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 || Series Previews
Tonight’s Previews
Game 5 – 5:00 ET, AHL Live
(Series tied, 2-2)
The Western Conference Finals have been reduced to a best-of-three with Oklahoma City hosting Grand Rapids this evening in a pivotal Game 5… The Griffins squared the series at two games apiece with a 4-0 win last night… Petr Mrazek made a season-high 40 saves for his third shutout of the playoffs… Joakim Andersson (1-0-1) and Gustav Nyquist (0-1-1), making their return to the Grand Rapids lineup after Detroit’s elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, combined for the Griffins’ first goal of the night… Riley Sheahan (2-9-11), Landon Ferraro (4-7-11) and Jan Mursak (6-4-10) also scored for the Griffins, and Chad Billins (2-6-8) tallied two assists… Yann Danis (9-5, 2.14, .932) stopped 28 of 31 shots on the night… Mrazek (9-6, 2.08, .921) has a 1.77 GAA and a .949 save percentage in the series… The Barons’ five-game home winning streak came to an end as they lost at the Cox Convention Center for the first time since Game 1 of their first-round series with Charlotte on Apr. 26… Grand Rapids was 0-for-9 on the power play in the first three games of the series, but went 2-for-2 in Game 4… Oklahoma City was 0-for-4 last night and is 1-for-15 this round… The Griffins entered the series having outshot its opponents in each of its first 11 playoff games, but after shots were even in Game 1 the Barons have had the edge on the shot board in Games 2, 3 and 4… Excluding shootouts, Oklahoma City has not lost back-to-back games since a five-game slide from Jan. 6-18… In Calder Cup Playoff best-of-seven series that have been tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner has gone on to win the series 100 of 124 times (80.6 percent).
Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
3-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. 5-Oklahoma City Barons
Game 1 – Fri., May 24 – GRAND RAPIDS 2, Oklahoma City 1
Game 2 – Sat., May 25 – Oklahoma City 4, GRAND RAPIDS 2
Game 3 – Wed., May 29 – OKLAHOMA CITY 4, Grand Rapids 1
Game 4 – Sat., June 1 – Grand Rapids 4, OKLAHOMA CITY 0
Game 5 – Sun., June 2 – Grand Rapids at Oklahoma City, 5:00
Game 6 – Tue., June 4 – Oklahoma City at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 5 – Oklahoma City at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
About Last Night…
The Syracuse Crunch advanced to the Calder Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history, winning the Eastern Conference championship with a 7-0 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last night… The Crunch lost Game 1, then outscored the Pens 16-4 the rest of the way, including scoring the final 10 goals of the series… Philippe Paradis, who hadn’t scored a goal since Jan. 11, recorded a hat trick for Syracuse in Game 5… Dan Sexton added a goal and two assists, and defenseman Andrej Sustr and Mark Barberio recorded three assists each… Cedrick Desjardins made 23 saves for his second shutout of the series and his third of the playoffs… Syracuse, 11-1 in the postseason, will have home-ice advantage in the Calder Cup Finals against either Grand Rapids or Oklahoma City… In the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night, 2005 Calder Cup champion Patrick Sharp scored in Chicago’s 2-1 win over Los Angeles in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals… Former Providence Bruin David Krejci scored twice and one-time San Antonio Rampage forward Nathan Horton had a goal and two assists as Boston defeated Pittsburgh, 3-0, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals… Tuukka Rask stopped 29 shots for his first postseason shutout since Apr. 26, 2008, when he was with Providence.
