AHL Morning Skate: 5.2.18

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s AHL Morning Skate.

Playoff Brackets | Today’s Scoreboard | League Stats | Series Infographics

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Game 1 – Friday, 7:05 ET, AHL Live
Follow @LVPhantoms Follow @CheckersHockey Tweet #LVvsCHA

Atlantic Division Finals – Series “I” (best-of-7)
A1-Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs. A3-Charlotte Checkers
Game 1 – Fri., May 4 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
Game 3 – Tue., May 8 – Lehigh Valley at Charlotte, 7:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 9 – Lehigh Valley at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 12 – Lehigh Valley at Charlotte, 6:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 14 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 7 – Tue., May 15 – Charlotte at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 1 – Thursday, 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Follow @TorontoMarlies Follow @SyracuseCrunch Tweet #TORvsSYR

North Division Finals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
N1-Toronto Marlies vs. N2-Syracuse Crunch
Game 1 – Thu., May 3 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Syracuse at Toronto, 4:00
Game 3 – Sun., May 6 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
Game 4 – Tue., May 8 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 12 – Syracuse at Toronto, 4:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 14 – Toronto at Syracuse, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 16 – Syracuse at Toronto, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 1 – Friday, 8:00 ET, AHL Live
Follow @ManitobaMoose Follow @goicehogs Tweet #MBvsRFD

Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
C3-Manitoba Moose vs. C4-Rockford IceHogs
Game 1 – Fri., May 4 – Rockford at Manitoba, 8:00
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Rockford at Manitoba, 5:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 9 – Manitoba at Rockford, 8:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 11 – Manitoba at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 12 – Manitoba at Rockford, 7:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 15 – Rockford at Manitoba, 8:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 16 – Rockford at Manitoba, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 1 – Tonight, 10:05 ET, AHL Live
Follow @RoadrunnersAHL Follow @TexasStars Tweet #TUCvsTEX

The second round of the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs opens tonight when Tucson hosts Texas in Game 1 of the Pacific Division Finals… The Roadrunners completed a four-game victory over San Jose on Friday night; the Stars have been off since eliminating Ontario nine days ago… Adin Hill (3-1, 1.76, .939) finished the opening round with shutouts in Game 3 and Game 4, becoming the first AHL goaltender with shutouts in back-to-back playoff games since Grand Rapids’ Petr Mrazek in 2013… Hill is 7-2-1 (1.90, .927) with five shutouts in his last 11 starts… Dylan Strome (3-5-8) was Tucson’s leading scorer during the first round, tying for the AHL lead with eight points… Strome has points in all seven games since returning to the Roadrunners from the parent Arizona Coyotes on Apr. 11 (3-8-11)… Mario Kempe (4-2-6) led the Roadrunners with four goals in the first division semifinals, including two in the series-clinching 3-0 win in Game 4… Carter Camper (0-4-4) recorded an assist in each of the four games vs. San Jose and has totaled 3-30-23 in 19 games since being acquired by Tucson from Cleveland on Feb. 26… Texas was outscored (12-11) and outshot (186-129) in its four games vs. Ontario, but won the series three games to one… Mike McKenna (3-1, 1.68, .957) stopped all 44 shots he faced in a relief appearance to win Game 3 in double overtime, then pitched a 47-save shutout in Game 4 to eliminate the Reign… The Game 4 victory was McKenna’s first shutout in 49 career Calder Cup Playoff appearances… Travis Morin (2-2-4) was the Stars’ leading scorer in the opening round, and now has 18-35-53 in 69 career AHL postseason games… Brian Flynn (2-1-3) and Denis Gurianov (2-0-2) were the only other Texas skaters to score more than once in their first-round series… McKenna has kept opponents scoreless for his last 132:25 of play; Hill brings a shutout streak of 122:23 into this series… All eight division semifinal series this year were won by the team that won Game 1.

Pacific Division Finals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
P1-Tucson Roadrunners vs. P2-Texas Stars
Game 1 – Wed., May 2 – Texas at Tucson, 10:05
Game 2 – Fri., May 4 – Texas at Tucson, 10:05
Game 3 – Mon., May 7 – Tucson at Texas, 8:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 9 – Tucson at Texas, 8:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 11 – Tucson at Texas, 8:00
*Game 6 – Sun., May 13 – Texas at Tucson, 10:05
*Game 7 – Mon., May 14 – Texas at Tucson, 10:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

Alumni Watch
In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, 2007 AHL All-Star Dustin Byfuglien as Winnipeg rallied for a 7-4 win over Nashville in Game 3 of their series… Chandler Stephenson and two-time Calder Cup champion John Carlson were among the goal-scorers in Washington’s 4-3 win over Pittsburgh… 2017 AHL All-Rookie forward Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist for the Penguins and leads the NHL with 19 points in nine playoff games.

Working Overtime
There have been 6 overtime games played in the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

Relive all the heart-stopping overtime moments from Round 1 of the #CalderCup playoffs. #AllOrNothing pic.twitter.com/xZIAdTwzOC

— AHL (@TheAHL) May 2, 2018

On This Date
May 2, 2017 – Ryan Carpenter‘s shorthanded goal 8:52 into overtime gives San Jose a 2-1 win over Stockton in the winner-take-all Game 5 of their Pacific Division semifinal series.

May 2, 2012 – Cam Talbot stops 31 shots as Connecticut opens its second-round series with a 3-2 overtime victory over Norfolk, which had won 31 of its previous 32 games.

May 2, 2000 – Roberto Luongo makes 38 saves in a losing effort as Providence completes a four-game sweep of Lowell with a 6-3 victory.

AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2018 Calder Cup championship. AHL Live brings AHL action to your desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet all season long with live video webcasts and free highlights of every AHL game… Visit ahllive.com for details.