AHL Morning Skate: May 15

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

tor  gr
Game 3 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (Series tied, 1-1)
Rebounding from a 7-0 thumping in Game 1 to even the series in Game 2, the Toronto Marlies now hit the road for three games in Grand Rapids with the teams’ best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal even at one win apiece… Will Acton‘s goal 2:36 into the third period on Saturday afternoon broke a 2-2 tie and sent the Marlies to a 4-2 victory… For Acton (2-1-3), both of his goals this postseason have been game-winners… Greg Scott (7-1-8) scored two more goals, giving him seven in five playoff games after scoring 13 in 69 contests during the regular season… Ryan Lasch (1-0-1), acquired by Toronto in the deal that sent David Steckel to Anaheim on Mar. 15, scored a goal in his Calder Cup Playoff debut… Drew MacIntyre (4-1, 2.69, .918) stopped 30 of 32 shots for his 31st career playoff win… With the game tied at 2-2 at the second intermission, Toronto scored both third-period goals and outshot Grand Rapids 16-4 in the final frame… Tomas Jurco (3-2-5) and Landon Ferraro (1-4-5) scored for the Griffins in Game 2… Jurco was also credited with a game-high eight shots… Ferraro’s goal was the first of his playoff career… Petr Mrazek (4-3, 1.73, .931) finished with 27 saves and extended his personal shutout streak to 178:58 before allowing the Marlies’ first goal of the series at 10:30 of the second period… In 180 previous best-of-seven series that have been tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has gone on to take the series 70.6 percent of the time (127 of 180).

Western Conference Semifinal – Series “L” (best-of-7)
2-Toronto Marlies vs. 3-Grand Rapids Griffins

Game 1 – Fri., May 10 – Grand Rapids 7, TORONTO 0
Game 2 – Sat., May 11 – TORONTO 4, Grand Rapids 2
Game 3 – Wed., May 15 – Toronto at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 17 – Toronto at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 5 – Sat., May 18 – Toronto at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 21 – Grand Rapids at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 22 – Grand Rapids at Toronto, 7:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

spr  syr
Game 3 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (SYR leads series, 2-0)
After opening the series with a pair of road wins, the Syracuse Crunch head home with a chance to put a stranglehold on their Eastern Conference semifinal as the Springfield Falcons visit the Onondaga County War Memorial… The Crunch’s 2-0 series lead puts their record at 5-0 this postseason, and makes it 15 consecutive playoff victories for Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate after last year’s 10-0 finish to Norfolk’s Calder Cup championship run… Tyler Johnson (6-7-13) and Ondrej Palat (3-9-12) have both found the scoresheet in all five playoff games thus far, with Johnson earning four points — including the first playoff hat trick in Crunch history — and Palat dishing out three assists in Saturday’s 5-3 win in Game 2… Johnson, the AHL MVP in the regular season, has 11-9-20 in eight games since returning to Syracuse from a month-long stint in the NHL with the Lightning… Richard Panik (3-3-6) and Mike Angelidis (2-1-3) scored 13 seconds apart to give Syracuse a 2-0 lead just 1:15 into the game on Saturday… Cedrick Desjardins (5-0, 2.40, .895) finished with 28 saves, improving his career AHL playoff record to 11-4… Ryan Russell (1-3-4), Trent Vogelhuber (2-0-2) and Boone Jenner (2-1-3) scored for the Falcons in Game 2, and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault (0-3-3) tallied two assists… Curtis McElhinney (3-3, 2.97, .897) finished with 20 stops on the night… Syracuse was 3-for-8 on the power play and also scored a shorthanded goal in Game 2; Springfield was 0-for-7… Eight teams in AHL history have won a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games on home ice, most recently Wilkes-Barre/Scranton over Norfolk in 2011.

Eastern Conference Semifinal – Series “J” (best-of-7)
2-Springfield Falcons vs. 3-Syracuse Crunch
Game 1 – Fri., May 10 – Syracuse 5, SPRINGFIELD 2
Game 2 – Sat., May 11 – Syracuse 5, SPRINGFIELD 3
Game 3 – Wed., May 15 – Springfield at Syracuse, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 17 – Springfield at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 18 – Springfield at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 21 – Syracuse at Springfield, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 22 – Syracuse at Springfield, 7:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

pro  wbs
Game 3 – 7:05 ET, AHL Live (PRO leads series, 2-0)
Providence blitzed Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for 12 goals over the first four periods of the series and took a 2-0 lead by wrapping up a 4-2 victory in Game 2 on Saturday night… Jamie Tardif (7-3-10) notched two goals and two assists during Saturday’s four-goal first-period barrage, Chris Bourque (5-8-13) added a goal and two assists and Ryan Spooner (2-3-5) also scored for the Bruins… Carter Camper (6-5-11) extended his scoring streak to six games with an assist for Providence… Torey Krug (0-3-3) was recalled by Boston on Tuesday, joining fellow defenseman Matt Bartkowski (0-5-5) with the parent B’s… Niklas Svedberg (5-2, 3.52, .891) made 19 of his 38 saves in the third period to preserve his fifth straight win… Warren Peters (2-0-2) and Brian Gibbons (3-2-5) scored for the Penguins, who are looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak since dropping five in a row from Dec. 26 to Jan. 4… Jeff Zatkoff (2-2, 4.62, .858) allowed four goals on 13 shots in the first period before being relieved by Brad Thiessen (1-0, 1.22, .946), who stopped all 16 shots he faced the rest of the way… This is the 12th time in franchise history that Wilkes-Barre has lost the first two games of a best-of-seven series; the Penguins have come back to win four of the previous 11 times (2004 vs. Bridgeport, 2005 vs. Binghamton, 2006 vs. Bridgeport, 2011 vs. Norfolk).

