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
Game 5 – 7:05 ET, AHL Live (Series tied, 2-2)
A wild Game 4 on Sunday at Giant Center set up tonight’s winner-take-all contest between Providence and Hershey to wrap up the AHL’s conference quarterfinal round… The Bruins scored twice in the final 2:34 of regulation, capped by Carter Camper‘s third goal of the night with 1:04 remaining, to pull out a 5-4 victory and even a series that has seen the road team win each of the first four games… Former Bears Graham Mink (1g, 1a) and Chris Bourque (2a) had two points each for the Bruins in Game 4, while defenseman Matt Bartkowski recorded three assists… Tom Wilson, a first-round draft pick by the Washington Capitals in 2012, had given Hershey a 4-3 lead with 4:40 to play on his first career professional goal… Joey Crabb scored twice for the Bears, and Peter LeBlanc, Ryan Potulny and Julien Brouillette notched two assists apiece… There were three ties, three lead changes, six goals and 35 shots in the third period alone during Game 4… The teams have combined for 31 goals in four games, mainly at the expense of Niklas Svedberg (2-2, 3.95, .878) and Philipp Grubauer (2-2, 3.97, .897)… Providence is 5-for-15 (33.3 percent) on the power play in the series; Hershey is 6-for-22 (27.3 percent)… Camper (5-2-7) has five goals in his last three games after scoring five in his previous 25 outings with Providence… The Bruins are 5-1 all-time in winner-take-all games, but this will be the first one ever played at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center… Providence is also 21-14 all-time when facing elimination, including a single-postseason AHL record six elimination wins in 2001… Hershey is 19-18 all-time in winner-take-all games, but 6-14 on the road… The Bears are 5-0 all-time in playoff games at the Dunk… No regular-season points champion has lost in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs since the 1995-96 Albany River Rats were upset by the Cornwall Aces, three games to one… Only once in AHL history has the road team won every game in a best-of-five playoff series: a 1999 first-round victory by the Fredericton Canadiens over the St. John’s Maple Leafs… AHL teams are 17-2 this postseason when scoring at least four goals in a game; both losses came in this series (Providence in Game 2, Hershey in Game 4)… In Calder Cup Playoff history, road teams have a 79-72 edge (.526) in mutual-elimination games.
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “A” (best-of-5)
1-Providence Bruins vs. 8-Hershey Bears
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 26 – Hershey 5, PROVIDENCE 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Hershey 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Sat., May 4 – Providence 5, HERSHEY 1 | Recap
Game 4 – Sun., May 5 – Providence 5, HERSHEY 4 | Recap
Game 5 – Wed., May 8 – Hershey at Providence, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
About Last Night…
Former Worcester Shark Joe Pavelski scored twice and former AHL All-Star Dan Boyle assisted on the series-clinching overtime goal as San Jose completed a four-game sweep of Vancouver with a 4-3 win… Former AHL All-Stars Casey Cizikas (1g, 2a) and Brad Boyes (3a) recorded three points each in the New York Islanders’ 6-4 win over Pittsburgh… Ottawa rallied for a 3-2 win over Montreal as 2011-12 AHL MVP Cory Conacher scored with 22.6 seconds left in regulation and Kyle Turris, a 24-goal scorer with the San Antonio Rampage in 2009-10, won it 2:32 into overtime… 2005 Calder Cup champion Patrick Sharp scored twice and Corey Crawford made 25 saves as Chicago shut out Minnesota, 3-0.
Second-Round Scenarios
Brackets are re-drawn after the first round so that the highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed and the two middle seeds play each other in each conference’s semifinals… The Western Conference semifinal schedules are set and will get underway Thursday with Texas hosting Oklahoma City in Game 1; the East is waiting for a winner from the Providence-Hershey series.
With a Providence win tonight, the Bruins would face Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while Springfield would face Syracuse in the conference semifinals.
With a Hershey win tonight, the Bears would take on Springfield and Syracuse would draw Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the conference semifinals.
Both second-round series in the Eastern Conference will begin on Friday.
0-2 Comebacks
Including this postseason, 84 teams have taken a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five Calder Cup Playoff series. Providence is looking to join nine others who came back from 0-2 down to win the series:
2002, St. John’s Maple Leafs def. Lowell Lock Monsters
2001, Providence Bruins def. Hartford Wolf Pack
1997, Springfield Falcons def. Portland Pirates
1997, Providence Bruins def. Worcester IceCats
1969, Quebec Aces def. Cleveland Barons
1967, Rochester Americans def. Cleveland Barons (lost first two at home)
1965, Hershey Bears def. Baltimore Clippers
1954, Hershey Bears def. Pittsburgh Hornets (lost first two at home)
1952, Providence Reds def. Cleveland Barons
Upset City?
Separated by 24 points in the regular season, a Hershey (81) victory over Providence (105) would tie for the ninth-biggest upset in Calder Cup Playoff history… Six of the current nine largest upsets have involved teams from Providence or Hershey:
37 – Rochester Americans (87) def. Binghamton Rangers (124), 1993
35 – Cornwall Aces (80) def. Albany River Rats (115), 1996
31 – Cleveland Barons (59) def. Pittsburgh Hornets (90), 1956
30 – Springfield Indians (64) def. Providence Bruins (94), 1993
28 – Adirondack Red Wings (75) def. Hershey Bears (103), 1981
27 – Hershey Bears (61) def. Cleveland Barons (88), 1949
25 – Providence Bruins (75) def. Worcester IceCats (100), 1997
25 – Hershey Bears (76) def. New Haven Nighthawks (101), 1980
24 – Providence Bruins (84) def. Worcester IceCats (108), 2001
Old Foes
This is the seventh Calder Cup Playoff series all-time between the cities of Providence and Hershey. The Bruins and Bears also met in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, and Hershey won four out of five series from the Providence Reds between 1949 and 1974:
2009 Eastern Conference Finals – Hershey Bears 4, Providence Bruins 1
1974 Calder Cup Finals – Hershey Bears 4, Providence Reds 1
1964 Quarterfinals – Hershey Bears 2, Providence Reds 1
1962 Quarterfinals – Hershey Bears 2, Providence Reds 1
1958 Semifinals – Hershey Bears 4, Providence Reds 1
1949 Calder Cup Finals – Providence Reds 4, Hershey Bears 3
Working Overtime
There have been 10 overtime games played in the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs so far (*winning goal ended series):
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)
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.
