AHL Morning Skate: April 25, 2024

A3-W-B/Scranton Penguins vs. A6-Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Game 2 – Friday, 7:05 ET,
(Lehigh Valley leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 24 – Lehigh Valley 2, W-B/SCRANTON 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 26 – W-B/Scranton at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Lehigh Valley at W-B/Scranton, 5:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

A1-Hershey Bears vs. TBD

A2-Providence Bruins vs. TBD

A4-Charlotte Checkers vs. A5-Hartford Wolf Pack
Game 1 – Tonight, 7:00 ET,

Game 1 – Thu., Apr. 25 – Hartford at Charlotte, 7:00
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 27 – Hartford at Charlotte, 4:00
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Hartford at Charlotte, 4:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
The Charlotte Checkers and Hartford Wolf Pack get their first-round series started tonight at Bojangles Coliseum... The Checkers dominated the Wolf Pack in 2023-24, winning seven of eight meetings and allowing only 10 goals – five of those coming in Hartford’s 5-2 win on Apr. 14 to avoid a sweep of the season series... Rookie forward Mackie Samoskevich recorded 5-6-11 against the Wolf Pack this season, and Spencer Knight was 5-1-0 with a 1.48 GAA, a .933 save percentage and two shutouts... Samoskevich led the Checkers in goals (22, tied with fellow rookie Wilmer Skoog), assists (32) and points (54) during the regular season... The Wolf Pack were also powered by a pair of standout rookies in Brennan Othmann (21-28-49) and Brett Berard (25-23-48), who finished behind only Alex Belzile (19-31-50) in team scoring... Hartford pulled out of a 1-10-1-2 skid to win four of its last five games and qualify for the postseason for the second year in a row... Second-year pro Dylan Garand (16-17-5, 3.03, .898) had similar numbers as a rookie in 2022-23, then shined in the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs with a 1.76 GAA, a .935 save percentage and two shutouts in eight starts as the Wolf Pack advanced to the division finals... Charlotte was 8-2-2-0 in its last 12 home games during the regular season... The Checkers are in the Calder Cup Playoffs for the sixth consecutive tournament, and third straight since affiliating with the Florida Panthers in 2021.

N4-Belleville Senators vs. N5-Toronto Marlies
Game 2 – Friday, 7:00 ET,
(Belleville leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 24 – BELLEVILLE 3, Toronto 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 26 – Belleville at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Toronto at Belleville, 3:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

N1-Cleveland Monsters vs. BEL-TOR winner

N2-Rochester Americans vs. N3-Syracuse Crunch
Game 1 – Friday, 7:05 ET,

Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 26 – Syracuse at Rochester, 7:05
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Syracuse at Rochester, 3:05
Game 3 – Thu., May 2 – Rochester at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 4 – Sat., May 4 – Rochester at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Syracuse at Rochester, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C4-Texas Stars vs. C5-Manitoba Moose
Game 2 – Tonight, 8:00 ET,
(Texas leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Tue., Apr. 23 – TEXAS 6, Manitoba 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Thu., Apr. 25 – Manitoba at Texas, 8:00
*Game 3 – Fri., Apr. 26 – Manitoba at Texas, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
Texas hosts Manitoba in Game 2 tonight after doubling up the Moose, 6-3, in Tuesday night’s series opener... Coming off a league scoring title in the regular season, Mavrik Bourque notched two goals and two assists in Game 1 to lead the Stars... Curtis McKenzie added a goal and two assists and Christian Kyrou and Matej Blümel each notched a goal and an assist as the Stars rebounded from dropping a pair of decisions to the Moose to close out the regular season last weekend... McKenzie, who was a rookie on the Stars’ Calder Cup championship team in 2014, now has 28-33-61 in 84 career AHL postseason games... Remi Poirier made his first career Calder Cup Playoff start in net for Texas and stopped 21 shots... Daniel Torgersson, Nikita Chibrikov and Parker Ford scored for Manitoba, which is looking to win a series after dropping Game 1 for the first time since 2011... Moose defensemen Kyle Capobianco and Ville Heinola each had two assists in Game 1... Manitoba scored on its only power-play opportunity on Tuesday and is now 13-for-29 with the man advantage this season (44.8 percent) against the Stars... Game 1 was Texas’s first victory over Manitoba in five tries on home ice this season.

C1-Milwaukee Admirals vs. TEX-MB winner

Game 1 – TBD at TEX-MB winner
Game 2 – TBD at TEX-MB winner
Game 3 –Wed., May 8 – TEX-MB winner at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – TEX-MB winner at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – TEX-MB winner at Milwaukee, 6:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C2-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. C3-Rockford IceHogs
Game 1 – Saturday, 8:00 ET,

Game 1 – Sat., Apr. 27 – Grand Rapids at Rockford, 8:00
Game 2 – Wed., May 1 – Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 3 – Fri., May 3 – Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 4 – Sun., May 5 – Grand Rapids at Rockford, 5:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

P2-Tucson Roadrunners vs. P7-Calgary Wranglers
Game 2 – Friday, 10:00 ET,
(Calgary leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 24 – Calgary 2, TUCSON 0 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 26 – Calgary at Tucson, 10:00
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Calgary at Tucson, 10:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

P3-Ontario Reign vs. P6-Bakersfield Condors
Game 2 – Saturday, 10:00 ET,
(Ontario leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 24 – ONTARIO 5, Bakersfield 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 27 – Ontario at Bakersfield, 10:00
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Bakersfield at Ontario, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

P4-Colorado Eagles vs. P5-Abbotsford Canucks
Game 2 – Friday, 9:05 ET,
(Abbotsford leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 24 – Abbotsford 4, COLORADO 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 26 – Abbotsford at Colorado, 9:05
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Abbotsford at Colorado, 5:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C1-Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. TBD

TBD vs. TBD

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms knew they would have to win at least once at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if they are to take their Atlantic Division First Round series against the Penguins.

