AHL Morning Skate: May 12

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 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live
(Series tied, 2-2)
  

After going 0-for-8 on the power play with two shorthanded goals against in Sunday’s Game 3 loss, Toronto scored on four of its first five man advantages on Tuesday night and rolled to a 7-2 win over Albany to square the North Division Finals at two games apiece… The puck drops for a crucial Game 5 tonight at the Times Union Center… Mark Arcobello (1-4-5), Kasperi Kapanen (1-3-4) and Brendan Leipsic (1-2-3) all netted their first goal of the playoffs in Game 4; that trio combined for 54 goals in the regular season… Connor Carrick (4-8-12) recorded two assists on Tuesday — his fourth multiple-point game of the postseason — to take over the AHL’s playoff scoring lead… T.J. Brennan (5-0-5) scored his 16th career Calder Cup Playoff goal, third-most in AHL history by a defenseman behind Mike Hurlbut (19) and Bobby Dollas (18)… Blake Pietila (3-2-5) and Graham Black (1-0-1) scored for the Devils in Game 4… Tuesday’s game was the seventh time this season that Toronto scored at least seven goals in a game… It was also the first time Albany allowed seven goals in a game since Nov. 22, 2014 (7-0 loss at Binghamton), and the first time on home ice since Feb. 15, 2012 (7-1 loss vs. Syracuse)… The Marlies finished 4-for-9 on the power play in Game 4, dropping the Devils’ postseason penalty-killing efficiency from 96.7 percent (29-for-30) to 87.2 percent (34-for-39)… Albany is outscoring its opponents 12-6 in the first period this postseason; Toronto is outscoring its opponents 23-7 from the second period on.

North Division Finals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
N1-Toronto Marlies vs. N2-Albany Devils

Game 1 – Wed., May 4 – Albany 2, TORONTO 1
Game 2 – Fri., May 6 – TORONTO 5, Albany 3
Game 3 – Sun., May 8 – ALBANY 3, Toronto 2 (OT)
Game 4 – Tue., May 10 – Toronto 7, ALBANY 2
Game 5 – Thu., May 12 – Toronto at Albany, 7:00
Game 6 – Sat., May 14 – Albany at Toronto, 3:00
*Game 7 – Mon., May 16 – Albany at Toronto, 7:30
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

Pivotal Game 5
Entering this round, there had been 132 best-of-seven Calder Cup Playoff series that were tied, 2-2… The Game 5 winner went on to win 108 of those series (81.8 percent).
About Last Night
#HERvsWBS: Former Penguin Zach Sill scored the game-winning goal on a shorthanded breakaway and added two assists to lead Hershey to a 5-3 win and a 3-2 series lead over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the Atlantic Division Finals last night… Sill played five seasons for Wilkes-Barre (2009-14)… Jakub Vrana and Carter Camper each recorded a goal and an assist for the Bears, who saw a 3-0 lead evaporate before Sill scored the game-winner with 14:03 remaining.
Working Overtime
There have been 9 overtime games played in the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Home teams are 6-3:

May 9 – W-B/SCRANTON 2, Hershey 1 (Kael Mouillierat, 2:31)
May 8 – ALBANY 3, Toronto 2 (Nick Lappin, 18:40)
May 7 – Ontario 2, SAN DIEGO 1 (Justin Auger, 11:55)
May 5 – LAKE ERIE 3, Grand Rapids 2 (Oliver Bjorkstrand, 12:23)
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, Brian Elliott, who made 84 AHL appearances with Binghamton (2007-09) and Peoria (2012-13), recorded 31 saves to backstop St. Louis to a 6-1 win over Dallas in Game 7 of their Western Conference second-round series… 2007 AHL All-Star Troy Brouwer notched a goal and two assists, as did Robby Fabbri, who made his pro debut with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves last spring.

At the 2016 IIHF World Championships in Russia yesterday, 2013 Calder Cup champion and two-time AHL All-Star Gustav Nyquist tallied a hat trick and four points in Sweden’s 7-3 win over Kazakhstan… 2015-16 AHL All-Rookie goaltender Juuse Saros earned the shutout in Finland’s 3-0 win over Hungary… 2013 AHL All-Star Nino Niederreiter scored twice and Sven Andrighetto, who notched 10-13-23 in 26 AHL games with St. John’s this season, added a goal and two assists as Switzerland defeated Latvia, 5-4… Kirill Gotovets, who played 62 AHL games for Rockford this season, picked up a goal and an assist as Belarus rallied past Slovakia, 4-2.

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.