AHL Morning Skate: 5.20.18

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s AHL Morning Skate.

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

@  
Game 2 – Today, 4:00 ET, AHL Live
TV: TSN2, Leafs Nation Network, Service Electric TV2
(TOR leads series, 1-0)
Follow @TorontoMarlies Follow @LVPhantoms Tweet #TORvsLV

Toronto hosts Lehigh Valley in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, just 24 hours after opening the series with a 4-3 win yesterday… Adam Brooks (2-1-3) scored the decisive goal at 3:18 of the third period to send the Marlies to their sixth win in as many games at Ricoh Coliseum this postseason… Miro Aaltonen (3-4-7) scored twice in the first 12:03 to stake Toronto to an early 2-0 lead before the Phantoms stormed back with three straight goals of their own… Philippe Myers (3-4-7), Tyrell Goulbourne (2-0-2) and Chris Conner (5-4-9) gave Lehigh Valley a 3-2 lead before Marlies captain Ben Smith (2-6-8) knotted it back up before the second intermission… Garret Sparks (7-2, 2.31, .917) finished with 26 saves to extend his personal winning streak to five games… Alex Lyon (6-2, 1.76, .951), who had allowed four goals on 188 shots during the second round vs. Charlotte, was beaten four times on 32 shots in Game 1… Andreas Johnsson (3-7-10) recorded two assists yesterday, his third multiple-point effort in six playoff games… Travis Sanheim (0-2-2) returned to the Lehigh Valley lineup after missing the previous four contests due to injury and tallied an assist in Game 1… Regular-season AHL MVP Phil Varone (0-2-2) was also back for the Phantoms after missing six games… Lehigh Valley has not lost back-to-back games since a three-game slide from Apr. 3-7… Toronto is now 26-0-0-1 this season when scoring the first two goals of a game.

Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M” (best-of-7)
N1-Toronto Marlies vs. A1-Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Game 1 – Sat., May 19 – TORONTO 4, Lehigh Valley 3 | Recap/Highlights
Game 2 – Sun., May 20 – Lehigh Valley at Toronto, 4:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 23 – Toronto at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
Game 4 – Fri., May 25 – Toronto at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 5 – Sat., May 26 – Toronto at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 6 – Mon., May 28 – Lehigh Valley at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 30 – Lehigh Valley at Toronto, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

@  
Game 2 – Today, 6:00 ET, AHL Live
(TEX leads series, 1-0)
Follow @TexasStars Follow @goicehogs Tweet #TEXvsRFD

Texas hosts Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals this evening in Cedar Park, site of Friday’s 4-2 Stars win in the series opener… Roope Hintz (2-5-7) and Remi Elie (2-4-6) notched a goal and an assist each in Game 1 as Texas handed Rockford its first loss of the postseason… Curtis McKenzie (3-5-8) and Sheldon Dries (4-0-4) also scored for the Stars, who never trailed in the game… Mike McKenna (8-2, 1.69, .951) stopped 31 of 33 shots for his fifth consecutive win… McKenna made his 55th career Calder Cup Playoff appearance in Game 1, tying Johnny Bower for ninth all-time among AHL goaltenders… Chris DiDomenico (5-8-13) had a goal and an assist for the IceHogs on Friday, giving him a league-best 13 points for the postseason… Carl Dahlstrom (3-4-7) also scored for Rockford, his third in eight playoff games after scoring three times in 64 contests during the regular season… Collin Delia (7-1, 1.91, .938) stopped 20 of 24 shots as his seven-game winning streak came to an end… IceHogs defensemen Adam Clendening (1-9-10) and Cody Franson (4-4-8) have both collected all of their points on the power play this postseason… Rockford was 1-for-4 with the man advantage in Game 1, their 10th consecutive game scoring at least one power-play goal (19-for-54, 35.2 percent over that span)… Texas was also 1-for-4 in Game 1… The IceHogs allowed the game’s first goal for the sixth time in their eight playoff outings… Shots on goal in Game 1 were 33-24 in favor of Rockford; Texas has now been outshot in nine of its first 10 playoff games.

Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
P2-Texas Stars vs. C4-Rockford IceHogs
Game 1 – Fri., May 18 – TEXAS 4, Rockford 2 | Recap/Highlights
Game 2 – Sun., May 20 – Rockford at Texas, 6:00
Game 3 – Tue., May 22 – Texas at Rockford, 8:00
Game 4 – Thu., May 24 – Texas at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 25 – Texas at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 28 – Rockford at Texas, 8:00
*Game 7 – Tue., May 29 – Rockford at Texas, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

Home Sweet Home
The Toronto Marlies now own the fifth-longest home winning streak in Calder Cup Playoffs history:

16 – Providence Bruins, 1997-2000
14 – Philadelphia Phantoms, 2004-08
13 – Cleveland Barons, 1939-43
12 – Nova Scotia Voyageurs, 1972-73
11 – Toronto Marlies, 2017-18
11 – Cleveland Barons, 1964-66

Alumni Watch
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night, Tampa Bay got goals from 2013 Calder Cup finalist Cedric Paquette, 2012 Calder Cup champion Ondrej Palat and 2007 AHL All-Star Ryan Callahan in a 3-2 win over Washington in Game 5 of the NHL’s Eastern Conference Final… Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the Lightning.

In the semifinals of the 2018 IIHF World Championship in Denmark yesterday, 2015 AHL All-Rookie forward Viktor Arvidsson scored twice in Sweden’s 6-0 win over the United States… Magnus Paajarvi, Patric Hornqvist, Mattias Janmark and 2015 Calder Cup champion Adrian Kempe also scored for the Swedes, and Anders Nilsson made 20 saves for his third shutout of the tournament… Sven Andrighetto recorded a pair of assists as Switzerland upset Canada, 3-2… Dean Kukan, a 2016 Calder Cup champion who played 32 AHL games with Cleveland this season, also picked up an assist in the win.

Working Overtime
There have been 11 overtime games played in the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

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, 2013 – The Penguins are outshot 47-18 but Brad Thiessen makes 46 saves and Trevor Smith scores 3:26 into overtime to give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton its third straight win over Providence, forcing a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

May 20, 2002 – Louie 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 – Rick Vasko scores twice, including the game-winner early in the third period, as the Adirondack Red Wings win their first Calder Cup with a 5-2 victory over the Maine Mariners.

AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2018 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.