AHL Morning Skate: 5.3.18

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

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Game 1 – Friday, 7:05 ET, AHL Live
Follow @LVPhantoms Follow @CheckersHockey Tweet #LVvsCHA

Atlantic Division Finals – Series “I” (best-of-7)
A1-Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs. A3-Charlotte Checkers
Game 1 – Fri., May 4 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
Game 3 – Tue., May 8 – Lehigh Valley at Charlotte, 7:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 9 – Lehigh Valley at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 12 – Lehigh Valley at Charlotte, 6:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 14 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 7 – Tue., May 15 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 1 – Tonight, 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Follow @TorontoMarlies Follow @SyracuseCrunch Tweet #TORvsSYR

For the second year in a row, it’s the Toronto Marlies and the Syracuse Crunch doing battle in the North Division Finals… The Marlies won five of the teams’ eight meetings during the 2017-18 regular season, but they have only played each other once since the All-Star break, a 4-3 Crunch overtime win on Feb. 28… Toronto needed five games to knock off Utica in the division semifinals, capped by a 4-0 victory on Sunday… Syracuse has been off since completing a three-game sweep of Rochester last Wednesday… Dmytro Timashov (3-2-5) led the Marlies in scoring during the first round… Carl Grundstrom (3-0-3) scored twice in the clinching Game 5 win for Toronto… After spending the previous six weeks with the parent Toronto Maple Leafs, Second Team AHL All-Star Andreas Johnsson (1-2-3) returned to the Marlies lineup for Game 5 and recorded three points… Johnsson led all scorers in the regular season with 7-4-11 in eight games vs. Syracuse… Garret Sparks (3-2, 2.66, .902) had a .958 save percentage at Ricoh Coliseum in the opening round… In sweeping Rochester, Syracuse became the first team since the 1988 Hershey Bears to score at least six goals in three consecutive playoff games… Matthew Peca (2-6-8) tied for the AHL scoring lead in the first round, and led a group of six Crunch skaters who had points in all three games… Connor Ingram (1-0, 3.00, .917) got the win in Game 3 — his postseason debut — after Eddie Pasquale (2-0, 3.50, .873) played the first two games of the series… Syracuse scored 18 goals on 82 shots in the first round, a shooting percentage of 22.0 percent… The Marlies enter tonight’s Game 1 with an 8-0 home record over the last two postseasons; the Crunch are 3-8 on the road over that span… All seven games of last year’s division final series were won by the home team.

North Division Finals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
N1-Toronto Marlies vs. N2-Syracuse Crunch
Game 1 – Thu., May 3 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Syracuse at Toronto, 4:00
Game 3 – Sun., May 6 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
Game 4 – Tue., May 8 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 12 – Syracuse at Toronto, 4:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 14 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 16 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 1 – Friday, 8:00 ET, AHL Live
Follow @ManitobaMoose Follow @goicehogs Tweet #MBvsRFD

Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
C3-Manitoba Moose vs. C4-Rockford IceHogs
Game 1 – Fri., May 4 – Rockford at Manitoba, 8:00
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Rockford at Manitoba, 5:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 9 – Manitoba at Rockford, 8:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 11 – Manitoba at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 12 – Manitoba at Rockford, 7:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 15 – Rockford at Manitoba, 8:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 16 – Rockford at Manitoba, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 2 – Friday, 10:05 ET, AHL Live
(TUC leads series, 1-0)
Follow @RoadrunnersAHL Follow @TexasStars Tweet #TUCvsTEX

Pacific Division Finals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
P1-Tucson Roadrunners vs. P2-Texas Stars
Game 1 – Wed., May 2 – TUCSON 2, Texas 1 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 4 – Texas at Tucson, 10:05
Game 3 – Mon., May 7 – Tucson at Texas, 8:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 9 – Tucson at Texas, 8:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 11 – Tucson at Texas, 8:00
*Game 6 – Sun., May 13 – Texas at Tucson, 10:05
*Game 7 – Mon., May 14 – Texas at Tucson, 10:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

Alumni Watch
In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, 2012 Calder Cup champion Ondrej Palat scored twice, Anthony Cirelli netted his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal and Tampa Bay defeated Boston, 4-1, in Game 3 of their series… Marcus Sorensen, who appeared in 23 AHL games with the San Jose Barracuda this season, scored his fourth goal of these playoffs and 2010 AHL All-Star Logan Couture tallied two assists as San Jose blanked Vegas, 4-0, in Game 4… Martin Jones, an AHL All-Star in 2011, made 34 saves for the shutout.

Working Overtime
There have been 7 overtime games played in the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

On This Date
May 3, 2002 – The final game ever played at Hersheypark Arena goes to the Houston Aeros, as Jamie McLennan stops 32 shots in a series-clinching 7-1 win over Hershey.

May 3, 1997 – In a game that features 11 goals, five goaltenders and a league-record 350 penalty minutes, Philadelphia defeats Hershey, 7-4, in Game 2 of the Mid-Atlantic Division final.

May 3, 1978 – The Maine Mariners advance to the Calder Cup Finals in their first season with a 2-1 win over two-time defending champion Nova Scotia in a Game 7 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

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.