“We played a disciplined road game,” head coach Ian Laperriere said via phantomshockey.com after the game.

Indeed they did. They opened the scoring. They struck in the first minute of the second period to build a two-goal lead. They stifled the Penguins for most of the night, holding them to 22 shots. They stayed out of penalty trouble, too, yielding just a pair of man-advantage opportunities.

For a team that had struggled against Wilkes-Barre, going 1-5-1-0 in their past seven match-ups, it was about as perfect a road game as Laperriere could have asked for. Still, there is enough room for improvement for Laperriere to hone in on going into Game 2 at PPL Center on Friday. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s lone goal came off a turnover and missed coverage.

Laperriere, who played 1,083 NHL games, could relate to that breakdown.

“I was like that as a player,” he said. “When everything goes well, I was like, ‘I’ll try something different.’ But we came back to work, and that’s why we came out with the win. We have a great group here. The leaders are leading.”

Being a part of history has its charms, but sentimentality only goes so far in the postseason.

The Belleville Senators’ 3-1 win in Game 1 of their North Division First Round series marked the first Calder Cup Playoff win in team history. B-Sens players recognized the moment’s importance for a franchise that had only played two playoff games in six seasons before last night. Belleville had a Calder Cup contender in 2019-20 before the COVID-19 pandemic ended that season.

In fact, last night’s win came nearly 10 years after an Ottawa Senators AHL affiliate had last won a playoff game; the Binghamton Senators defeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in overtime, 4-3, on April 26, 2014.

“It’s special,” Belleville forward Josh Currie said to bellevillesenators.com. “Any time you can be a part of the first of something for an organization, it’s definitely a special moment. We definitely feel it in there.”

Now they go after that second win on Friday in Toronto. The past few weeks have been emotional ones in Belleville as the team won eight of its last nine regular-season games to earn their trip to the postseason. They also needed a third-period comeback in their second-to-last contest of the regular-season slate to nail down their North Division playoff berth. That late-season pressure may be serving the team well now.

“It's kind of been like playoff hockey for us the last eight or nine,” Currie continued. “We’re already in that mentality, and I think that helps you. We’re feeling good, and we’ve been playing this type of hockey for a while now.”

In the end, a flurry of transactions all worked out for the Colorado Eagles before they faced Abbotsford in Game 1 of the teams’ Pacific Division First Round series last night.

The Eagles had lost top goaltender Ivan Prosvetov on recall to the Colorado Avalanche earlier this week. But after backing up Alexandar Georgiev in Game 2 of the Avs’ Stanley Cup Playoff series in Winnipeg, he returned in time for the start of the Eagles’ first playoff game.

Prosvetov came back with a pair of teammates as well. Returning to the Eagles were captain Brad Hunt and forward Chris Wagner. Hunt was a member of the AHL First All-Star Team and finished second in the league among defensemen with 49 points (16 goals, 33 assists) in 70 games. Wagner returned in the middle of the season from an extended injury and provided 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in 21 games for the Eagles.

All three players played in the Eagles’ 4-2 loss to the Canucks. The Eagles will try to avoid elimination on Friday.

After participating in the Big Ten Tournament, NCAA tournament play and the Frozen Four during his days at the University of Michigan, a best-of-three series is not going to faze Erik Portillo.

He also battled for Sweden at the IIHF World Junior Championship. Win-or-go-home hockey is nothing new.

So in his first postseason game as a professional last night, it was little surprise that Portillo was up to the challenge, making 30 saves to help lead Ontario to a 5-1 win against Bakersfield in Game 1 of the teams’ Pacific Division First Round series.

“I had a good background with this playing a lot of playoff games in college, a lot of one game on the line, so I felt prepared,” Portillo told ontarioreign.com after the win. “I think the team helped me out as well. We felt very comfortable going into this game.”

Portillo, 23, came to the Los Angeles Kings organization in a March 2023 deal with Buffalo, who had selected Portillo in the third round of the 2019 NHL Draft. Expectations were high for the 6-foot-6, 224-pound Portillo as he began his pro career with the Reign, and he justified them. His .918 save percentage tied for sixth in the AHL, and he went 24-11-3 with a 2.50 goals-against average in 39 games.

The Kings had originally planned for Portillo to partner with NHL veteran David Rittich in Ontario, but an early-season injury to Kings goaltender Pheonix Copley prompted Rittich’s recall, and Portillo saddled much of the workload.

“The more they trust me, and the better I do, the more we’re just going to thrive together,” Portillo added. “I’m excited to just keep pushing here.”

― with files from Patrick Williams

Watch the Calder Cup Playoffs on AHLTV
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2024 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 to watch every game for the entire postseason, or just $8.99 for a day pass. Visit AHLTV.com for details.