Sun. roundup: Aeros’ six-pack tames Moose

Sunday’s AHL boxscores

HOUSTON 6, MANITOBA 3
Houston scored six times in the third period and kept pace in the West Division with a 6-3 win over Manitoba at the Toyota Center on Sunday afternoon.

Captain Jon DiSalvatore recorded two goals and an assist and Jean-Michel Daoust (pictured) gave the Aeros the lead for good with 10:12 to play as Houston set a club season high for goals in a single period.

The Aeros trailed 1-0 after 40 minutes on Mario Bliznak’s first-period goal for the Moose, but Patrick O’Sullivan got Houston on the board just 20 seconds into the third.

DiSalvatore put the Aeros in front at the 3:57 mark before Manitoba pulled back even on Shawn Weller’s goal at 5:21.

Daoust and Robbie Earl made it 4-2 Houston with goals less than two minutes apart, and after Sergei Shirokov closed the Moose deficit to one, Cody Almond and DiSalvatore scored empty-netters in the final seconds.

With the three-point night, DiSalvatore now has 14-15-29 in 25 games since O’Sullivan joined the Aeros on Jan. 15. His 22 goals on the season tie his career high, achieved four times previously (2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2007-08).

Matt Hackett made 25 saves to pick up the win for Houston; Tyler Weiman stopped 39 of 43 shots in defeat. The Aeros finished with a 45-28 edge in shots, including 17-8 in the decisive third period.

Houston remains one point behind first-place Milwaukee in the West Division. Manitoba holds the top spot in the North, now two points up on Toronto.

TEXAS 2, TORONTO 1 (SO)
Tyler Beskorowany made 22 saves before denying all four shootout attempts to help Texas to a 2-1 win over Toronto at Ricoh Coliseum on Sunday.

The victory ended the Stars’ three-game winless streak overall (0-2-0-1) and their five-game road winless slide (0-2-1-2).

Toronto’s Nazem Kadri and Texas’s Travis Morin traded goals in regulation, with Morin netting the equalizer with 11:13 to play.

Francis Wathier and Greg Rallo scored in the shootout for the Stars, who conclude their five-game road swing with a visit to Manitoba on Mar. 18 and 20.

The Marlies earned a point for the sixth time in their last seven outings (4-1-1-1), and moved into sole possession of second place in the North Division, two points behind first-place Manitoba.

CHICAGO 5, ROCKFORD 1
Edward Pasquale made 38 saves and five different Wolves scored in Chicago’s 5-1 victory over Rockford at the MetroCentre on Sunday.

Chicago, 10-3-1-3 since the All-Star break, moved into a tie with Peoria for fourth place in the West Division with the win.

Fredrik Pettersson and Arturs Kulda each notched a goal and an assist for the Wolves, and Paul Postma, Riley Holzapfel and Ryan Garbutt scored as well.

Pasquale allowed only a Ben Smith goal 6:42 into the game, and stopped all 30 shots he faced over the final two periods to improve to 3-0-1 since rejoining Chicago from Gwinnett of the ECHL last week.

The Wolves extended their road points streak to seven games (5-0-1-1) while handing the IceHogs just their second regulation loss in their last 10 overall (6-2-1-1).

GRAND RAPIDS 5, SAN ANTONIO 4 (SO)
Down two in the third period, Grand Rapids rallied and extended its points streak to seven games with a 5-4 shootout win at San Antonio.

Derek Meech (9:32) and Brendan Smith (15:38) scored in the final frame to tie the score, and Jamie Johnson broke a scoreless deadlock in the sixth shootout round to lift the Griffins into fifth place in the North Division, four points behind Toronto for the final playoff spot in the conference.

Grand Rapids is 6-0-1-0 in its last seven contests and 9-1-1-2 in its last 13, all started in goal by Jordan Pearce (21 saves).

Brent Raedeke had a goal and an assist and Francis Pare scored his 21st goal for the Griffins. Travis Ehrhardt, Doug Janik and Tomas Tatar picked up two assists each.

Mathieu Beaudoin (2g, 1a), Alexandre Picard (1g, 2a) and Randy Robitaille (3a) notched three points apiece and Matt Climie made 43 saves for the Rampage, who were outshot 48-25 for the game.

MILWAUKEE 2, PEORIA 1
Mark Van Guilder and Mike Bartlett scored 11 seconds apart, enough to propel Milwaukee to a 2-1 win over Peoria at the Bradley Center on Sunday.

The Admirals maintained first place in the West Division with the win, one point ahead of Houston heading into their visit to the Aeros on Tuesday.

Mark Dekanich stopped 31 of 32 shots for Milwaukee.

Derek Nesbitt scored for the Rivermen, who dropped four points behind the Admirals and into a fourth-place tie with Chicago. Jake Allen made 28 saves in the loss.

WORCESTER 5, CONNECTICUT 4
John McCarthy scored his first two AHL goals of the season and Worcester withstood a late rally to pull out a 5-4 win over Connecticut at the DCU Center on Sunday afternoon.

The win moved the Sharks back even with the Whale for the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. Both teams have 74 points with 13 games remaining, none against each other.

McCarthy, who has two goals and two assists in 36 NHL games with San Jose this season, scored shorthanded to give the Sharks a 3-0 lead early in the second period, and at even strength later in the frame to make it 4-2.

Worcester upped its lead to 5-2 before the Whale scored twice in the final 5:23, but Connecticut could not manage an equalizer and saw its five-game winning streak in the season series against the Sharks come to an end.

