AHL Morning Skate: 5.5.17

Photo: Vince Rappleyea

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 1 – Saturday, 7:00 ET, AHL Live

Atlantic Division Finals – Series “I” (best-of-7)
A3-Hershey Bears vs. A4-Providence Bruins
Game 1 – Sat., May 6 – Providence at Hershey, 7:00
Game 2 – Sun., May 7 – Providence at Hershey, 5:00
Game 3 – Thu., May 11 – Hershey at Providence, 7:05
Game 4 – Fri., May 12 – Hershey at Providence, 7:05
*Game 5 – Sun., May 14 – Hershey at Providence, 3:05
*Game 6 – Tue., May 16 – Providence at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 17 – Providence at Hershey, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern


 
Game 1 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live
 

The North Division Finals get underway tonight as Syracuse hosts Toronto in the opener of their best-of-seven series… The Crunch finished one point ahead of the Marlies in the regular season, earning the division title and home-ice advantage in this series… Both teams have been off since closing out their respective first-round series with dramatic 2-1 overtime wins last Friday… After losing Game 1, Syracuse won three straight and eliminated St. John’s on an OT goal by former IceCaps captain Gabriel Dumont… After losing Game 1, Toronto won three straight and eliminated Albany on a goal in triple OT by defenseman Justin HollTye McGinn (2-2-4) recorded a point in all four first-round games for Syracuse, and shares the Crunch postseason scoring lead with Erik Condra (2-2-4), Matt Taormina (1-3-4) and Matthew Peca (0-4-4)… Syracuse’s Byron Froese (1-1-2) notched 24-15-39 in 48 games with the Marlies this season before joining the Tampa Bay organization on Feb. 27… Mike McKenna (3-1, 1.77, .932) was stellar in net for the Crunch and has made it to the second round for the first time since 2008 as a member of the Portland Pirates… Holl (1-5-6) led Toronto in scoring in the first round after tallying 8-11-19 points in 72 regular-season contests… Fellow defenseman Travis Dermott recorded 1-3-4 in the series, and Frederik Gauthier led Marlies forwards with 1-3-4 as well… Kasimir Kaskisuo (2-0, 0.96, .952) came on in relief in Game 2 and stopped 60 of 63 shots the rest of the series… Toronto (5-2-1-0) won the regular-season series against Syracuse (3-2-1-2), 11 points to nine.

North Division Finals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
N1-Syracuse Crunch vs. N2-Toronto Marlies
Game 1 – Fri., May 5 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
Game 2 – Sat., May 6 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
Game 3 – Tue., May 9 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 10 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 13 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 15 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 17 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern


@ button_chi200
Game 2 – 8:00 ET, AHL Live
(GR leads series, 1-0)
 

After dropping Game 1 on Wednesday, Chicago looks to assert its home-ice advantage and even up the Central Division Finals when it hosts Grand Rapids tonight… The Griffins grabbed a lead just 40 seconds into the series and rolled to a 4-1 win in the opener… Martin Frk, in the Grand Rapids lineup for the first time since Apr. 9 after missing six games due to injury, recorded a goal and an assist, as did Ben Street (1-4-5)… Matthew Ford (3-1-4) and Tomas Nosek (3-0-3) added goals, and Tyler Bertuzzi (2-4-6) and Nathan Paetsch (0-3-3) notched two assists each… Bertuzzi now has 16-10-26 in 27 career Calder Cup Playoff games… Regular-season scoring champion Kenny Agostino (3-3-6) netted his third goal and team-high sixth point of the postseason for the Wolves… Jared Coreau (4-0, 1.85, .938) made 27 saves in the win, which was the Griffins’ ninth in 11 meetings with Chicago this season… Ville Husso (3-3, 2.46, .923) stopped 31 of 34 shots in the loss, his fourth game already this postseason with at least 30 saves… The Wolves have not lost consecutive games since a five-game winless slide from Mar. 17-25… In best-of-seven Calder Cup Playoff series, Grand Rapids is 7-0 all-time when winning Game 1; Chicago is 3-6 when losing Game 1.

Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
C1-Chicago Wolves vs. C2-Grand Rapids Griffins
Game 1 – Wed., May 3 – Grand Rapids 4, CHICAGO 1
Game 2 – Fri., May 5 – Grand Rapids at Chicago, 8:00
Game 3 – Sat., May 6 – Chicago at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 4 – Mon., May 8 – Chicago at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 13 – Grand Rapids at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 15 – Chicago at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 7 – Tue., May 16 – Grand Rapids at Chicago, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern


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Game 1 – 10:00 ET, AHL Live

San Jose and San Diego closed out the division semifinals with Game 5 wins on Tuesday, setting up a Pacific Division Finals series between the top two records in the Western Conference… The home team won all 10 meetings between the Barracuda and the Gulls in 2016-17, with San Diego being shut out three times in five trips to SAP Center… San Jose’s Ryan Carpenter (4-3-7), whose shorthanded overtime goal three nights ago eliminated Stockton, led all AHL skaters in the first round with seven points and a plus-8 rating… Buddy Robinson (3-2-5) was scoreless for San Jose in Game 5 after finding the scoresheet in each of his previous six games, going back to the regular season… Troy Grosenick (3-2, 2.54, .907) allowed four goals on 89 shots in three first-round wins, nine goals on 51 shots in two losses… Nic Kerdiles (3-3-6), who recorded a goal and two assists in San Diego’s 4-1 series-clinching win over Ontario on Tuesday, led the Gulls with in scoring in the first round… Kevin Roy (1-2-3), scoreless in the first three games of the series, recorded an assist in Game 4 before chipping in a goal and an assist in Game 5… Jhonas Enroth (3-2, 1.82, .945) stopped 37 of 38 shots in Game 5 and 156 of 165 in the series… The Barracuda, second in the league in scoring during the regular season at 3.41 goals per game, scored 18 times in five first-round outings (3.60)… San Jose was 1-for-22 on the power play in the first round but did score two shorthanded goals… San Diego is 15-for-16 (93.8 percent) on the penalty kill this postseason.

Pacific Division Finals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
P1-San Jose Barracuda vs. P2-San Diego Gulls
Game 1 – Fri., May 5 – San Diego at San Jose, 10:00
Game 2 – Sat., May 6 – San Diego at San Jose, 10:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 10 – San Jose at San Diego, 10:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 12 – San Jose at San Diego, 10:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 13 – San Jose at San Diego, 10:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 16 – San Diego at San Jose, 10:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 17 – San Diego at San Jose, 10:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern


Working Overtime
There have been 11 overtime games played in the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

*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 Stanley Cup Playoff action yesterday, Oscar Lindberg scored twice to lift the N.Y. Rangers to a 4-1 win over Ottawa… Lindberg had 3-13-16 in 15 AHL playoff games with Hartford in 2015.


On This Date
May 5, 2003Ray Emery stops 34 shots as Binghamton advances to the conference finals with a 2-1 win over Bridgeport in Game 6.

May 5, 1993 – Bill McDougall ties an AHL playoff record with five goals (and adds an assist) in Cape Breton’s 8-2 win over St. John’s as the Oilers complete a four-game sweep of the Maple Leafs.


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