HAMILTON 4, ABBOTSFORD 0
David Desharnais scored two goals and assisted on two others in Hamilton’s 4-0 road win over Abbotsford on Saturday evening.
The Bulldogs completed a weekend sweep of the Heat and improved to 15-2-0-1 in their last 18 games overall.
Brock Trotter had a goal and two assists, P.K. Subban added a goal and an assist and Curtis Sanford (five saves) and Cedrick Desjardins (16 saves) combined for their second shared shutout of the season and Hamilton’s 12th overall.
The Bulldogs’ 49th win of the season ties a franchise record, and their 26th road win leaves them two shy of the AHL record in that category.
ROCHESTER 7, TORONTO 3
Led by four players with three points each, the Rochester Americans rolled to a 7-3 win over the Toronto Marlies at Ricoh Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Mike York and Clay Wilson each recorded two goals and an assist, Jamie Johnson added a goal and two assists and Jeff Taffe dished out three assists for the Amerks, who improved to 6-0-0-0 against the Marlies this season.
The teams play again Sunday in Rochester.
Victor Oreskovich and David Brine scored 18 seconds apart late in the first period to give the Americans a 3-1 lead at intermission, and Rochester scored three more times in the second period to put the game out of reach.
Justin Hodgman, Juraj Mikus and Ryan Hamilton scored for the Marlies, who finished with a 35-22 advantage in shots on goal.
Both teams went 3-for-6 on the power play.
PORTLAND 2, SPRINGFIELD 1
Nathan Gerbe’s power-play goal with 1:27 left in regulation sent Portland to a 2-1 win over visiting Springfield on Saturday night.
For the second night in a row, the Pirates found themselves in a scoreless tie deep into the third period. After pulling out a 2-0 win in Providence on Friday, Portland saw Geoff Paukovich give the Falcons the lead at 10:03 of the third period tonight.
But Travis Turnbull evened the score with 6:03 to play, and Gerbe capitalized on the late man advantage with his 11th goal of the season.
Coming off Friday’s shutout, J.P. Lamoureux made 27 saves on 28 shots for the win. Bryan Pitton made 22 saves in defeat.
Portland’s victory, combined with Norfolk’s loss to Worcester, clinches a berth in the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs for the Pirates.
HARTFORD 4, BRIDGEPORT 3
Bobby Sanguinetti’s goal with 3:20 left in regulation capped a Hartford comeback and gave the Wolf Pack a 4-3 win over Bridgeport at the XL Center on Saturday.
Hartford now trails the Sound Tigers by seven points in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
After Justin Soryal had given the Wolf Pack an early lead, Bridgeport answered on a Tyler Haskins penalty shot late in the first period and two quick strikes by Trevor Smith and Dustin Friesen midway through the second.
The Sound Tigers’ two-goal lead lasted just four minutes, as Dane Byers and Andres Ambuhl scored 10 seconds apart to tie the score at 3-3.
Chad Johnson made 25 saves for the Wolf Pack, who have won three straight for the first time since early January.
Bridgeport lost for the second night in a row after taking an 8-0-1-0 streak into the weekend.
MANCHESTER 4, ADIRONDACK 3
Oscar Moller scored a pair of goals to help Manchester to a 4-3 win over Adirondack at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
Patrick Mullen netted his first goal since Dec. 29 and Justin Azevedo scored for the third game in a row, while Jeff Zatkoff finished with 29 saves for the Monarchs.
David Laliberte scored twice and Jon Matsumoto tallied a goal and two assists to lead the Phantoms. Carter Hutton stopped 36 of 40 shots in defeat.
HERSHEY 4, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 2
Hershey moved another step closer to securing the best record in AHL history, scoring the final three goals in a 4-2 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before another capacity crowd (10,703) at Giant Center.
With eight games remaining, the Bears now have 113 points on the season, and their 55 wins are tied for the third-most in league history behind only the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers (57) and the 1998-99 Providence Bruins (56). The 2007-08 Bruins and the 2005-06 Grand Rapids Griffins also won 55 games.
Zach Miskovic, Karl Alzner, Alexandre Giroux and Andrew Joudrey scored as the Bears closed out the 12-game season series with a 10-2-0-0 record against the Penguins. Keith Aucoin recorded three assists, upping his league-leading total to 97 points, and Jason Bacashihua made 23 saves for his 11th consecutive win. Giroux’s goal was the 299th of his AHL career.
Tim Wallace and Eric Tangradi scored for the Penguins, who lost in regulation for the first time in 10 games (7-1-1-1).