Eastern Conference Semifinal – Series “I” (best-of-7)
1-Providence Bruins vs. 5-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Game 1 – Fri., May 10 – PROVIDENCE 8, W-B/Scranton 5
Game 2 – Sat., May 11 – PROVIDENCE 4, W-B/Scranton 2
Game 3 – Wed., May 15 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 4 – Fri., May 17 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 5 – Sat., May 18 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 6 – Mon., May 20 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
*Game 7 – Wed., May 22 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

tex  okc
Game 4 – 8:00 ET, AHL Live (OKC leads series, 2-1)
A Game 3 shutout has put Oklahoma City up two games to one with two more home games looming against top-seeded Texas as their Western Conference semifinal continues tonight… Yann Danis (5-3, 2.24, .935) made 30 saves on Monday night for the second shutout of his playoff career, backstopping the Barons to a 4-0 win… Toni Rajala (3-7-10) snapped a scoreless tie 5:26 into the second period, Anton Lander (4-1-5) scored on a power play just over seven mintues later, Mark Arcobello (6-4-10) extended his scoring streak to five games with a third-period insurance goal and C.J. Stretch (2-3-5) finished things off with an empty-netter… Martin Marincin (1-4-5) tallied two assists on the night and Oklahoma City ended the Stars’ streak of six consecutive games without allowing more than two goals… Cristopher Nilstorp (4-3, 1.40, .948) stopped 27 of 30 shots on the night… The Stars’ Kevin Connauton (2-3-5) remains tied for the lead among AHL defensemen in playoff scoring… Texas captain Maxime Fortunus (0-1-1) played his 92nd career Calder Cup Playoff game on Monday night, tying Steve Maltais and AHL Hall of Famer Peter White for 19th place all-time.

Western Conference Semifinal – Series “K” (best-of-7)
1-Texas Stars vs. 5-Oklahoma City Barons

Game 1 – Thu., May 9 – Oklahoma City 2, TEXAS 1 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., May 11 – TEXAS 2, Oklahoma City 1
Game 3 – Mon., May 13 – OKLAHOMA CITY 4, Texas 0
Game 4 – Wed., May 15 – Texas at Oklahoma City, 8:00
Game 5 – Thu., May 16 – Texas at Oklahoma City, 8:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 20 – Oklahoma City at Texas, 8:30
*Game 7 – Tue., May 21 – Oklahoma City at Texas, 8:30
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

About Last Night…
In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff second-round openers, former Manchester Monarchs netminder Jonathan Quick made 35 saves for his sixth career NHL playoff shutout and two-time AHL All-Star Slava Voynov and 2005 Calder Cup champion Mike Richards each had a goal and an assist as Los Angeles blanked San Jose, 2-0… 1997 AHL All-Star Tomas Vokoun stopped 35 shots and 2004 AHL All-Star Chris Kunitz notched a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh past Ottawa, 4-1.

Series Synergies
The Pittsburgh-Ottawa matchup in the Stanley Cup Playoffs comes one round after the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins faced the Binghamton Senantors in the Calder Cup conference quarterfinals, marking the 14th time since 1995 that NHL teams and their AHL affiliates met each other in the same postseason:

2013 – Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa… Wilkes-Barre/Scranton vs. Binghamton
2011 – Pittsburgh vs. Tampa Bay… Wilkes-Barre/Scranton vs. Norfolk
2009 – Pittsburgh vs. Washington… Wilkes-Barre/Scranton vs. Hershey
2008 – Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia… Wilkes-Barre/Scranton vs. Philadelphia
2003 – Ottawa vs. N.Y. Islanders… Binghamton vs. Bridgeport
2002 – Toronto vs. N.Y. Islanders… St. John’s vs. Bridgeport
2001 – Buffalo vs. Philadelphia… Rochester vs. Philadelphia
1999 – Buffalo vs. Boston… Rochester vs. Providence
1999 – Colorado vs. San Jose… Hershey vs. Kentucky
1998 – Buffalo vs. Philadelphia… Rochester vs. Philadelphia
1997 – Colorado vs. Edmonton… Hershey vs. Hamilton
1995 – New Jersey vs. Detroit… Albany vs. Adirondack
1995 – New Jersey vs. Boston… Albany vs. Providence
1995 – N.Y. Rangers vs. Quebec… Binghamton vs. Cornwall

Working Overtime
There have been 11 overtime games played in the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Road teams are 8-3:

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)

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.