Eastern Conference notebook

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Due to a stomach illness that ravaged the team, Albany managed to dress only 14 skaters on Dec. 15 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Glens Falls, N.Y…. Defenseman Joey Mormina netted his first goal in a River Rats uniform on Sunday in Bridgeport, a 4-3 loss… Prior to that loss, Albany had won three straight road games… Defenseman Casey Borer tallied three points (1-2-3) in a 4-3 win at Bridgeport on Dec. 12, marking the first three-point effort by a River Rats defenseman this season… Bobby Hughes is currently riding a six-game scoring streak (4-3-7).

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Binghamton leads the AHL with 10 shorthanded goals this season, including a league-high six on the road… Center Justin Mapletoft is the league’s individual leader, having scored four of his seven goals shorthanded… Defenseman Ilya Zubov has a goal in consecutive games (2-0-2) and a point in four of his last five outings (3-2-5)… Denis Hamel (1-2-3) and Alexander Nikulin (0-4-4) each have three-game scoring streaks… The Senators open a three-game homestand this weekend, their longest since opening the campaign with three straight home contests.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
The Sound Tigers have won a season-high three games, all at home and all against divisional opponents… Mike Morrison has been the winning goaltender in all three contests, posting a 1.33 GAA and .951 save percentage over that span… Leading scorer Jeff Tambellini (12-15-27) has a goal in each of his last four AHL games (5-2-7) and has posted multiple points in three of the four contests… Ben Walter has five points (2-3-5) over his last three games… Bridgeport travels to Hartford on Friday, their first trip to Connecticut’s capital since taking a 3-2 win over the Wolf Pack on opening night, Oct. 6.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Hartford is 7-0-0-1 in its last eight games against Atlantic Division foes following its 2-1 overtime win at Manchester on Dec. 15… During their 6-1 loss to Houston on Dec. 12, the Wolf Pack allowed all six goals in a span of 18:02, representing the fastest six goals scored by an opponent in Hartford’s 11-year history… Left wing Nigel Dawes was recalled by the parent New York Rangers on Sunday… The third-year pro notched 22 points (8-14-22) in just 11 games for Hartford since his last NHL recall, including six multiple-point efforts.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Grant Potulny, who played for Binghamton the past three seasons, has five goals in four games against the Senators this season… He scored twice in Hershey’s 5-2 win over the B-Sens on Wednesday… Potulny netted a goal and two assists in a 5-1 win at Norfolk on Dec. 14, which marked the Bears’ most lopsided victory of the season… The Bears have netted a power play goal in seven consecutive games, going 10-for-33 (30.3%) over that span.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Petr Vrana had a four-game scoring streak (1-4-5) snapped in Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to Worcester… It had marked Vrana’s third scoring streak of four or more games this season… Noah Clarke is one goal away from the 100th of his pro career… Now in his fifth full pro season, Clarke leads the Devils with 12 goals in 29 games this season (12-9-21)… Lowell is winless in seven straight games… The Devils are a perfect 4-0-0-0 against Manchester this season but 4-16-3-2 against all other opponents.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Defenseman Peter Harrold leads all AHL defensemen with 22 assists and 28 points through 27 games… Harrold has recorded 20 of his 28 points on the power play… Fellow blueliner Brian Boyle is third in defenseman scoring and tied for second among rookies with 24 points (9-15-24), and he currently has a point in five of his last six games (1-6-7)… Teddy Purcell’s 37 points (11-26-37) are tops among AHL rookies and are good for a share of the overall league scoring lead… The Monarchs enter the weekend at 6-3-1-0 in their last 10 games.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Since scoring 16 goals over a four-game span in which they went 2-2-0-0, the Admirals have scored just once in their last three contests, all losses… Norfolk has suffered back-to-back shutouts, the fourth and fifth times the club has been blanked this season… Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Philadelphia was the first time Norfolk had been blanked at home since Oct. 22, 2005, when they also dropped a 1-0 decision to the Phantoms… The Admirals are 0-8-0-0 when trailing after the first period, one of two teams without a win in this situation.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Despite going 2-1-0-0, the Phantoms were held without a power play goal in all three games last weekend, marking the first time this season they went even two straight contests without a man-advantage marker… Philadelphia allowed just four goals in the three games, including a 25-save shutout by Scott Munroe in the club’s 1-0 win over Norfolk on Dec. 15… That game marked the fourth appearance this season in which Munroe didn’t allow a goal, but he has only received credit for a shutout in two of the four outings.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Portland’s 6-2 loss to Manchester at the University of Maine on Tuesday prevented the Pirates from extending their winning streak to three games… Since winning three straight from Oct. 20-26, the Pirates have had four separate two-game streaks but have failed to win the next game on each occasion… Portland’s 11 home wins (11-4-0-0) are second only to Providence’s 12 (12-3-1-0)… Among AHL defensemen, Brian Salcido ranks second in points (27), second in assists (20), and first in power play goals (6).

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Providence has won four straight, nine of 10, and leads the league overall at 23-4-2-0 through 29 games… The P-Bruins won their 23rd game on Dec. 16, a 4-1 victory over Houston… Last season, they didn’t pick up win number 23 until Jan. 21, which put their record at 23-18-1-3… Rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask made 21 saves in the win over Houston, moving him to 8-2-0 on the season… His 1.99 GAA is second-best in the league… Providence hosts Lowell on Friday to wrap up a stretch of playing 17 out of 20 games at home.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Springfield is 10-4-0-0 at home this season but just 6-6-2-3 on the road entering a two-game trip to Texas this weekend… Rob Schremp is tied for fifth in the league with 33 points (8-25-33) this season… He has collected at least one in five of his last six games and 13 of his last 15… Goaltender Jeff Deslauriers is tied for the league lead with 14 wins (14-7-3) in 25 games… Friday’s game at San Antonio will mark the return of two former Rampage skaters – winger Ryan Flinn and defenseman T.J. Reynolds… Flinn collected six points (2-4-6) in 61 games for San Antonio last season.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton tied its franchise record for most goals in a game with eight in an 8-1 win over Albany on Dec. 15… It marked the 10th time that the Penguins have recorded eight goals in a game, and the third time it has happened on the road… The seven-goal margin of victory also matched a franchise record but established a new team record among road games… Jeff Taffe had his second six-game scoring streak of the season snapped on Sunday in Philadelphia… Taffe, who leads Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with 12 goals and 21 points, was recalled by parent-club Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

	Schedule/Scores	Player Stats Goalie Stats
Worcester’s current four-game winning streak matches a season-high, as the Sharks also won their first four games of the season… Tomas Plihal has registered a point in four of six games (2-4-6) this season since returning from injury… Rookie T.J. Fox’s three-point effort (2-1-3) in a 5-1 win at Manchester on Sunday was the first multiple-point showing of his pro career… The Sharks have scored the first goal of the game a league-low eight times this season, and they have been outscored 25-15 in the first period through 25 games.