AHL Morning Skate: May 1

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from
the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s Morning Skate.

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

   
Game 5 – 5:00 ET, AHL Live
(Series tied, 2-2)

  

The first round of the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs concludes tonight with a winner-take-all Game 5 between Hershey and Portland at Giant Center… The Bears staved off elimination with a 2-0 win in Game 4 last night, behind goals from Travis Boyd (1-2-3) and Chris Bourque (1-2-3) and 19 saves from Justin Peters (2-1, 0.81, .968)… It was the first postseason shutout of Peters’ 10-year pro career, and he has now stopped 92 of 95 Pirates shots in the series… Jakub Vrana (2-2-4) had an assist in Game 4 as did Aaron Ness (0-4-4); they now lead all scorers in the series with four points… Mike McKenna (2-2, 2.15, .919) made 26 saves in the Game 4 loss… The Pirates were 0-for-3 on the power play last night, falling to 1-for-22 in the series… The Bears (1-for-2 in Game 4) are 2-for-16… Hershey improved to 7-1 all-time at Giant Center and a remarkable 47-17 on home ice in franchise history when facing playoff elimination… Portland is 1-7 all-time in winner-take-all games, the only win coming in a Game 7 vs. the Saint John Flames in the 1996 conference finals… Hershey is 19-19 in winner-take-all games, including 13-4 at home… This evening’s winner moves on to face Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the second round. 

Atlantic Division Semifinals – Series “A” (best-of-5)
A1-Hershey Bears vs. A4-Portland Pirates
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 22 – PORTLAND 6, Hershey 4 
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 23 – Hershey 3, PORTLAND 1 
Game 3 – Thu., Apr. 28 – Portland 2, HERSHEY 1 (3OT) 
Game 4 – Sat., Apr. 30 – HERSHEY 2, Portland 0 
Game 5 – Sun., May 1 – Portland at Hershey, 5:00 
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

Saturday’s Recaps
#HERvsPOR: Peters blanks Pirates to force Game 5
Winner Take All
In Calder Cup Playoff history, home teams are 100-63 (.613) in winner-take-all games, including eight consecutive wins entering tonight… Thirty-two winner-take-all games have gone to overtime, including Game 7 of the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals between Hershey and Portland at Giant Center.
Working Overtime
There have been 5 overtime games played in the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

Apr. 28 – Portland 2, HERSHEY 1 (Rob Flick, 43:10)
Apr. 26 – UTICA 2, Albany 1 (Alexandre Grenier, 9:13)
Apr. 23 – W-B/Scranton 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (Jake Guentzel, 33:52)
Apr. 21 – W-B/SCRANTON 4, Providence 3 (Daniel Sprong, 5:13)
Apr. 20 – W-B/SCRANTON 3, Providence 2 (Carter Rowney, 1:09)

Alumni Watch
In Stanley Cup Playoff action last night, Eric Fehr, the overtime hero of Hershey’s Game 7 win over Portland in 2006, scored with 4:28 left in regulation to send Pittsburgh to a 2-1 win over Washington in Game 2 of their second-round series… 2015-16 Second Team AHL All-Star Matt Murray made 23 saves in the win… 2012-13 AHL MVP Tyler Johnson had two goals and an assist in Tampa Bay’s 4-1 win over the New York Islanders in Game 2… Jonathan Drouin, who recorded 11-2-13 in 17 AHL games with Syracuse this season, added a goal and an assist for the Lightning.

AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2016 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.