AHL Morning Skate: May 9

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

pro  wbs
Game 1 – 7:05 ET, AHL Live
Separated by one point in the standings during the 2013-14 regular season, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second consecutive playoffs… A year ago, the Penguins became the third team in AHL history to win a series after losing the first three games, storming back to take Games 4 through 7 by a combined score of 14-2… Wilkes-Barre opened the 2014 postseason a 3-1 series victory over Binghamton, taking the series with a convincing 5-1 victory last Friday night after the first three games all were decided in overtime… Chuck Kobasew (3-3-6) tied for the Penguins’ scoring lead in the opening round, and has 14-5-19 in 16 games in a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton uniform… Kobasew played 158 of his 601 career National Hockey League games with the Boston Bruins… Andrew Ebbett (2-4-6) also tallied six points vs. Binghamton in the conference quarterfinals… Providence erased a 2-1 series deficit and eliminated Springfield in the first round, winning Games 4 and 5 by identical 6-3 scores… Rookie Seth Griffith (2-4-6) paces the Bruins in playoff scoring… Providence won three of four meetings with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton during the regular season.

Eastern Conference Semifinals – Series “J” (best-of-7) 
6-W-B/Scranton Penguins vs. 7-Providence Bruins
Game 1 – Fri., May 9 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 3 – Wed., May 14 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
Game 4 – Fri., May 16 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
*Game 5 – Sat., May 17 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
*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

tor  chi
Game 1 – 8:30 ET, AHL Live
Division winners Chicago and Toronto kick off their Western Conference semifinal series at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., tonight… The Wolves needed a Game 5 win on Sunday to get past Rochester in the first round, while Toronto has been off since completing a three-game sweep of Milwaukee last Thursday… Chicago rookie Dmitrij Jaskin (2-5-7) was the AHL’s leading scorer in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs with seven points, including two game-winning goals… Brent Regner (2-4-6) leads all AHL defensemen in playoff scoring… Jake Allen (3-2, 2.85, .890) rebounded from being pulled in Game 4 and made 21 saves in the Wolves’ Game 5 victory… Chicago’s Keith Aucoin (2-2-4), a former Marlie, has moved into sole possession of 11th place all-time with 86 career Calder Cup Playoff points… Jerry D’Amigo (2-4-6) has now totaled 8-9-17 in nine first-round playoff games over the last three years, and the Marlies are 9-0 in those games… Drew MacIntyre (3-0, 1.33, .955), who played with the Wolves from 2009-11, has allowed four goals on 89 shots this postseason… The teams split their two regular-season meetings in 2013-14, and seven of the eight goals scored came on the power play… Chicago was 7-for-27 (25.9 percent) with the man advantage in the first round after ranking last in the league (12.6 percent) in the regular season, but allowed eight goals in 27 times shorthanded (70.4 percent) after finishing fourth in the regular season on the penalty kill (85.6 percent)… Toronto was 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) up a man in the first round and successfully killed 14 of 15 shorthanded chances (93.3 percent).

Western Conference Semifinals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
2-Chicago Wolves vs. 3-Toronto Marlies

Game 1 – Fri., May 9 – Toronto at Chicago, 8:30
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – Toronto at Chicago, 8:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 14 – Chicago at Toronto, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 16 – Chicago at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 17 – Chicago at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 19 – Toronto at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 21 – Toronto at Chicago, 8:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

About Last Night…
Texas scored two goals in 13 seconds early in the first period and pulled away for a 5-2 win over Grand Rapids at Cedar Park Center last night in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series… Dustin Jeffrey scored twice — his first playoff goals since 2009 — and Brendan Ranford, Mike Hedden and Curtis McKenzie added single tallies for the Stars… Travis Morin and Jyrki Jokipakka each notched two assists for the Stars, who are 4-0 this postseason and 22-2-0-3 in their last 27 games overall… Cory Emmerton and Tomas Jurco scored for the Griffins, who saw their seven-game playoff road winning streak come to an end… Jack Campbell made 23 saves in the win; Petr Mrazek stopped 31 shots in defeat.

From Calder to Stanley

Matt Fraser made history last night, becoming the first player ever to score overtime goals in the Calder Cup and Stanley Cup Playoffs in the same postseason; his first career NHL playoff goal at 1:19 of OT gave the Boston Bruins a 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4… Fraser, a two-time AHL All-Star who was recalled from Providence earlier in the day, scored in OT on Apr. 25 to give the P-Bruins a 2-1 win over Springfield in Game 2 of their first-round series… Ben Lovejoy‘s goal with 2:55 left in regulation held up as the game-winner as Anaheim defeated Los Angeles last night, 3-2, in Game 3 of their series… Lovejoy was a Calder Cup finalist with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2008… Sami Vatanen made his NHL playoff debut for the Ducks after tallying three assists in five playoff games with Norfolk so far this postseason.

Working Overtime
There have been 10 overtime games played in the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Road teams are 7-3 this year, and 27-9 in the last 36 playoff OT games overall:

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)

Starting Strong
The Chicago Wolves have never lost a Calder Cup Playoff series (13-0) after winning Game 1:

2014 def. Rochester, 4-3 OT (won series, 3-2)
2010 def. Milwaukee, 6-5 (won series, 4-3)
2008 def. W-B/Scranton, 5-4 (won series, 4-2)
2008 def. Toronto, 4-1 (won series, 4-1)
2008 def. Rockford, 4-1 (won series, 4-3)
2007 def. Iowa, 7-0 (won series, 4-2)
2007 def. Milwaukee, 3-2 (won series, 4-0)
2005 def. Manitoba, 4-3 (won series, 4-0)
2005 def. Cincinnati, 5-2 (won series, 4-1)
2005 def. Houston, 4-1 (won series, 4-1)
2004 def. Grand Rapids, 4-3 OT (won series, 4-0)
2003 def. Hershey, 3-2 (won series, 3-2)
2002 def. Bridgeport, 5-4 OT (won series, 4-1)

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.