AHL Morning Skate: June 2

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Game 6 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio
UTI leads series, 3-2
Follow @GriffinsHockey Follow @UticaComets Tweet #UTIvsGR

The Western Conference Finals return to the Mohawk Valley, where the Utica Comets will have two chances to close out the Grand Rapids Griffins — beginning with tonight’s Game 6… The Comets won two of three on the road to bring a 3-2 series lead back to the Utica Memorial Auditorium… Sven Baertschi (6-7-13) has scored four goals in the series for Utica, including a hat trick in Game 3, and Cal O’Reilly (0-14-14) has five assists in five games vs. Grand Rapids… Bobby Sanguinetti (3-7-10) scored the game-winning goal in the Comets’ 3-2 victory in Game 5 on Sunday, ending a 12-game goal drought… Jacob Markstrom (10-7, 1.97, .928) stopped 32 of 34 shots in Game 5 as the Comets improved to 7-0 this postseason following a loss… Dylan Larkin (3-2-5) scored for the Griffins on Sunday, his fifth point in as many games since making his pro debut in Game 1 of the series… Tom McCollum (9-5, 2.65, .913), who made 18 saves in Game 5, has not lost consecutive decisions since Feb. 7-13… Teemu Pulkkinen (14-4-18) has gone three games without a goal for the Griffins, his longest drought in the AHL since Dec. 10-13… Grand Rapids has scored 11 goals in five games this series after averging 3.70 goals per game over the first two rounds… The Griffins are 7-for-21 (33.3 percent) on the power play in the series, while the Comets are 4-for-17 (23.5 percent)… Utica is 5-4 on home ice this postseason, including losses in potential series clinchers vs. Chicago (Game 4) and Oklahoma City (Game 6)… The Griffins are 3-0 in elimination games this spring, having rallied from 0-2 down to defeat Toronto in the first round… Grand Rapids has not successfully staved off elimination with a road win since 2003 (at Houston).

Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
1-Utica Comets vs. 2-Grand Rapids Griffins
Game 1 – Sun., May 24 – UTICA 2, Grand Rapids 1
Game 2 – Mon., May 25 – Grand Rapids 4, UTICA 2
Game 3 – Thu., May 28 – Utica 4, GRAND RAPIDS 1
Game 4 – Fri., May 29 – GRAND RAPIDS 3, Utica 2 (OT)
Game 5 – Sun., May 31 – Utica 3, GRAND RAPIDS 2
Game 6 – Tue., June 2 – Grand Rapids at Utica, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 3 – Grand Rapids at Utica, 7:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

2014 – Texas Stars 4, Toronto Marlies 3
2013 – Grand Rapids Griffins 4, Oklahoma City Barons 3
2012 – Toronto Marlies 4, Oklahoma City Barons 1
2011 – Houston Aeros 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2010 – Texas Stars 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2009 – Manitoba Moose 4, Houston Aeros 2
2008 – Chicago Wolves 4, Toronto Marlies 1
2007 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Chicago Wolves 1
2006 – Milwaukee Admirals 4, Grand Rapids Griffins 0
2005 – Chicago Wolves 4, Manitoba Moose 0
2004 – Milwaukee Admirals 4, Rochester Americans 1
2003 – Houston Aeros 4, Grand Rapids Griffins 3
2002 – Chicago Wolves 4, Houston Aeros 1
2001 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 4, Hershey Bears 0
2000 – Rochester Americans 4, Hershey Bears 0
1999 – Rochester Americans 4, Philadelphia Phantoms 2
1998 – Philadelphia Phantoms 4, Albany River Rats 2
*1997 – Hershey Bears 4, Springfield Falcons 3
*1996 – Rochester Americans 4, Syracuse Crunch 1
  *known as Southern Conference

2015 Calder Cup Finals – Series “O” (best-of-7)
E1-Manchester Monarchs vs. Utica/Grand Rapids winner
Game 1 – Sat., June 6 – Utica/Grand Rapids at Manchester, 6:00
Game 2 – Sun., June 7 – Utica/Grand Rapids at Manchester, 5:00
Game 3 – Wed., June 10 – Manchester at Utica/Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., June 12 – Manchester at Utica/Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., June 13 – Manchester at Utica/Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 6 – Tue., June 16 – Utica/Grand Rapids at Manchester, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 17 – Utica/Grand Rapids at Manchester, 7:00
    *if necessary… All times Eastern