Hershey is now 31-4-0-2 on home ice this season.
TEXAS 5, GRAND RAPIDS 4
Mathieu Beaudoin scored twice in regulation and Texas dominated the shootout to earn a 5-4 win in front of 10,503 fans at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.
The game featured eight goals in the first 31:23 and none in the final 33:37, as the Griffins rallied from 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 deficits to tie each time.
Andrew Hutchinson and Warren Peters gave the Stars an early 2-0 lead with goals 23 seconds apart, but Mattias Ritola and Jan Mursak answered for Grand Rapids. Cory Emmerton evened things back up after Beaudoin’s first goal, and Jamie Tardif made it 4-4 with 8:37 still to play in the second period.
Matt Climie and Daniel Larsson kept the nets empty the rest of the way, until Colton Sceviour, Perttu Lindgren and Travis Morin all scored in the shootout for the Stars.
Texas, 11-3-0-0 in its last 14 games overall, has won four of five to begin a seven-game road swing through the Midwest. Even with the loss, the Griffins have now earned points in nine of their last 10 outings (6-1-1-2).
WORCESTER 2, NORFOLK 0
Worcester bounced back from Friday’s loss in Hershey to hand Norfolk a 2-0 setback at Scope on Saturday night.
Frazer McLaren scored late in the first period, Tony Lucia netted his first professional goal in the second and Alex Stalock (37-16-2) made 46 saves for his third shutout of the season. Stalock, the AHL’s leader in wins, has not lost back-to-back decisions in regulation since a five-game skid from Nov. 7-18.
The victory keeps the Sharks three points ahead of second-place Portland atop the Atlantic Division, while the Admirals remain two points behind Bridgeport for the final playoff spot in the conference.
ALBANY 5, SYRACUSE 2
Barely a week removed from the classroom at Ohio State University, Zac Dalpe recorded a hat trick to lead Albany to a 5-2 win in Syracuse on Saturday night.
The 20-year-old Dalpe, a second-round draft choice by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2008, made his pro debut last Saturday after his sophomore season at OSU, where he led the Buckeyes with 21 goals and 45 points in 39 games this season.
Nick Dodge also scored for the River Rats as did Casey Borer, his first goal since Feb. 7, 2009. Chris Terry recorded three assists and Justin Peters made 28 saves in his first AHL action since Feb. 27.
Tom Sestito and Tomas Kana had the goals for the Crunch.
PEORIA 4, HOUSTON 1
Cam Paddock had two goals and an assist and Ian Cole picked up his first two professional points as Peoria defeated Houston, 4-1, at Carver Arena.
Cole, the 18th overall pick by St. Louis in the 2007 NHL draft, assisted on Paddock’s marker 14 seconds into the third period, then netted his first pro goal with 3:21 to play.
Barry Tallackson also recorded a goal and an assist and Ben Bishop stopped 23 of 24 shots for the Rivermen, who are now five points behind idle Milwaukee for fourth place in the West Division.
Former Peoria forward Jon DiSalvatore scored the only goal for the Aeros, his 21st of the season. DiSalvatore has never scored fewer than 20 or more than 22 goals in any of his seven AHL seasons.
LAKE ERIE 5, SAN ANTONIO 4
Lake Erie got 37 saves from John Grahame and closed the gap in the North Division playoff race with a big 5-4 win at San Antonio on Saturday.
The Monsters now sit just four points behind Manitoba for the final postseason berth in the North.
Zach Cohen (Boston University) and Mike Carman (University of Minnesota) scored their first professional goals for Lake Erie, while Philippe Dupuis had a goal and an assist and Justin Mercier scored for the 12th time in his last 25 games after going goalless over his first 32 contests. Darren Haydar notched three assists for the Monsters.
Mikkel Boedker led the Rampage with a goal and an assist. San Antonio remains eight points out of a playoff spot in the West Division.
The teams meet again Sunday in San Antonio.
CHICAGO 3, ROCKFORD 0
Drew MacIntyre stopped 33 shots for his third shutout of the season, backstopping Chicago to a 3-0 win over in-state rival Rockford at the MetroCentre on Saturday night.
It was just the Wolves’ third win in 15 all-time visits to Rockford (3-11-0-1).
Matt Anderson, Ivan Vishnevskiy and Spencer Machacek were the Chicago goal scorers in support of MacIntyre, who made 25 of his 33 saves over the final two periods.
With the win, the Wolves have opened up an eight-point lead over second-place Texas in the West Division, and have clinched home-ice advantage in at least the first round of the playoffs.
