AHL Morning Skate: Dec. 3

Last night’s results || Today’s scoreboard || Standings || League Leaders

hou @ tor 3:00 ET, AHL Live
After running its points streak to eight games (5-0-2-1) with a 4-3 win in Rochester last night, Houston travels to Toronto for a Saturday matinee… The Aeros remain one point behind Oklahoma City in both the West Division and the overall AHL standings, and they are an impressive 9-1-0-1 away from home this season… Joel Broda‘s third-period shorthanded goal, his second goal of the night and fourth in three games, broke a 3-3 tie and gave Houston its first and only lead of the contest… Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves to earn the win in his AHL season debut… Toronto had its own eight-game points streak (6-0-1-1) snapped in a 6-3 loss at Grand Rapids last night… Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist in the loss, his sixth consective outing with a point (6-6-12).

alb @ bri 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Bridgeport and Albany shift to the Webster Bank Arena to close out a home-and-home set tonight… The Devils trailed 3-1 just over 11 minutes into last night’s game, but rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Sound Tigers… Steve Zalewski notched two goals and an assist for Albany and Brad Mills, in his first AHL action of the season after playing 21 games with New Jersey, scored the winning goal at 6:23 of the third period… Jeff Frazee stopped all 13 shots he faced in relief to earn the win in net… Scott Howes scored again for Bridgeport, giving him 4-1-5 in five games with the Sound Tigers… Bridgeport captain Jeremy Colliton, who also scored last night, has 4-4-8 in his last five games.

tex @ cha 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Texas closes out a two-game visit to Charlotte with a rematch at the Time Warner Cable Arena tonight… The Midwest Division-leading Checkers were 3-2 winners on Wednesday, dropping the Stars to 2-6-0-1 in their last nine games… Charlotte has won five in a row overall and has points in seven consecutive home games (6-0-0-1)… Checkers forward Chris Terry extended his scoring streak to eight games (2-9-11) with an assist on Wednesday… Justin Peters was the Reebok/AHL Goaltender of the Month for November, going 5-1-1 with a 1.63 GAA and a .949 save percentage… Jordie Benn, who scored for the Stars on Wednesday, has tallied 5-3-8 in his last eight games.

chi @ gr 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Chicago pays a visit to Grand Rapids tonight for the first meeting of the season between these clubs whose rivalry dates back to 1996 in the International Hockey League… In their AHL days, the Wolves and Griffins have played 68 times in the regular season, and each team has 33 wins… Grand Rapids rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to post a 6-3 win over Toronto last night… Francis Pare and Louis-Marc Aubry notched a goal and two assists each for the Griffins, who have won four in a row vs. teams from Canada but are 0-6-1-0 in their last seven against teams from the United States… Chicago grabbed a 2-0 first-period lead at home last night but fell in a shootout, 3-2, to Abbotsford… Tim Miller and Kevin Connauton scored for the Wolves and Eddie Lack finished with 30 saves… Connauton’s goal was his seventh of the season, tied for the AHL lead among defensemen.

rch @ le 7:00 ET, AHL Live
It’s the fifth of 10 meetings this season between Rochester and Hamilton… The Bulldogs won the first three games, but the Americans took a 5-3 decision last Saturday on the strength of Derek Whitmore‘s four goals… Last night, Rochester lost 4-3 to Houston while Hamilton was shut out 4-0 by St. John’s… Evan Rankin scored twice for the Amerks, his first two AHL goals of the season… Hamilton’s winless streak hit six games (0-5-0-1) as the Bulldogs were blanked for the third time this year… Rochester is 2-4-2-0 on the road this season… Hamilton is 3-7-1-1 at home, but two of the wins were vs. the Amerks.

por @ her 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Portland heads to Hershey this evening, one night after the Pirates’ seven-game points streak (6-0-1-0) was halted in a 4-1 loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton… Brett MacLean scored the only Portland goal last night, giving him 3-4-7 in 11 games with the Pirates… Former Bears captain Dean Arsene picked up an assist on the MacLean goal… Hershey was a 4-1 winner in Syracuse last night… Keith Aucoin (4-29-33) recorded three more assists, leaving him one point shy of the top 20 all-time with 740 career AHL points… Aucoin has 0-14-14 in his last seven games… Matt Pope and former Pirate Graham Mink registered a goal and an assist each last night for the Bears.

pro @ mch 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Manchester and Providence meet at the Verizon Wireless Arena tonight, both coming off 4-1 losses yesterday… The Monarchs saw their six-game winning streak end in Binghamton, while the Bruins were defeated at home by Connecticut to fall to 0-6-0-1 in their last seven… Patrick Mullen scored the only Manchester goal last night, and Brandon Kozun extended his scoring streak to three games (1-2-3) with an assist… Zach Hamill‘s shorthanded goal was the Bruins’ only offense last night; Jordan Caron recorded an assist in his first game back from Boston… The teams have split their first four meetings this season, with Providence winning the last two.

