It’s 15 down and one to go for the Milwaukee Admirals, who need only to avoid a four-game losing streak to capture the Calder Cup 2004 championship:
Milwaukee took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Calder Cup 2004 Final with a 2-1 overtime win in Game 3 on Friday night.
Second-year winger Darren Haydar scored the winning goal at the 8:54 mark of the extra period as the Admirals claimed their sixth consecutive overtime victory, tying a single-playoff AHL record set by Saint John in 1996… Milwaukee is 6-1 overall in OT this postseason… Wilkes-Barre extended its own playoff record with its 11th overtime game, but fell to 5-6.
Sixes are wild for Milwaukee, which has also win six in a row overall and six in a row on the road… The Penguins have dropped three straight at home.
Wade Flaherty made 24 saves for his 13th win in his last 15 starts… Flaherty has tied an AHL record with 15 wins this postseason… Previous 15-game winners were Rochester’s Steve Shields (1996), Philadelphia’s Neil Little (1998), Providence’s John Grahame (1999), Hartford’s J.F. Labbe (2000) and Houston’s Johan Holmqvist (2003), who earned each of their teams’ 15 victories en route to the championship, and Chicago’s Pasi Nurminen (2002), who won 15 of the Wolves’ 17 games.
The last sweep in a Calder Cup Final series came in 1995, when the Albany River Rats defeated the Fredericton Canadiens… That River Rats team included current Wilkes-Barre forward Reid Simpson, as well as Brad Bombardir, Scott Pellerin, Pascal Rheaume, Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan and co-MVP’s Mike Dunham and Corey Schwab.
A Milwaukee victory in Game 4 would end the series in six days… The quickest best-of-seven Calder Cup Finals came in 1967 (Pittsburgh def. Rochester) and 1988 (Hershey def. Fredericton), which saw four-game sweeps spanning just five days.
Prior to this series, 88 teams in AHL history had trailed a best-of-seven series, three games to none… Of them, 57 (64.8%) lost the series in four straight… 21 teams (23.9%) won Game 4 before losing in five… Eight teams (9.1%) won Games 4 and 5 before losing in six… Two teams (2.3%) managed to win Games 4, 5 and 6, and both — Rochester in 1960 and Adirondack in 1989 — went on to win Game 7 as well.
QUOTABLE:
“He’s a veteran guy. He doesn’t get rattled by anything. He’s been in crowds like this, twice this size. He’s a cool, collected guy.” — Milwaukee head coach Claude Noel on veteran goaltender Wade Flaherty.
“I thought the guys battled real hard all game, the same way we have in the past. But tonight it went in our net in overtime instead of us getting a break and it going in their net.” — Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goaltender Andy Chiodo after Game 3.
ON THIS DATE:
June 5, 1999 — In the first Calder Cup Final game in Providence in 25 years, the Bruins post a 4-2 win over Rochester, improving to 8-0 on home ice in the ’99 postseason. June 5, 1998 — Philadelphia claims a 3-1 series lead in the Calder Cup Final with a 6-4 victory in Saint John. June 5, 1996 — Portland edges Rochester, 3-2, to close the Amerks’ Calder Cup Final series lead to 2-1. Calder Cup 2004 Final schedule
Previous Calder Cup Notebooks:
Friday, June 4
Thursday, June 3
Wednesday, June 2
Tuesday, June 1
Saturday, May 29
Friday, May 28
Thursday, May 27
Wednesday, May 26
Tuesday, May 25
Monday, May 24
Sunday, May 23
Saturday, May 22
Friday, May 21
Thursday, May 20
Wednesday, May 19
