AHL Morning Skate: 5.9.18

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 4 – Wednesday, 7:00 ET, AHL Live
(LV leads series, 2-1)
Follow @LVPhantoms Follow @CheckersHockey Tweet #LVvsCHA

Lehigh Valley takes a 2-1 series lead into tonight’s Game 4 of the Atlantic Division Finals after an impressive 5-1 victory in Charlotte last night… The Phantoms jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into Game 3 and held off the Checkers’ potent offense to hand Charlotte its first defeat on home ice since Mar. 18… Mike Vecchione (3-3-6) tallied a goal and an assist for Lehigh Valley in Game 3, his third multiple-point game of the playoffs… Oskar Lindblom (4-1-5) scored twice and Greg Carey (3-4-7) notched a pair of helpers for the Phantoms, and Danick Martel (3-3-6) ended a five-game drought with his third goal of the postseason… Alex Lyon (4-1, 2.09, .943) made 34 saves in Game 3, and has stopped 63 of 65 Checkers shots (.969) in his two starts during the series… Valentin Zykov (4-2-6) scored Charlotte’s only goal last night, giving him a goal in each of the first three games of this series… Alex Nedeljkovic (4-2, 2.15, .924), who had won 21 of his previous 25 decisions on home ice this season, allowed four goals on 15 shots in Game 3 before turning the crease over to Jeremy Smith (four saves)… Defenseman Jake Bean, the 13th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, made his pro debut for the Checkers last night… After a 1-for-4 showing last night, Charlotte is 5-for-12 on the power play in the last two games following a 1-for-17 start to the postseason… Lehigh Valley was 1-for-2 with the man advantage in Game 3 after going 1-for-11 in the first two games of the series… Charlotte has not lost consecutive games since Feb. 25 and Mar. 2, and has dropped back-to-back home games only once all season (Jan. 12-13).

Atlantic Division Finals – Series “I” (best-of-7)
A1-Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs. A3-Charlotte Checkers
Game 1 – Fri., May 4 – LEHIGH VALLEY 2, Charlotte 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Charlotte 6, LEHIGH VALLEY 0 | Recap
Game 3 – Tue., May 8 – Lehigh Valley 5, CHARLOTTE 1 | Recap
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

 vs.  
(TOR wins series, 4-0)
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 – TORONTO 6, Syracuse 4 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – TORONTO 2, Syracuse 1 (2OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Sun., May 6 – Toronto 7, SYRACUSE 1 | Recap
Game 4 – Tue., May 8 – Toronto 2, SYRACUSE 1 | Recap

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Game 3 – Wednesday, 8:00 ET, AHL Live
(RFD leads series, 2-0)
Follow @ManitobaMoose Follow @goicehogs Tweet #MBvsRFD

It has been 17 days since Rockford’s last home game, but since then the IceHogs have won a triple-overtime thriller to finish a sweep of their arch rivals from Chicago and then won twice in Winnipeg to take a 2-0 series lead in the Central Division Finals… The IceHogs (5-0) host Manitoba in Game 3 tonight as the only team still without a loss this postseason… Tyler Sikura (3-1-4) and Chris DiDomenico (3-5-8) lead Rockford skaters with three points apiece in the series so far… Collin Delia (5-0, 1.52, .949) has a record of 15-1-2 in his last 18 appearances for the IceHogs… Manitoba was 2-1 on the road in the first round vs. Grand Rapids, including a 5-1 win in the series-clinching Game 5 on Apr. 30… The Moose also had the third-best road record in the AHL during the regular season (25-9-2-2, .711)… Chase De Leo (2-5-7) leads Manitoba in postseason scoring but is still looking for his first point of the division finals; the Moose are 3-0 in the playoffs when De Leo records a point, but 0-4 when he is scoreless… Brendan Lemieux (3-2-5) scored a goal in Game 2, his team-leading third of the playoffs… Rockford has allowed the game’s first goal in each of its last four contests, but has come back to win all four… The IceHogs continue to click on the power play, going 10-for-28 (35.7 percent) this postseason; the Moose are 2-for-20 (10.0 percent) with the man advantage… Manitoba is 13-2-0-1 all-time at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
C3-Manitoba Moose vs. C4-Rockford IceHogs
Game 1 – Fri., May 4 – Rockford 4, MANITOBA 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 5 – Rockford 4, MANITOBA 1 | Recap
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 4 – Wednesday, 8:00 ET, AHL Live
(TEX leads series, 2-1)
Follow @RoadrunnersAHL Follow @TexasStars Tweet #TUCvsTEX

Texas hosts Tucson in Game 4 of the Pacific Division Finals holding a 2-1 series lead after a 5-4 overtime victory on Monday night… Sheldon Dries (3-0-3) netted the winning goal 13:36 into the extra session to give the Stars their third OT win of the postseason… Brian Flynn (6-2-8) scored his league-leading sixth goal of the playoffs on Monday and now has 4-1-5 in the series so far… Roope Hintz (1-4-5), Jason Dickinson (1-2-3) and Gavin Bayreuther (1-2-3) all scored their first career Calder Cup Playoff goal for Texas in Game 3… Mike McKenna (5-2, 1.86, .948) stopped 33 shots to improve to 7-6 in postseason overtime games over his AHL career… Dakota Mermis (3-2-5) scored a pair of goals for Tucson in Game 3, giving him three goals in seven playoff games after scoring twice in 59 games during the regular season… After both were scoreless in Games 1 and 2, Carter Camper (1-6-7) and Lawson Crouse (1-6-7) recorded three points apiece for the Roadrunners in Game 3… Adin Hill (4-3, 2.05, .925) turned aside 27 of 32 shots in Monday’s loss… Even without a point in the second round, Dylan Strome (3-5-8) still leads Tucson in playoff scoring… Going back to the regular season, 10 of Texas’s last 16 games have required overtime… The Roadrunners have suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since Feb. 24-28; Tucson hasn’t had a three-game slide since Dec. 9-13.

Pacific Division Finals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
P1-Tucson Roadrunners vs. P2-Texas Stars
Game 1 – Wed., May 2 – TUCSON 2, Texas 1 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 4 – Texas 4, TUCSON 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Mon., May 7 – TEXAS 5, Tucson 4 (OT) | Recap
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 yesterday’s action at the IIHF World Championships in Denmark, Kasperi Kapanen (Toronto Marlies in 2017-18) scored a goal and Harri Sateri (Springfield Thunderbirds) earned the shutout in Finland’s 7-0 win over Norway… 2018 AHL All-Star Rudolfs Balcers (San Jose Barracuda) recorded a goal and an assist as Latvia defeated South Korea, 5-0… Christian Jaros (Belleville Senators) scored the game-winning goal in Slovakia’s 4-2 victory over Austria… 2013 AHL All-Star Nino Niederreiter scored twice for Switzerland in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Czech Republic.

Working Overtime
There have been 9 overtime games played in the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

On This Date
May 9, 2011 – In the longest Game 7 in AHL history, Dustin Boyd scores just six seconds into the third overtime period to give Hamilton a 2-1 win over Manitoba… Eddie Lack makes 55 saves in the loss for the Moose.

May 9, 2001 – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton plays its fifth consecutive overtime game and wins its fourth straight, both AHL records, defeating Hershey by a score of 5-4… Michal Rozsival caps a four-point night with the game-winner in OT for the Penguins.

May 9, 1980 – Claude Noel scores the winning goal in Hershey’s 5-3 win over the New Brunswick Hawks in Game 1 of the Calder Cup Finals.

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.