ct @ spr 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Connecticut travels to the MassMutual Center looking to continue its dominance of Springfield tonight… The Whale have won nine of their last 10 meetings with the Falcons, including all three this season… Mats Zuccarello tallied a goal and an assist and Jordan Owens and Jared Nightingale had two helpers each in Connecticut’s 4-1 win at Providence last night, the Whale’s sixth win in their last seven games… Springfield’s losing streak reached four games (0-3-1-0) with a 4-3 overtime loss in Worcester… Wade MacLeod, Cam Atkinson and Ryan Russell scored for the Falcons.

bng @ wor 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Binghamton travels to Worcester to begin a quick two-game trip to New England tonight… The Senators took a 4-1 decision from visiting Manchester back in Broome County last night, as Robin Lehner made 27 saves to earn his first win since Oct. 28… Stephane Da Costa recorded two assists in his AHL debut for Binghamton after notching 3-2-5 in 22 NHL games with Ottawa this season… The Sharks never led until it mattered most last night, erasing three one-goal deficits before taking a 4-3 overtime win against Springfield… John McCarthy, Ryan Del Monte and Cam MacIntyre scored in regulation for Worcester, and Matt Irwin scored the winner 2:22 into OT… Irwin’s seven goals this season are tied for the most among AHL defensemen.

adk @ nor 7:15 ET, AHL Live
Adirondack blitzed Norfolk, 5-1, in the opener of their two-game set last night; the rematch comes tonight at Scope… The Phantoms remained two points out of first place in the Northeast Division with the win, while the Admirals fell two points behind first-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the East Division… Tye McGinn scored a pair of goals for Adirondack last night, Ben Holmstrom had a goal and an assist and former Admiral Michael Leighton stopped 28 of 29 shots… Denis Hamel‘s empty-net goal was the 325th goal of his AHL career, tying former Adirondack Red Wings great Glenn Merkosky for 12th place on the all-time list… Carter Ashton scored the only goal for Norfolk, his 13th of the season, to break a tie with teammate Cory Conacher for the lead among AHL rookies.

wbs @ syr 7:30 ET, AHL Live
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton heads to Syracuse for a meeting with the Crunch tonight… The Penguins scored four unanswered goals and defeated Portland, 4-1, last night… Ben Street, Joey Mormina, Eric Tangradi and Geoff Walker scored for the Penguins, while Alex Grant and Alexandre Picard contributed two assists apiece… Brad Thiessen stopped 19 shots to snap a personal five-game winless streak (0-3-2)… Syracuse was on the short end of a 4-1 decision to Hershey last night… Patrick Maroon had the lone tally for the Crunch, his ninth of the season… Iiro Tarkki made 38 saves as Syracuse allowed more than 40 shots for the fifth time in the last seven games.

mil @ peo 8:00 ET, AHL Live
Milwaukee broke open a goaltending duel with four third-period goals and rolled past Peoria, 5-1, at the Bradley Center last night… The back end of the home-and-home is tonight at Carver Arena, where the Rivermen have already lost twice to the Admirals this season… Last night’s game was scoreless for nearly 36 minutes until Derek Nesbitt got Peoria on the board first at 15:57 of the second period… Michael Latta had two goals and an assist, Taylor Beck chipped in a goal and an assist and Jeremy Smith made 25 saves for Milwaukee, which is 11-0-0-1 when allowing two goals or fewer in a game, but 1-6-0-0 when allowing three goals or more.

okc @ sa 8:00 ET, AHL Live
Ryan Keller scored 8:31 into the third period and David LeNeveu made 22 saves as Oklahoma City blanked San Antonio last night, 1-0… The teams travel to the AT&T Center for the rematch tonight as the Barons look to extend their four-game winning streak… Keller now has 4-4-8 in his last seven games for Oklahoma City, which remains first in the overall AHL standings at 16-5-0-1… Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves in the loss for the Rampage, who have allowed only two goals in their last three games… The Rampage are home for the first time since Nov. 15 after a seven-game road swing (4-3-0-0).

abb @ rfd 8:05 ET, AHL Live
Abbotsford continues its four-game Midwestern road swing in Rockford tonight… The Heat got a much-needed win with a 3-2 shootout decision in Chicago last night, rallying from an early 2-0 deficit… Ben Walter and Brendan Mikkelson scored in regulation for Abbotsford, and Krys Kolanos and Paul Byron converted in the shootout… Leland Irving, who had allowed 12 goals on 51 shots in his three previous appearances, stopped 28 of 30 shots on the night and shut out the Wolves over the final 49:03… Rockford dropped a 4-1 decision to Lake Erie last night… Peter LeBlanc, who scored the only IceHogs goal, now has 6-1-7 in his last seven games after totaling 0-4-4 in his first nine.