Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest from around the Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s Morning Skate.
Complete Schedule || Playoff Brackets || Today’s Scoreboard || League Leaders
Tonight’s Previews
Game 4 – 7:05 ET, AHL Live (PRO leads series, 2-1)
@WolfPackAHL | @AHLBruins | #HFDvsPRO
It took four hours and 12 minutes on Sunday night, but Providence pushed Hartford to the brink of elimination with a 2-1 triple-overtime victory in Game 3 of their best-of-five Eastern Conference quarterfinal series… The Bruins are home again this evening with a 2-1 series lead looking to close out the rival Wolf Pack in Game 4… Seth Griffith (1-1-2) scored the decisive goal two minutes into the sixth period on Sunday, on the teams’ 94th shot of the game… Alexander Khokhlachev (2-1-3) had the Bruins’ only goal of regulation, tying the score at 1-1 with just 5.9 seconds remaining in the second period, and is the only skater on either side with a point in each of the first three games of the series… Brady Skjei netted Hartford’s goal midway through the first period, the first point of his pro career… Malcolm Subban (1-0, 0.59, .979) made his series debut by starting Game 3 and finished with 46 saves, shutting out the Wolf Pack over the final 91:27 of the contest… Yann Danis (1-2, 1.35, .953) stopped 45 of 47 shots for Hartford… Danis, Subban and Jeremy Smith (1-1, 1.52, .933) have combined to allow just nine goals on 198 shots (.955 save percentage) in more than 11 periods of work during the series… Providence is 2-for-13 on the power play in the series (15.4 percent), while Hartford is 1-for-10 (10.0 percent)… The Wolf Pack are 12-13 all-time when facing elimination — including 6-5 on the road — but have lost their last six potential elimination games since 2006… The Bruins need a win to avoid seeing their fifth consecutive playoff series go the distance.
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “C” (best-of-5)
3-Hartford Wolf Pack vs. 6-Providence Bruins
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 22 – HARTFORD 3, Providence 1
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 25 – Providence 2, HARTFORD 1
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 26 – PROVIDENCE 2, Hartford 1 (3OT)
Game 4 – Tue., Apr. 28 – Hartford at Providence, 7:05
*Game 5 – Fri., May 1 – Providence at Hartford, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
Marathon Men
Sunday’s Game 3 in Providence clocked in at #22 on the list of longest games in American Hockey League history… It was the longest game in Providence Bruins history, surpassing Game 3 of the 1999 Calder Cup Finals vs. Rochester which ended on a Steven King goal at 55 seconds of the third overtime period… Hartford has played only one game longer, a 2004 series-clincher vs. the Worcester IceCats that ended at 7:49 of the third OT on a goal by current Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander… Sunday’s contest was the first triple-overtime game in the AHL since Game 7 of the second round series between Hamilton and Manitoba in 2011, won by Dustin Boyd just :06 into the sixth period… At 42:00 of extra hockey, Providence and Hartford were just past halfway to the longest OT in AHL history, the five-overtime game between Philadelphia and Albany in 2008 that ended after 82:58 of extra time.
Alumni Watch
Tyler Johnson, a Calder Cup champion in 2012 and AHL MVP in 2013, had his third two-goal game of the series to lift Tampa Bay to a 5-2 victory at Detroit in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference First Round series last night… Tomas Tatar, MVP of the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs, netted both goals for the Red Wings… Two-time Calder Cup winner John Carlson assisted on the game-winning goal as Washington eliminated the N.Y. Islanders with a 2-1 victory in Game 7… 2010 AHL All-Rookie defenseman P.K. Subban and former Binghamton Senators blueliner Erik Karlsson were named finalists for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman for 2014-15.
AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2015 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.
