Knights charge atop West with win over Aeros

Warren Peters tallied a pair of goals to help the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights extend their winning streak to six games with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Houston Aeros on Friday night.

Curtis McElhinney, the reigning CCM Vector/AHL Player of the Week, stretched his personal streak to five straight wins by stopping 24 of 25 shots to improve his record to 26-13-1.

The win puts Omaha on top of the West Division with a recording of 37-19-3-1 and 78 points, one point ahead of idle Chicago.

With the scored knotted at 1-1 heading in the third period, Cam Cunning scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with just under four minutes to go in the contest.

Dustin Boyd also provided some offense for Omaha, recording two assists.

Danny Irmen scored the lone goal in the loss for Houston, which has now dropped five straight games.


NORFOLK 3, LOWELL 2
Colin Fraser scored the only goal of the third period as the Norfolk Admirals edged the Lowell Devils by the score of 3-2 at the Tsongas Arena.

Troy Brouwer and Dustin Byfuglien also provided goals as Norfolk ended a three-game losing skid with the win.

Mike Brodeur made 34 saves to earn his second win of the year in just his second start and fourth appearance in net.

Ryan Murphy and Mike Pandolfo each provided goals in a losing effort for the Devils, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.


PHILADELPHIA 4, BINGHAMTON 2
Denis Tolpeko tallied two goals and defenseman David Printz recorded three assists along with a plus-4 rating on the night as the Philadelphia Phantoms doubled up the visiting Binghamton Senators by the score of 4-2.

Scott Munroe stopped 28 of 30 shots for the Phantoms, who had lost four of their previous five games at home.

Mark Cullen scored a goal and an assist and Eric Meloche added two helpers for Philly, who handed the B-Sens their fifth straight loss.

Matt Ellison provided the other tally on the night for Phantoms.

Shawn Collymore and Josh Hennessy each scored in a losing effort for Binghamton.


WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 5, BRIDGEPORT 3
Defenseman Micki DuPont had a pair of third-period goals and added an assist as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins extended their winning streak to four games with a 5-3 win over Bridgeport.

Ryan Stone had a goal and an assist and Kyle Brodziak recorded three helpers for the Penguins, who moved to within two points of second-place Hershey in the East Division with a record of 37-15-2-4 and 80 points.

Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers earned his 17th win of the season by stopping 23 of 26 shots from the Sound Tigers.

Facing his old team for the first time since being traded by the New York Islanders, Robert Nilsson registered a pair of assists for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Nilsson has five points in his first two games with the Pens.

Jeff Tambellini led the Sound Tigers with a pair of goals in the loss.


ALBANY 4, SYRACUSE 3
The Albany River Rats went 4-for-5 on the man advantage en route to defeating the Syracuse Crunch, 4-3, at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

Keith Aucoin tallied a pair of goals and defenseman Kyle Cumiskey added three assists as Albany won its third game in its last four contests.

River Rats netminder Justin Peters earned his 10th win of the year by stopping 36 of 39 shots from the Crunch.

Matt Murley and Antti Laaksonen provided the other pots on the night for Albany, who played the first of its four-game road trip.

Derrick Walser and Philippe Dupuis each scored a goal and an assist for the Crunch, who lost for the first time in regulation play since Feb. 17.


PROVIDENCE 6, WORCESTER 1
David Krejci had four points, scoring a pair of goals in the Providence Bruins’ 6-1 win over the Worcester Sharks at the DCU Center.

With the win, Providence moves ahead of idle Hartford for second place in the Atlantic Division by one point with a 34-23-1-3 record.

Krejci has now scored in 16 of his last 17 games with the P-Bruins, with nine of those games being multiple-point games.

Petr Kalus also provided a pair of goals while netminder Hannu Toivonen stopped 18 of 19 shots for the Bruins, who have won three straight, outscoring opponents 16-3 in that stretch.

Jeff Hoggan also added to the Providence offense with a goal and an assist while Mark Stuart had two assists.

Grant Stevenson scored on a penalty shot in a losing effort for the Sharks.


MILWAUKEE 3, HAMILTON 2 (SO)
Rich Peverley had a big game for the Admirals, recording a goal and an assist and netting a shootout goal to give Milwaukee a 3-2 win over Hamilton at the Bradley Center.

Pekka Rinne made 26 saves in regulation and stopped three of five Bulldogs in the shootout.

Jason Guerriero provided the other goal in regulation for Milwaukee, which has now won three of its last four games.

Matt D’Agostini and Mathieu Biron both tallied for Hamilton, which has now dropped three of its last four games (two in a shootout).


MANITOBA 3, TORONTO 0
2007 AHL All-Star Brad Moran led the Moose with a goal and an assist as Manitoba defeated their Canadian rival, the Toronto Marlies, 3-0 at the MTS Centre.

Wade Flaherty stopped all 31 shots he faced from the Marlies for his second shutout and 15th win of the season for Manitoba.

The Moose improved their record to 33-17-7-4 and at 77 points jump over Rochester for first place in the North Division.

J.J. Hunter and Lee Goren also provided tallies on the night for the Moose.