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Game 4 – 6:00 ET, AHL Live (STJ leads, 2-1)
St. John’s moved to within one win of a series victory with a convincing 5-1 decision over Syracuse in Game 3 on Wednesday night… The IceCaps, playing in front of their 39th consecutive sellout crowd at Mile One Centre, got goals from Patrice Cormier (2-0-2), Derek Meech (2-2-4), Brock Trotter (1-2-3), John Albert (1-0-1) and Ben Maxwell (1-2-3) to take a 2-1 series lead… Eddie Pasquale (2-1, 2.33, .941) made 40 saves, an AHL career high… Fourteen different St. John’s skaters recorded a point in Game 3… Dan Sexton scored the only goal for Syracuse in the contest… The Crunch have not won a game when facing elimination since 2002 (vs. Chicago), and are 4-9 all-time.
Game 4 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (WBS leads, 2-1)
Ryan Potulny‘s third career AHL playoff overtime goal came 2:57 into the extra session on Wednesday night and gave Hershey a 4-3 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, cutting the Penguins’ series lead to 2-1… The Bears, now 11-1 vs. Wilkes-Barre in 12 all-time postseason meetings at Giant Center, also got Game 3 goals from D.J. King (his first since Mar. 23, 2008 with St. Louis), Cameron Schilling (his first as a professional) and Kyle Greentree (his first of the series)… Dany Sabourin made 26 saves for the win, his first in the playoffs since the 2006 postseason when he was with Wilkes-Barre… Cal O’Reilly (2-0-2), Eric Tangradi (1-1-2) and Alex Grant (1-2-3) scored for the Penguins, who rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 down to force OT… Chris Bourque is still looking for his first point of the series after leading the AHL in scoring in the regular season (27-66-93)… Tonight is the 165th all-time meeting (regular season and playoffs) between the clubs.
Game 4 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (NOR leads, 2-1)
Norfolk is one win away from its first playoff series victory in eight years following Wednesday’s 5-2 decision to take a 2-1 series lead… Former Monarch Brandon Segal (2-1-3) scored twice for the Admirals and University of New Hampshire product Trevor Smith (1-4-5) recorded three assists in his return to the Granite State… Alex Killorn (0-4-4) had two assists in Game 3, as did AHL MVP and rookie of the year Cory Conacher (0-3-3)… Alexandre Picard (4-2-6) notched a goal and an assist, his third straight two-point game in the series… Dustin Tokarski made 25 saves in his first start of the series, extending his personal winning streak to 14 games… Robert Czarnik (2-0-2) and Stefan Legein (2-0-2) scored in the loss for the Monarchs… Manchester is 0-for-20 on the power play in the series; Norfolk is 3-for-19 (15.8 percent)… The Monarchs have never won a game (0-9) when facing elimination.
Game 5 – 8:30 ET, AHL Live (Series tied, 2-2)
The first winner-take-all game of the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs sees Chicago hosting San Antonio in Game 5 tonight… The Rampage won the first two games of the series back home, but the Wolves rallied to win Games 3 and 4 at Allstate Arena… Chicago is bidding to become the 10th team in AHL history to win a best-of-five series after falling behind 0-2… Steve Reinprecht (2-0-2), a 2001 Stanley Cup champion with Colorado, scored twice for the Wolves and Eddie Lack (2-1, 2.19, .916) stopped 30 of 31 shots in net as the Wolves took Game 4 on Wednesday, 3-1… Tim Miller (2-0-2) added an empty-net marker, and Mark Mancari (0-6-6) and Nolan Baumgartner (0-2-2) notched two assists apiece for Chicago… Drew Shore (2-0-2) gave the Rampage an early lead in Game 4, tipping home a Michael Caruso shot 43 seconds into the contest… Jacob Markstrom (2-0, 3.13, .908), a teammate of Lack’s with Brynas IF in Sweden in 2009-10, missed the last two games for San Antonio while on NHL recall to Florida but was returned to the Rampage yesterday.
From Calder to Stanley
Adam Henrique, who began the 2011-12 season with the Albany Devils, scored twice — including the series-clincher at 3:47 of double overtime — as New Jersey ousted Florida with a 3-2 win in Game 7 last night… Stephen Gionta, who scored six goals in 56 AHL games as Albany’s captain this season, netted his second of the series for New Jersey… Former Hartford Wolf Pack teammates Marc Staal and Daniel Girardi scored to lead the N.Y. Rangers to a 2-1 win over Ottawa in Game 7 last night… Former Houston Aeros winger Joel Ward scored 2:57 into overtime on Wednesday to give Washington a 2-1 Game 7 win at Boston.
By the Numbers
4 – Players who skated for the Manitoba Moose during the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs who are now on opposite sides of the St. John’s-Syracuse series… IceCaps Marco Rosa and Travis Ramsey were teammates with the Crunch’s Mat Clark and Dan Sexton two springs ago in Winnipeg.
2:57 – Time of the season-saving overtime goals scored by both the Hershey Bears and their NHL affiliate, the Washington Capitals, on Wednesday night.
On This Date
April 27, 2010 – David Shantz (24 saves) becomes the ninth goaltender in AHL history to record a Game 7 shutout, leading Abbotsford to a 2-0 win at Rochester.
April 27, 2009 – Maxim Noreau scores the winning goal midway through the third period and Houston outlasts Peoria, 5-2, in Game 7 of their West Division semifinal.
April 27, 2008 – Josh Tordjman’s 38-save shutout backs San Antonio’s 3-0 victory in Toronto to force a Game 7 in their division semifinal series.
April 27, 1997 – Manny Legace makes 35 saves and Kevin Brown scores 10:20 into overtime as Springfield defeats Portland, 1-0, in a winner-take-all Game 5, capping a comeback from an 0-2 series deficit.
April 27, 1974 – Hershey opens the Calder Cup Finals with a 4-3 win over the Providence Reds behind Jim Pearson’s goal 1:43 into overtime.
AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2012 Calder Cup championship. AHL Live brings AHL action to your computer all season long with live video webcasts and highlights of every AHL game, as well as behind-the-scenes features and interviews in the Video On Demand section… Visit ahllive.com for details.
