MILWAUKEE 6, CHICAGO 0
Blake Geoffrion scored his first two professional goals as Milwaukee got back into its West Division semifinal series with an emphatic 6-0 win over Chicago at the Bradley Center on Saturday night.
Mike Santorelli and Andreas Thuresson each tallied a goal and two assists, Alexander Sulzer added a goal and an assist and Jonathon Blum dished out three helpers to lead the Admirals to the decisive Game 3 victory. Still down 2-1 in the series, Milwaukee will host Game 4 on Monday evening.
The Admirals scored four times on the power play, and outshot the Wolves by a 47-30 count. Mark Dekanich earned the shutout for his first career Calder Cup Playoff win.
Geoffrion, the 2010 Hobey Baker Award winner as the top player in U.S. collegiate hockey, made his return to the Badger State after completing his senior season at the University of Wisconsin last weekend.
TEXAS 3, ROCKFORD 1
Brent Krahn and the Texas Stars stifled Rockford once again, grabbing a 2-0 series lead with a 3-1 victory in Game 2 at the Cedar Park Center.
Krahn made 31 saves and Maxime Fortunus, Perttu Lindgren and Raymond Sawada provided the offense for the Stars, who took a 2-1 decision in Friday’s series opener.
Travis Morin and Colton Sceviour each had two assists for Texas.
Kyle Beach, the 11th overall pick in the 2008 NHL draft, scored his first professional goal for the IceHogs.
HAMILTON 8, MANITOBA 2
Brock Trotter scored twice to cap Hamilton’s five-goal second period and the Bulldogs rolled to an 8-2 win over Manitoba in Game 2 of the teams’ North Division semifinal at Copps Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Hamilton will take a 2-0 series lead with them to Winnipeg, where the series resumes on Monday night.
David Desharnais gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 6:32 into the game, but Mario Bliznak squared things at 1-1 in the final minute of the period, scoring the Moose’s first goal of the series.
Ryan Russell began the second-period eruption at 2:24, and P.K. Subban and Mike Glumac added power-play goals before Trotter blew the game open with his first two career playoff goals, making it 6-1 at the second intermission.
Dan Sexton‘s goal 38 seconds into the third was answered just over two minutes later by J.T. Wyman, who scored on a penalty shot after being fouled on a shorthanded breakaway. Alex Henry, scoreless in 68 games during the regular season, capped the afternoon with his first goal since Apr. 3, 2009, and his first playoff goal since 2002.
Trotter (2g, 1a) and Subban (1g, 2a) each finished with three points in the game. Hamilton was 4-for-8 on the power play
Cedrick Desjardins made 28 saves in the win for the Bulldogs. Cory Schneider allowed five goals on 22 shots in 32:15 of work for the Moose before giving way to Daren Machesney (12 saves).
ROCHESTER 4, ABBOTSFORD 1
Mike York tallied three assists and Tyler Plante made 30 saves as Rochester rebounded from a Game 1 loss to post a 4-1 win over Abbotsford in Game 2.
Plante has stopped 50 of 51 shots in five periods of work (0.61, .980) since taking over for Alexander Salak after the first period on Thursday.
John Lammers gave the Heat a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, but the Americans answered with goals from Jason Garrison, Mike Duco and two-time Calder Cup champion Graham Mink in the second period.
Jeff Taffe added his first goal of the playoffs after netting a career-high 28 goals in the regular season.
The series now moves to Abbotsford for the next three games, beginning Monday night.
