News

AHL Morning Skate: April 24

by theahl

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from
the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s Morning Skate.

Complete Schedule || Playoff Brackets || Today’s Scoreboard || League Leaders

   
Game 2 – 5:00 ET, AHL Live
(Toronto leads series, 1-0)

After all eight series were on the ice last night, Toronto and Bridgeport get the spotlight to themselves as they face off in Game 2 of their series this evening… The Sound Tigers hung with the regular-season champions until the Marlies scored four times in the second period of Game 1 — including twice in the final 17 seconds of the frame — en route to a 4-1 win and a 1-0 series lead… Bridgeport took 20 shots on goal in the first period and grabbed a 1-0 lead on a goal by Justin Florek… The Marlies pulled even on a power-play goal from T.J. Brennan at 4:36 of the second, his 12th goal in 31 career Calder Cup Playoff games… Toronto then grabbed the lead on the first goal of William Nylander‘s playoff career four minutes later… What looked to be a close contest heading into the third was quickly blown open as Nikita Soshnikov converted on a two-on-one rush with 16.4 seconds left before the second intermission, and then Connor Brown scored on a breakaway with 0.3 seconds remaining… Toronto outshot Bridgeport 27-12 over the final 40 minutes and 39-32 overall for Game 1… Antoine Bibeau made 31 saves in the win for the Marlies, while Stephon Williams stopped 35 shots in defeat for the Sound Tigers… Bridgeport has been outscored 17-4 during its current four-game home losing streak, and is now 1-12 in its last 13 home playoff games going back to 2004… The Sound Tigers had not lost a game in regulation all season when leading after the first period (13-0-1-2).

North Division Semifinals – Series “C” (best-of-5) 
N1-Toronto Marlies vs. A5-Bridgeport Sound Tigers 
Game 1 – Sat., Apr. 23 – Toronto 4, BRIDGEPORT 1
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 24 – Toronto at Bridgeport, 5:00 
Game 3 – Thu., Apr. 28 – Bridgeport at Toronto, 7:30 
*Game 4 – Fri., Apr. 29 – Bridgeport at Toronto, 7:30 
*Game 5 – Sun., May 1 – Bridgeport at Toronto, 3:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern
Saturday’s Recaps
#PROvsWBS: Penguins complete overtime sweep
#LEvsRFD: Monsters sweep away IceHogs
#ALBvsUTI: Devils shoot down Comets again
#HERvsPOR: Bears draw even with Game 2 win
#TORvsBRI: Marlies regroup, blow by Bridgeport in opener
#MILvsGR: Griffins edge Admirals to take 2-0 lead
#SDvsTEX: Stars square series with resounding win
#ONTvsSJ: Barracuda take bite out of Reign
Working Overtime
There have been 3 overtime games played in the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

Apr. 23 – W-B/Scranton 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (Jake Guentzel, 33:52)
Apr. 21 – W-B/SCRANTON 4, Providence 3 (Daniel Sprong, 5:13)
Apr. 20 – W-B/SCRANTON 3, Providence 2 (Carter Rowney, 1:09)
Alumni Watch
In Stanley Cup Playoff action yesterday, Bryan Rust had two goals and an assist, Conor Sheary scored, Tom Kuhnhackl picked up an assist and Matt Murray made 38 saves as Pittsburgh eliminated the New York Rangers with a 6-3 win in Game 5; Rust, Sheary, Kuhnhackl and Murray all began the 2015-16 season in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton… 2012-13 AHL All-Rookie defenseman Sami Vatanen had a goal and an assist during the third period of Anaheim’s 5-2 win over Nashville… 2009 AHL All-Star Artem Anisimov sparked a Chicago rally with his third goal of the series, propelling the Blackhawks to a 6-3 win over St. Louis.

AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2016 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.