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
Tonight’s Previews
Game 6 – 7:05 ET, AHL Live (WBS leads series, 3-2)
After taking two of three in Providence, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton returns home looking to close out the Bruins in Game 6 tonight… Anton Zlobin‘s fourth goal of the playoffs proved to be his third game-winner as the Penguins won Game 5 on Saturday, 3-2, to take a 3-2 series lead… Zlobin (4-3-7) has three goals and three assists in the last four games after missing the Penguins’ previous two contests due to injury… Harry Zolnierczyk (3-5-8) extended his point-scoring streak to four games with his first goal of the series, and Josh Archibald (1-0-1) scored in his pro playoff debut for Wilkes-Barre… Peter Mannino (6-3, 2.30, .912) made 31 saves in Game 5, including 23 over the final two periods… Craig Cunningham (3-4-7) and Tyler Randell (1-0-1) scored in the loss for the Bruins… Ryan Spooner (4-7-11) notched an assist and leads all Bruins skaters with 1-5-6 in the series… Malcolm Subban (2-1, 3.14, .884) made his fourth start of the postseason and finished with 20 saves… The Penguins are 5-for-17 on the power play over the last four games (29.4 percent) after starting the posteason 3-for-27 (11.1 percent)… The Bruins, 4-for-23 on the power play in the first round vs. Springfield, are 4-for-24 in this series… Providence is trying to become the ninth team in AHL history (but the sixth in the last five years) to win Games 6 and 7 of a playoff series on the road (see below)… The Bruins are 2-0 this postseason when facing elimination, and 24-15 all-time… Wilkes-Barre has a record of 10-5 in Game 6’s; Providence is 5-9.
Eastern Conference Semifinals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
6-W-B/Scranton Penguins vs. 7-Providence Bruins | Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Fri., May 9 – Providence 4, W-B/SCRANTON 0
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – W-B/SCRANTON 6, Providence 1
Game 3 – Wed., May 14 – W-B/Scranton 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (2OT)
Game 4 – Fri., May 16 – PROVIDENCE 3, W-B/Scranton 2 (OT)
Game 5 – Sat., May 17 – W-B/Scranton 3, PROVIDENCE 2
Game 6 – Mon., May 19 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 7 – Wed., May 21 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
About Last Night…
Texas advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the second time in five seasons, eliminating the defending Calder Cup champion Grand Rapids Griffins with a convincing 7-1 win in Game 6 last night… The Stars scored twice in a 62-second span early in the first period to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead, and rolled to victory from there… Dustin Jeffrey tallied two goals and an assist, Radek Faksa scored his first two playoff goals and former Griffins defenseman Derek Meech notched a goal and an assist for the Stars, who will meet Toronto beginning Friday night for the right to represent the Western Conference in the Calder Cup Finals.
Alumni Watch
Brandon Saad, who had 20 points in 31 AHL games with Rockford in 2012-13, tallied a goal and an assist to help Chicago to a 3-1 win over Los Angeles in Game 1 of the NHL’s Western Conference Finals yesterday… Tyler Toffoli, the AHL’s rookie of the year in 2012-13, scored for the Kings… Chicago’s Patrick Sharp and Los Angeles’s Jeff Carter both played their 100th career Stanley Cup Playoff game; Sharp and Carter won the Calder Cup together with the 2005 Philadelphia Phantoms.
Road Work
Providence is looking to add its names to the list of eight teams in AHL history that have won Games 6 and 7 of a playoff series on the road… The feat has happened five times since 2010:
2013 – W-B/Scranton Penguins def. Providence Bruins, 4-3
2011 – Manitoba Moose def. Lake Erie Monsters, 4-3
2011 – Binghamton Senators def. Manchester Monarchs, 4-3
2010 – Texas Stars def. Hamilton Bulldogs, 4-3
2010 – Abbotsford Heat def. Rochester Americans, 4-3
2007 – Providence Bruins def. Hartford Wolf Pack, 4-3
1996 – Portland Pirates def. Saint John Flames, 4-3
1983 – Maine Mariners def. Nova Scotia Voyageurs, 4-3
Working Overtime
There have been 14 overtime games played in the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:
Apr. 23 – Springfield 3, PROVIDENCE 2 (Andrew Joudrey, 2:21)
Apr. 23 – Texas 3, OKLAHOMA CITY 2 (Mike Hedden, 5:35)
Apr. 25 – Providence 2, SPRINGFIELD 1 (Matt Fraser, 3:54)
Apr. 25 – W-B/Scranton 3, BINGHAMTON 2 (Anton Zlobin, 8:40)
Apr. 25 – Chicago 4, ROCHESTER 3 (Dmitrij Jaskin, 1:06)
Apr. 25 – Grand Rapids 2, ABBOTSFORD 1 (Ryan Sproul, 39:26)
Apr. 26 – BINGHAMTON 4, W-B/Scranton 3 (Stephane Da Costa, 11:07)
Apr. 26 – Texas 3, OKLAHOMA CITY 2 (Brendan Ranford, 15:04)
Apr. 30 – W-B/SCRANTON 3, Binghamton 2 (Chuck Kobasew, 7:32)
Apr. 30 – NORFOLK 1, Manchester 0 (Maxime Sauve, 14:51)
May 13 – NORFOLK 3, St. John’s 2 (Andre Petersson, 13:10)
May 14 – W-B/Scranton 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (Simon Despres, 26:32)
May 14 – TORONTO 4, Chicago 3 (Jerry D’Amigo, 3:28)
May 16 – PROVIDENCE 3, W-B/Scranton 2 (Cory Kane, 6:31)
AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2014 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.