2015 – Manchester Monarchs 4, Hartford Wolf Pack 0
2014 – St. John’s IceCaps 4, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2
2013 – Syracuse Crunch 4, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 1
2012 – Norfolk Admirals 4, St. John’s IceCaps 0
2011 – Binghamton Senators 4, Charlotte Checkers 0
2010 – Hershey Bears 4, Manchester Monarchs 2
2009 – Hershey Bears 4, Providence Bruins 1
2008 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 4, Portland Pirates 3
2007 – Hershey Bears 4, Manchester Monarchs 0
2006 – Hershey Bears 4, Portland Pirates 3
2005 – Philadelphia Phantoms 4, Providence Bruins 2
2004 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 4, Hartford Wolf Pack 3
2003 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Binghamton Senators 1
2002 – Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2001 – Saint John Flames 4, Providence Bruins 1
2000 – Hartford Wolf Pack 4, Providence Bruins 3
1999 – Providence Bruins 4, Fredericton Canadiens 2
1998 – Saint John Flames 4, Hartford Wolf Pack 1
*1997 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Albany River Rats 1
*1996 – Portland Pirates 4, Saint John Flames 3
  *known as Northern Conference

26 – Bill McDougall, Cape Breton Oilers (1993)
18 – Darren Haydar, Milwaukee Admirals (2006)
16 – Tomas Tatar, Grand Rapids Griffins (2013)
15 – Alexandre Giroux, Hershey Bears (2009)
15 – Sergei Varlamov, Saint John Flames (2001)
15 – Martin Gendron, Portland Pirates (1996)

Working Overtime
There have been 15 overtime games played in the 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Home teams are 8-7:

May 29 – GRAND RAPIDS 3, Utica 2 (Andreas Athanasiou, 5:05)
May 14 – Grand Rapids 2, ROCKFORD 1 (Tyler Bertuzzi, 0:13)
May 13 – Hartford 5, HERSHEY 4 (Chris Mueller, 11:39)
May 8 – UTICA 2, Oklahoma City 1 (Alexandre Grenier, 3:32)
May 7 – Oklahoma City 2, UTICA 1 (Curtis Hamilton, 60:16)
May 6 – MANCHESTER 4, W-B/Scranton 3 (Zach O’Brien, 44:13)
May 6 – Hartford 2, HERSHEY 1 (Chris Bourque, 16:47)
May 1 – Chicago 4, UTICA 3 (Joel Edmundson, 2:19)
*May 1 – HARTFORD 3, Providence 2 (Tommy Hughes, 4:35)
*Apr. 29 – ROCKFORD 3, Texas 2 (Stephen Johns, 0:23)
*Apr. 29 – Oklahoma City 2, SAN ANTONIO 1 (Jujhar Khaira, 5:01)
Apr. 29 – UTICA 2, Chicago 1 (Darren Archibald, 10:58)
Apr. 26 – PROVIDENCE 2, Hartford 1 (Seth Griffith, 42:00)
Apr. 25 – OKLAHOMA CITY 4, San Antonio 3 (Connor Jones, 4:01)
Apr. 22 – Utica 3, CHICAGO 2 (Bobby Sanguinetti, 23:10)
  *series clincher

The Blackhawks have 24 AHL alumni on their playoff roster (Bryan Bickell, Daniel Carcillo, Corey Crawford, Kyle Cumiskey, Phillip Danault, Scott Darling, Andrew Desjardins, Ryan Hartman, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Duncan Keith, Marcus Kruger, Joakim Nordstrom, Ville Pokka, Antti Raanta, David Rundblad, Brandon Saad, Patrick Sharp, Andrew Shaw, Brent Seabrook, Viktor Svedberg, Teuvo Teravainen, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Antoine Vermette and Kris Versteeg).