AHL Morning Skate: May 24

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Game 1 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live
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The Western Conference Finals open tonight as top-seeded Utica hosts second-seeded Grand Rapids at the Utica Memorial Auditorium… The Comets were pushed to the limit in the first round by Chicago and again in the second round by Oklahoma City… The Griffins, who rallied from 0-2 down to defeat Toronto in the conference quarterfinals, took care of Rockford in five games in the conference semis… Alexandre Grenier (4-6-10) is Utica’s leading playoff scorer after putting up 4-3-7 in the second round, including the overtime winner in Game 2 and the only goal in a 1-0 win over Oklahoma City in Game 7 on Wednesday… Jacob Markstrom (7-5, 1.85, .930) has allowed two goals or fewer in 10 of his 12 playoff starts, and on Wednesday joined Johnny Bower as the only goalies in AHL history to post a 1-0 shutout victory in a Game 7… Teemu Pulkkinen (13-2-15) had 7-2-9 in five games vs. Rockford last round… Tyler Bertuzzi (6-3-9) leads the AHL with four game-winning goals this postseason… Tom McCollum (7-2, 2.68, .913) has won seven of his last eight starts in the Grand Rapids crease… The Griffins were the top-scoring team in the AHL during the regular season averaging 3.28 goals per game, and they have bettered that production this postseason with 37 goals in 10 playoff matches (3.70)… The teams split their two meetings during the 2014-15 regular season… Utica was just 1-for-23 on the power play in the conference semifinals, and is now 6-for-47 for the postseason (12.8 percent)… Grand Rapids is 9-for-41 (22.0 percent) with the man advantage.

Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
1-Utica Comets vs. 2-Grand Rapids Griffins
Game 1 – Sun., May 24 – Grand Rapids at Utica, 7:00
Game 2 – Mon., May 25 – Grand Rapids at Utica, 7:00
Game 3 – Thu., May 28 – Utica at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 29 – Utica at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 31 – Utica at Grand Rapids, 5:00
*Game 6 – Tue., June 2 – Grand Rapids at Utica, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 3 – Grand Rapids at Utica, 7:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M” (best-of-7)
1-Manchester Monarchs vs. 3-Hartford Wolf Pack
Game 1 – Thu., May 21 – MANCHESTER 3, Hartford 2
Game 2 – Sat., May 23 – MANCHESTER 7, Hartford 4
Game 3 – Tue., May 26 – Manchester at Hartford, 7:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 27 – Manchester at Hartford, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 30 – Hartford at Manchester, 7:00
*Game 6 – Sun., May 31 – Manchester at Hartford, 7:00
*Game 7 – Tue., June 2 – Hartford at Manchester, 7:00

May 14 – Grand Rapids 2, ROCKFORD 1 (Tyler Bertuzzi, 0:13)
May 13 – Hartford 5, HERSHEY 4 (Chris Mueller, 11:39)
May 8 – UTICA 2, Oklahoma City 1 (Alexandre Grenier, 3:32)
May 7 – Oklahoma City 2, UTICA 1 (Curtis Hamilton, 60:16)
May 6 – MANCHESTER 4, W-B/Scranton 3 (Zach O’Brien, 44:13)
May 6 – Hartford 2, HERSHEY 1 (Chris Bourque, 16:47)
May 1 – Chicago 4, UTICA 3 (Joel Edmundson, 2:19)
*May 1 – HARTFORD 3, Providence 2 (Tommy Hughes, 4:35)
*Apr. 29 – ROCKFORD 3, Texas 2 (Stephen Johns, 0:23)
*Apr. 29 – Oklahoma City 2, SAN ANTONIO 1 (Jujhar Khaira, 5:01)
Apr. 29 – UTICA 2, Chicago 1 (Darren Archibald, 10:58)
Apr. 26 – PROVIDENCE 2, Hartford 1 (Seth Griffith, 42:00)
Apr. 25 – OKLAHOMA CITY 4, San Antonio 3 (Connor Jones, 4:01)
Apr. 22 – Utica 3, CHICAGO 2 (Bobby Sanguinetti, 23:10)
  *series clincher