AHL Morning Skate: April 26

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest from around the American Hockey League in today’s Morning Skate.

Complete Schedule || Playoff Brackets || Today’s Scoreboard || League Leaders

Tonight’s Previews

nor  mch
Game 2 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (MCH leads series, 1-0)
Jean-Francois Berube made 30 saves to earn a shutout in his Calder Cup Playoffs debut, backstopping Manchester to a 2-0 win over Norfolk in the opener of their series last night… Sean Backman and Zach O’Brien provided the offense for the Monarchs, each with his first career AHL playoff goal… It was Manchester’s third shutout in its last five games, going back to the regular season… John Gibson stopped 24 of 26 shots on the night for Norfolk, which was blanked in a playoff game for the first time since Apr. 23, 2005 (Philadelphia)… The Admirals’ 10-game postseason winning streak came to an end… It was just Manchester’s second win in its last eight home playoff games.

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “A” (best-of-5)
1-Manchester Monarchs vs. 8-Norfolk Admirals
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – MANCHESTER 2, Norfolk 0
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Norfolk at Manchester, 7:00
Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 30 – Manchester at Norfolk, 7:15
*Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Manchester at Norfolk, 7:30
*Game 5 – Sat., May 3 – Manchester at Norfolk, 7:15
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

pro  spr
Game 3 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (Series tied, 1-1)
Providence turned the tables on Springfield last night, responding to the Falcons’ Game 1 overtime win on the Bruins’ home ice with an OT victory at the MassMutual Center… With the series even at 1-1, Game 3 goes tonight in Springfield… Matt Fraser scored 3:54 into overtime, his third career postseason goal, to give the B’s the victory… Former Falcon Blake Parlett, a Game 1 scratch, scored his first goal as a Bruin… Michael Chaput had the lone goal for Springfield… Niklas Svedberg made 23 saves to help Providence snap a five-game postseason losing streak… Mike McKenna finished with 34 saves… The Falcons and Bruins have played five OT games in their head-to-head playoff history, and the road team has won all five.

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “B” (best-of-5)
2-Springfield Falcons vs. 7-Providence Bruins

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 23 – Springfield 3, PROVIDENCE 2 (OT)
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 25 – Providence 2, SPRINGFIELD 1 (OT)
Game 3 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Providence at Springfield, 7:00
Game 4 – Tue., Apr. 29 – Springfield at Providence, 7:05
*Game 5 – Sat., May 3 – Providence at Springfield, 7:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

stj  alb
Game 2 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (STJ leads series, 1-0)
Ben Chiarot scored with 23.1 seconds left in the third period to give St. John’s a 2-1 win over Albany in Game 1 at the Times Union Center… Eric O’Dell also scored for the IceCaps, while Joe Whitney had the Devils’ goal in his playoff debut… Michael Hutchinson made 25 saves to pick up the win for St. John’s… Keith Kinkaid stopped 30 of 32 shots for Albany… During their 2012 postseason, the IceCaps won both series in which they won Game 1… Attendance for Game 1 was 6,572 — the largest for a playoff game in Albany since the opener of the 1995 Calder Cup Finals between the River Rats and the Fredericton Canadiens (7,985).

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “D” (best-of-5)
4-St. John’s IceCaps vs. 5-Albany Devils
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – St. John’s 2, ALBANY 1
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – St. John’s at Albany, 7:00
Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 30 – Albany at St. John’s, 6:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Albany at St. John’s, 6:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 3 – Albany at St. John’s, 6:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

wbs  bng
Game 2 – 7:05 ET, AHL Live (WBS leads series, 1-0)
Anton Zlobin scored at 8:40 of overtime as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took Game 1 of its series with Binghamton, 3-2… It was the Penguins’ eighth consecutive postseason win over the Senators; seven of the eight have been by a one-goal margin… Harry Zolnierczyk and former Senator Andrew Ebbett had second-period goals for the Penguins; Ebbett’s goal was the 15th shorthanded goal scored by Wilkes-Barre this season… Cody Ceci and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for the Senators… Peter Mannino, whose streak of 13 consecutive starts with two or fewer goals against ended in last Friday’s 5-4 loss to Binghamton, stopped 27 of 29 shots for the Penguins… Andrew Hammond made 34 saves in his pro playoff debut for the Senators.