Road Warriors
AHL teams are 29-34 on the road this postseason, but all four conference finalists have winning records away from home:
1.000 – Syracuse (5-0)
.667 – Hershey (2-1)
.600 – Providence (3-2)
.571 – Oklahoma City (4-3)
.571 – Grand Rapids (4-3)
.556 – W-B/Scranton (5-4)
.500 – Toronto (2-2)
.500 – Charlotte (1-1)
.333 – Houston (1-2)
.250 – Springfield (1-3)
.200 – Texas (1-4)
.000 – Binghamton (0-1)
.000 – Manchester (0-2)
.000 – Milwaukee (0-2)
.000 – Portland (0-2)
.000 – Rochester (0-2)
Eastern Conference Finals History
The Richard F. Canning Trophy is presented each season to the playoff champions of the AHL’s Eastern Conference… Syracuse is the 10th consecutive conference champion to come out of the East Division… Here are the results of the Eastern Conference Finals since the league split into two conferences in 1995-96:
2013 – Syracuse Crunch 4, W-B/Scranton Penguins 1
2012 – Norfolk Admirals 4, St. John’s IceCaps 0
2011 – Binghamton Senators 4, Charlotte Checkers 0
2010 – Hershey Bears 4, Manchester Monarchs 2
2009 – Hershey Bears 4, Providence Bruins 1
2008 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 4, Portland Pirates 3
2007 – Hershey Bears 4, Manchester Monarchs 0
2006 – Hershey Bears 4, Portland Pirates 3
2005 – Philadelphia Phantoms 4, Providence Bruins 2
2004 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 4, Hartford Wolf Pack 3
2003 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Binghamton Senators 1
2002 – Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2001 – Saint John Flames 4, Providence Bruins 1
2000 – Hartford Wolf Pack 4, Providence Bruins 3
1999 – Providence Bruins 4, Fredericton Canadiens 2
1998 – Saint John Flames 4, Hartford Wolf Pack 1
*1997 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Albany River Rats 1
*1996 – Portland Pirates 4, Saint John Flames 3
*known as Northern Conference
Western Conference Finals History
The Robert W. Clarke Trophy is presented each season to the playoff champions of the AHL’s Western Conference… Either Grand Rapids or Oklahoma City will be the eighth different conference champion in the last eight years… Here are the results of the Western Conference Finals since the league split into two conferences in 1995-96:
2012 – Toronto Marlies 4, Oklahoma City Barons 1
2011 – Houston Aeros 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2010 – Texas Stars 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2009 – Manitoba Moose 4, Houston Aeros 2
2008 – Chicago Wolves 4, Toronto Marlies 1
2007 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Chicago Wolves 1
2006 – Milwaukee Admirals 4, Grand Rapids Griffins 0
2005 – Chicago Wolves 4, Manitoba Moose 0
2004 – Milwaukee Admirals 4, Rochester Americans 1
2003 – Houston Aeros 4, Grand Rapids Griffins 3
2002 – Chicago Wolves 4, Houston Aeros 1
2001 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 4, Hershey Bears 0
2000 – Rochester Americans 4, Hershey Bears 0
1999 – Rochester Americans 4, Philadelphia Phantoms 2
1998 – Philadelphia Phantoms 4, Albany River Rats 2
*1997 – Hershey Bears 4, Springfield Falcons 3
*1996 – Rochester Americans 4, Syracuse Crunch 1
*known as Southern Conference
Working Overtime
There have been 13 overtime games played in the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Road teams are 10-3:
Apr. 26 – Texas 3, MILWAUKEE 2 (Brett Ritchie, 11:44)
Apr. 26 – Charlotte 4, OKLAHOMA CITY 3 (Brody Sutter, 3:06)
Apr. 27 – SPRINGFIELD 2, Manchester 1 (Cody Bass, 10:36)
Apr. 27 – W-B/Scranton 3, BINGHAMTON 2 (Chad Kolarik, 8:18)
Apr. 27 – SYRACUSE 4, Portland 3 (Richard Panik, 6:36)
Apr. 28 – Hershey 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (Jon DiSalvatore, 3:05)
Apr. 28 – SPRINGFIELD 3, Manchester 2 (Cody Bass, 18:44)
*May 1 – Toronto 3, ROCHESTER 2 (Will Acton, 5:14)
*May 2 – Syracuse 4, PORTLAND 3 (Ondrej Palat, 19:43)
*May 4 – Springfield 4, MANCHESTER 3 (Nick Drazenovic, 8:06)
May 9 – Oklahoma City 2, TEXAS 1 (Anton Lander, 1:28)
May 15 – Providence 2, W-B/SCRANTON 1 (Carter Camper, 0:31)
May 20 – W-B/Scranton 2, PROVIDENCE 1 (Trevor Smith, 3:26)
*indicates goal ended series
AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2013 Calder Cup championship. AHL Live brings AHL action to your computer all season long with live video webcasts and highlights of every AHL game, as well as behind-the-scenes features and interviews in the Video On Demand section… Visit ahllive.com for details.
