoroughblades joined the league in 1996… San Jose and Grand Rapids both finished among the top five in the AHL in goals for and goals against during the regular season… The Barracuda won both meetings between the teams during the regular season.

Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
P1-San Jose Barracuda vs. C2-Grand Rapids Griffins
Game 1 – Sat., May 20 – Grand Rapids at San Jose, 9:00
Game 2 – Sun., May 21 – Grand Rapids at San Jose, 8:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 24 – San Jose at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 26 – San Jose at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 27 – San Jose at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 30 – Grand Rapids at San Jose, 10:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 31 – Grand Rapids at San Jose, 10:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern


Working Overtime
There have been 16 overtime games played in the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

May 14 – Hershey 3, PROVIDENCE 2 (Madison Bowey, 1:58)
May 11 – Hershey 2, PROVIDENCE 1 (Chris Bourque, 7:14)
May 10 – San Jose 4, SAN DIEGO 3 (Timo Meier, 17:40)
May 7 – HERSHEY 3, Providence 2 (Travis Boyd, 5:44)
May 5 – San Diego 3, SAN JOSE 2 (Kevin Roy, 0:38)
*May 2 – SAN JOSE 2, Stockton 1 (Ryan Carpenter, 8:52)
*Apr. 28 – TORONTO 2, Albany 1 (Justin Holl, 46:43)
*Apr. 28 – SYRACUSE 2, St. John’s 1 (Gabriel Dumont, 2:18)
*Apr. 26 – Grand Rapids 3, MILWAUKEE 2 (Kyle Criscuolo, 10:03)
Apr. 26 – TORONTO 3, Albany 2 (Colin Greening, 0:45)
Apr. 26 – Lehigh Valley 2, HERSHEY 1 (Chris Conner, 1:49)
Apr. 23 – Charlotte 4, CHICAGO 3 (Connor Brickley, 9:28)
Apr. 23 – W-B/Scranton 6, PROVIDENCE 5 (Derrick Pouliot, 7:49)
Apr. 22 – Syracuse 4, ST. JOHN’S 3 (Tye McGinn, 30:37)
Apr. 21 – GRAND RAPIDS 4, Milwaukee 3 (Tomas Nosek, 9:32)
Apr. 21 – Hershey 1, LEHIGH VALLEY 0 (Nathan Walker, 7:38)
*clinched series


Alumni Watch
In the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs last night, Brian Dumoulin‘s first goal of the postseason stood up as the game-winner as Pittsburgh defeated Ottawa, 3-2… 2007 AHL All-Star Clarke MacArthur scored a goal for the Senators.


On This Date
May 20, 2015 – Jacob Markstrom (35 saves) joins Johnny Bower as the only goalies in AHL history to record a 1-0 Game 7 shutout, helping Utica advance to the Western Conference Finals over Oklahoma City.

May 20, 2002 – Louie DeBrusk, father of current Providence Bruins rookie Jake DeBrusk, scores 9:10 into overtime as Hamilton staves off elimination with a 3-2 win at Bridgeport in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

May 20, 1981 – The Adirondack Red Wings win their first Calder Cup, defeating Maine in Game 6, 5-2.


AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2017 Calder Cup championship. AHL Live brings AHL action to your desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet all season long with live video webcasts and free highlights of every AHL game… Visit ahllive.com for details.

AHL Live