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “C” (best-of-5)
3-Binghamton Senators vs. 6-W-B/Scranton Penguins

Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – W-B/Scranton 3, BINGHAMTON 2 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – W-B/Scranton at Binghamton, 7:05
Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 30 – Binghamton at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Binghamton at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 5 – Mon., May 5 – W-B/Scranton at Binghamton, 7:05
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

chi  rch
Game 2 – 7:05 ET, AHL Live (CHI leads series, 1-0)
Down two goals and playing a man down with less than five minutes remaining, the Chicago Wolves stormed back and stunned the Rochester Americans with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 1 at the Blue Cross Arena last night… Sebastian Wannstrom cut the deficit in half with a shorthanded goal with 4:50 to play, Mark Cundari tied things up with 2:19 to go and Dmitrij Jaskin, returned to the Wolves from the NHL’s St. Louis Blues earlier in the day, won it just 1:06 into OT… Joel Armia tallied a goal and an assist for the Americans, whose playoff losing streak reached 10 games… Nick Deslauriers and Luke Adam scored power-play goals for Rochester… Brent Regner scored on the power play for Chicago, which ranked 30th in the AHL in the regular season with the man advantage (12.6 percent)… Jake Allen stopped 26 of 29 shots and picked up his first career playoff victory… Andrey Makarov made 35 saves for Rochester… The win was just the Wolves’ third in their last 11 road playoff games.

Western Conference Quarterfinals – Series “F” (best-of-5)
2-Chicago Wolves vs. 7-Rochester Americans
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – Chicago 4, ROCHESTER 3 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Chicago at Rochester, 7:05
Game 3 – Thu., May 1 – Rochester at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Rochester at Chicago, 8:30
*Game 5 – Sun., May 4 – Rochester at Chicago, 4:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

tor  mil
Game 2 – 8:00 ET, AHL Live (TOR leads series, 1-0)
Sam Carrick scored twice, Jerry D’Amigo and T.J. Brennan added a goal and an assist each and Josh Leivo and Kenny Ryan tallied goals for Toronto as the Marlies took a 6-2 decision from Milwaukee in Game 1 of their conference quarterfinal series… Drew MacIntyre made 28 saves for his 33rd career Calder Cup Playoff win… Patrick Cehlin and Filip Forsberg recorded the Admirals’ goals… Marek Mazanec stopped 22 of 26 shots in the loss… Milwaukee fell to 1-8 in its last nine playoff games, and dropped a first-round Game 1 at home for the third postseason in a row… Toronto is 8-5 on the road in the playoffs since 2012.

Western Conference Quarterfinals – Series “G” (best-of-5)
3-Toronto Marlies vs. 6-Milwaukee Admirals
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – Toronto 6, MILWAUKEE 2
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Toronto at Milwaukee, 8:00
Game 3 – Thu., May 1 – Milwaukee at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 4 – Sat., May 3 – Milwaukee at Toronto, 3:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 4 – Milwaukee at Toronto, 3:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

tex  okc
Game 2 – 9:00 ET, AHL Live (TEX leads series, 1-0)
After two days off, Texas and Oklahoma City resume their series with Game 2 at the Cox Convention Center tonight… The teams have been off since the Stars’ 3-2 overtime victory on Wednesday night… Mike Hedden scored the tying goal with 12:42 left in regulation before winning it at 5:35 of OT… The Barons led Game 1, 2-0, on goals by Austin Fyten and Curtis HamiltonDerek Meech also scored for Texas, his fifth career Calder Cup Playoff goal… Cristopher Nilstorp stopped 26 shots to backstop the Stars to the win… The Barons’ Richard Bachman finished with 30 saves against his former club… Texas moved to 8-6 all-time in playoff overtime games; Oklahoma City fell to 4-2.

