The Manitoba Moose came at the visiting Marlies right out of the gates, scoring five times in the first period en route to a 6-2 win over Toronto at the MTS Centre on Saturday night.
With the victory, the Moose extend their lead atop the North Division over the Hamilton Bulldogs (76 pts.) and Rochester (75 pts.) with a 34-17-7-4 record and 79 points.
Nathan Smith tallied two goals and added an assist and Jason Jaffray and Alex Edler each had three assists for the Moose, who won for the second straight night over Toronto.
Drew MacIntyre stopped all 21 shots he faced in 31 minutes of play, before Wade Flaherty made 11 saves on 13 shots in relief of the flu-stricken starter.
Brad Moran and Yannick Tremblay both had a goal and an assist for Manitoba, which is 12-0-1-1 against the Marlies over the last two seasons.
John Mitchell led the Marlies in a losing effort by recording a goal and an assist.
HERSHEY 7, BINGHAMTON 1
Playing in his second game for the Bears, Scott Barney recorded two goals and two assists as Hershey routed the visiting Binghamton Senators by the score of 7-1.
After falling behind 1-0 midway through the first period, Joey Tenute kicked off the first of the seven Bears goals. Tenute also added two assists for three points on the night and four other Hershey forwards also tallied, including Matt Hendricks, who had a goal and an assist in the win.
Maxime Daigneault stopped 30 of 31 shots to earn his fifth straight win and improve his record to 17-4-0 on the year.
Ryan Vesce scored the lone goal for Binghamton, which has now dropped six in a row.
MANCHESTER 5, PORTLAND 1
Five different players tallied for the Monarchs as Manchester defeated division rival Portland by the score of 5-1 at Cumberland County Civic Center.
Oleg Tverdovsky scored one goal and assisted on two others for Manchester, which has won three of its last four games.
Marty Murray, Matt Moulson and Gabe Gauthier each had a goal and a helper on the night, which saw five of the six goals scored in the third period.
Barry Brust made 27 saves in his first start since Feb. 18, and earned his first win since Feb. 10.
Noah Clarke rounded out the scoring for Manchester, which scored three of its five goals with the man advantage.
Portland defenseman Greg Amadio scored in a losing effort for the Pirates, who fell five points off the pace for the fourth spot in the Atlantic Division.
PROVIDENCE 3, LOWELL 2 (SO)
The Providence Bruins fought their way back from a 2-0 deficit in the third period to force overtime and eventually defeat the Lowell Devils by a score of 3-2 in a shootout at the Tsongas Arena.
Ryan Lang kicked off the comeback for Providence and Jeff Hoggan scored the equalizer with 2:50 to go in regulation.
Hannu Toivonen made 30 saves on 32 shots and stopped four of six Devils in the shootout for his second win in as many nights.
Ben Walter scored once in the shootout and David Krejci tallied twice, including the game-clinching goal to give the P-Bruins their fourth straight win.
Rod Pelley and Dan LaCouture each scored power-play goals in the loss for the Devils.
HARTFORD 3, PHILADELPHIA 2 (SO)
Brandon Dubinsky tallied both goals in regulation and also one shootout goal to give the Hartford Wolf Pack a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phantoms at the Wachovia Spectrum.
After falling into a 2-0 deficit early in the first period, Dubinsky rallied the Pack back to force overtime with a power play and shorthanded goal in the second period.
Al Montoya got back into the win column by stopping 18 of 20 shots in regulation and three of four players in the shootout as Hartford kicked off its four-game road trip with its 20th road win of the season.
Mark Cullen led the Phantoms with a goal and an assist and Scott Munroe made 39 saves.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 3, ALBANY 2 (OT)
Kyle Brodziak scored 26 seconds into overtime to give the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 3-2 win over the visiting Albany River Rats on Saturday.
Brodziak’s second goal of the night came after Dave Gove had scored twice in the third period for the River Rats to tie the score.
Stephen Dixon also scored for the Penguins and Reagan Rome assisted on all three goals in the win.
Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers stopped 17 of 19 shots for the Pens, who earned their fifth straight win.
SYRACUSE 5, GRAND RAPIDS 3
Alexandre Picard scored with 10:02 left in regulation, snapping a tie and sending Syracuse to a 5-3 win over Grand Rapids at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter.
Steven Goertzen led Syracuse with two goals and Filip Novak added two helpers for the Crunch, who have won three of the last four games.
Tomas Popperle stopped 33 of 36 shots to improve his mark to 16-15-3 on the year. Jeffrey Szwez and Joakim Lindstrom also provided goals for the Crunch.
Rookie Jamie Tardif had a natural hat trick for the Griffins, scoring three times in a span of 6:11 during the second period.
PEORIA 6, HOUSTON 1
Peoria scored five times in the third period, including four in a span of 3:17, to defeat the visiting Houston Aeros, 6-1.
Mike Glumac scored twice to break a 1-1 tie and help the Rivermen remain unbeaten in regulation in its last six contests (4-0-0-2). Marek Schwarz, making his first start since Feb. 7, stopped 27 of 28 shots for the win.
Gavin Morgan, Trent Whitfield and Charles Linglet each tallied a goal and an assist while defensemen Mike Stuart and Jamie Rivers both added two assists for Peoria.
Matt Foy scored the only goal of the night for Houston, which is winless in its last six games (0-5-0-1).
NORFOLK 5, WORCESTER 4 (SO)
In a back-and-forth contest, the Norfolk Admirals edged the Worcester Sharks at the DCU Center by the score of 5-4 in a shootout.
Former Worcester IceCat Reed Low tallied a goal and an assist and David Bolland scored in regulation and the only goal in the shootout to give the Admirals their second straight win.
Corey Crawford made 26 saves to earn his 31st victory of the season.
Bruno St. Jacques and Martin St. Pierre rounded out the scoring on the night for Norfolk, which ends its 10-game road trip at Portland on Sunday.
Graham Mink (2g, 1a) and Tom Walsh (1g, 2a) each had three points on the night for the Sharks, with Walsh’s first career AHL goal coming with 23 seconds left in regulation.
HAMILTON 6, CHICAGO 3
A four-goal second period proved to be the difference as the Hamilton Bulldogs doubled up the Chicago Wolves by the score of 6-3 before 11,826 fans at Allstate Arena.
Michael Lambert had a pair of goals and Andre Benoit recorded a goal and two assists in the win.
Philippe Sauve won his first start as a Bulldog, stopping 26 of 29 shots on the night. Hamilton improved to 2-1-0-2 on its nine-game road trip.
Jason Krog made his return to the Wolves and scored twice, giving him a point in every one of his 26 AHL games played in 2006-07.
SAN ANTONIO 5, IOWA 1
Donald MacLean scored a hat trick and added an assist as the San Antonio Rampage defeated the Iowa Stars, 5-1, at Wells Fargo Arena.
MacLean (3g, 1a), Chris Ferraro (2g, 2a) and newly-acquired Alex Leavitt (4a) each had four points and a plus-5 rating on the night for the Rampage, while Josh Tordjman stopped 41 of 42 shots to earn his 11th win on the year.
Defenseman Matt DeMarchi scored the lone goal for Iowa in the loss.