Worcester also got goals from Dan DaSilva, Kevin Henderson and Tommy Wingels, who had scored both Sharks goals in their 4-2 loss in Hartford on Saturday. Carter Hutton made 29 saves to earn the win.

Kris Newbury, Brodie Dupont and Kelsey Tessier had a goal and an assist each for the Whale, and Jeremy Williams upped his team-leading goal total to 28 with his third goal in two games. Rookie defenseman Blake Parlett had his first career multiple-point game in the AHL with three assists.

ROCHESTER 6, HAMILTON 5
Mike Kostka and Patrick Rissmiller picked up a goal and two assists each and Rochester hung on for a 6-5 win over Hamilton at Copps Coliseum on Sunday.

Andrew Conboy scored for the Bulldogs 11 seconds into the game, but the Americans raced out to a 4-1 lead by the first intermission.

Aaron Palushaj got Hamilton back within a goal, scoring twice early in the second frame, before the Amerks responded with a pair of power-play goals to open up a 6-3 cushion after two.

J.T. Wyman (14:41) and Ian Schultz (16:45) closed the gap to 6-5 and Hamilton had a power play for the final 1:19 of regulation, but Rochester prevailed to snap a four-game losing streak.

Michael Duco had a goal and an assist and Hugh Jessiman, Triston Grant and Evan Oberg also scored for the Amerks. Marc Cheverie made 38 saves for his first career AHL win.

MANCHESTER 4, PORTLAND 2
Jake Muzzin registered a goal and an assist and Jordan Nolan scored the game-winner with 5:38 left in regulation as Manchester came back from an early two-goal deficit and defeated Portland, 4-2, to reclaim first place in the Atlantic Division from the Pirates.

John Zeiler and Bud Holloway also notched goals for Manchester, which earned its 40th win of the season. The Monarchs sit one point ahead of the Pirates in the Atlantic, but Portland has played four fewer games.

Luke Adam and Marc-Andre Gragnani tallied goals for Portland as their season-long six-game winning streak came to an end. With his goal in the first period, Gragnani set a new Portland franchise record for points by a defenseman in a single season with his 54th, also tops among AHL blueliners this season.

Jeff Zatkoff (17-12-5) made 26 saves for the Monarchs to pick up the win, while David Leggio (19-5-0), who had won his previous 10 decisions, turned aside 34 shots but still took his first loss since Jan. 2.

It was just the fifth regulation loss on home ice for the Pirates this season (23-5-4-1).

NORFOLK 3, HERSHEY 2 (SO)
Alex Berry and James Wright scored power-play goals in regulation and Johan Harju netted the only goal of the shootout as Norfolk downed Hershey, 3-2, at Giant Center on Sunday.

The win moved the Admirals past idle Charlotte into third place in the East Division, while the Bears closed to within five points of first-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Hershey finished a stretch of seven games in nine nights with a 3-2-0-2 mark.

Stefano Giliati and Mark Barberio assisted on both Norfolk goals and Dustin Tokarski made 23 saves in regulation before a 5-for-5 effort in the shootout.

Patrick McNeill and Kyle Greentree scored for the Bears. Nolan Schaefer stopped 22 of 24 shots.

ADIRONDACK 3, SPRINGFIELD 0
Mike Testwuide scored twice and Michael Leighton made 28 saves as Adirondack dealt another blow to Springfield’s postseason hopes with a 3-0 win at the MassMutual Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Falcons’ losing streak sits at seven games, and Springfield has fallen nine points back of the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

For the Phantoms, it was their first road win since Feb. 12 in Wilkes-Barre.

Testwuide, who now has five goals in his last six games, opened the scoring 4:17 into the game and made it 2-0 in the opening minute of the third period.

Denis Hamel deposited his 21st goal of the season into an empty net to cap the scoring.

Leighton improved to 7-10-3 with his third shutout of the season and the 32nd of his AHL career, which is good for sixth all-time.

BRIDGEPORT 5, PROVIDENCE 1
Second-period power-play goals by Tony Romano, Mark Katic and Jeremy Colliton boosted Bridgeport to a 5-1 win over Providence at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Sunday.

The victory snaps the Sound Tigers’ eight-game winless streak overall (0-7-0-1) and their 12-game road slide (0-10-0-2), while leaving the Bruins nine points out of a playoff spot with 13 games to play.

Providence took the lead 8:58 into the first period on Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman’s goal, but Bridgeport responded twice late in the period. At 17:37, Brett Gallant scored with assists from Steve Tarasuk and Phil Ginand, the first career AHL point for all three skaters. And at 18:59, Rhett Rakhshani knocked Ty Wishart’s shot from the point past Michael Hutchinson for his 16th goal of the year.

The Sound Tigers scored three times with the man advantage in a span of 6:42 to take control of the game, and Joel Martin held down the fort with 28 saves to secure the victory.

ALBANY 4, SYRACUSE 1
Nathan Perkovich scored twice during Albany’s three-goal opening period and the Devils went on to a 4-1 win over Syracuse at the Times Union Center.

Chad Wiseman and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond also scored for Albany, which matched a season high with its fourth straight win.

Perkovich, who has been limited to 25 games by injury this season, scored for the first time since Nov. 13, with Tim Sestito and Alexander Vasyunov assisting on both tallies.

Wiseman’s goal was his sixth in four games this week; he had six goals in 33 games previous.

Brian McGrattan scored the only goal for the Crunch, his fifth in six games since joining Syracuse.

The teams, which squared off in eight fights on the day, meet again in Syracuse on Wednesday.