Western Conference Quarterfinals – Series “E” (best-of-5)
1-Texas Stars vs. 8-Oklahoma City Barons

Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 23 – Texas 3, OKLAHOMA CITY 2 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Texas at Oklahoma City, 9:00
Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 30 – Oklahoma City at Texas, 8:30
*Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Oklahoma City at Texas, 8:30
*Game 5 – Sat., May 3 – Oklahoma City at Texas, 8:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

gr  abb
Game 2 – 10:00 ET, AHL Live (GR leads series, 1-0)
Petr Mrazek made a franchise-record 55 saves and AHL All-Rookie defenseman Ryan Sproul scored with 33.4 seconds remaining in the second overtime period as Grand Rapids grabbed a 2-1 victory over Abbotsford in Game 1 last night… The Griffins played 24 postseason games last year without a single trip beyond regulation, but needed nearly two full extra periods in their first game of the 2014 playoffs… It was the longest AHL game since Hamilton’s 3OT win over Manitoba in 2011… Mrazek stopped all 43 shots he faced over the final four periods, including 21 in sudden-death overtime… Brett Olson opened the scoring for the Heat at 11:44 of the first period, and the lead held until Mattias Backman scored the first goal of his North American pro career for Grand Rapids with 7:23 remaining in regulation… Joni Ortio ended the night with 39 saves on 41 shots… The winning goal was scored at 11:01 p.m. PDT (2:01 a.m. EDT)… The win was Grand Rapids’ sixth in a row on the road in the playoffs.

Western Conference Quarterfinals – Series “H” (best-of-5)
4-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. 5-Abbotsford Heat
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – Grand Rapids 2, ABBOTSFORD 1 (2OT)
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – Grand Rapids at Abbotsford, 10:00
Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 30 – Abbotsford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Abbotsford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 5 –Sat., May 3 – Abbotsford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

Working Overtime, Part I
There have been six overtime games played in the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Road teams are 6-0, and have won 12 straight playoff OT games going back to last year:

Apr. 23 – Springfield 3, PROVIDENCE 2 (Andrew Joudrey, 2:21)
Apr. 23 – Texas 3, OKLAHOMA CITY 2 (Mike Hedden, 5:35)
Apr. 25 – Providence 2, SPRINGFIELD 1 (Matt Fraser, 3:54)
Apr. 25 – W-B/Scranton 3, BINGHAMTON 2 (Anton Zlobin, 8:40)
Apr. 25 – Chicago 4, ROCHESTER 3 (Dmitrij Jaskin, 1:06)
Apr. 25 – Grand Rapids 2, ABBOTSFORD 1 (Ryan Sproul, 39:26)

Working Overtime, Part II
There were four overtime games played last night, just the third time in AHL history that as many as four Calder Cup Playoff games needed OT on the same day:

5 – Apr. 26, 1996
CORNWALL 2, Albany 1 (OT)
SYRACUSE 4, Binghamton 3 (OT)
PORTLAND 6, Worcester 5 (OT)
FREDERICTON 6, Prince Edward Island 5 (OT)
Springfield 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (OT)

4 – Apr. 11, 2001
ROCHESTER 4, Philadelphia 3 (OT)
Syracuse 2, W-B/SCRANTON 1 (OT)
WORCESTER 4, Lowell 3 (OT)
Norfolk 5, CINCINNATI 4 (OT)

4 – Apr. 25, 2014
Providence 2, SPRINGFIELD 1 (OT)
W-B/Scranton 3, BINGHAMTON 2 (OT)
Chicago 4, ROCHESTER 3 (OT)
Grand Rapids 2, ABBOTSFORD 1 (2OT)

AHL Live
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