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Game 1 – 6:00 ET, AHL Live
The second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs officially gets under way when the puck drops at Mile One Centre for Game 1 between #2 St. John’s and #4 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton… The IceCaps ousted Syracuse in the first round, advancing with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 4 on Friday night… The Penguins needed a 2-1 win in Game 5 vs. Hershey on Saturday to reach round two… Defenseman Derek Meech (3-2-5) scored the series-clinching goal for St. John’s while Raymond Sawada (1-2-3) had the game-tying goal and an assist as the IceCaps rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 down in Game 4… Mark Scheifele, the seventh overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft, recorded an assist for St. John’s on Friday, his first career AHL point… Eddie Pasquale (3-1, 2.45, .932) ranked fourth in the AHL in save percentage during the first round… Wilkes-Barre prevailed over Hershey in the fifth and deciding game after dropping Games 3 and 4 of the series… The Penguins were 26-9-0-3 on the road during the regular season, but they have lost four in a row on foreign ice… Jason Williams led the Pens in scoring in the first round with 1-7-8, and he earned an assist on five of Wilkes-Barre’s seven power-play goals in the series… The Penguins’ defense, backstopped by Brad Thiessen (3-2, 2.19, .889), allowed just 20.0 shots per game to Hershey.
Game 1 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live
The first Western Conference semifinal begins at Ricoh Coliseum tonight as the second-seeded Toronto Marlies host the fourth-seeded Abbotsford Heat in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series… These teams split their four meetings during the regular season, most recently with the Heat sweeping a pair of home games from the Marlies over the final weekend of the regular season… Krys Kolanos (4-4-8), the hottest player in the AHL over the last month with 15-11-26 and a plus-17 rating in his last 11 games for Abbotsford, only made one appearance this season vs. Toronto and was held scoreless… Heat defenseman Clay Wilson (2-3-5) is facing Toronto in the Calder Cup Playoffs for the third time in his career (won with Grand Rapids in 2006, lost with Syracuse in 2008)… Marlies forward Jerry D’Amigo is coming off a stellar first-round showing in which he posted 5-1-6, a plus-6 rating and two game-winning goals in Toronto’s sweep of Rochester… Matt Frattin (1-2-3) scored four goals in three games vs. Abbotsford during the regular season… Goaltenders Ben Scrivens (3-0, 2.00, .923) ot the Marlies and Danny Taylor (3-0, 2.00, .925) of the Heat had nearly identical numbers during their respective first-round series.
From Calder to Stanley
Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, teammates on the Philadelphia Phantoms’ 2005 Calder Cup championship team, both scored during a four-goal first period as Los Angeles defeated Phoenix, 5-2, to take a 2-0 series lead last night… Dustin Brown, who had seven points in six playoff games for Manchester that same spring, recorded three assists for the Kings in the win… Braden Holtby, who won a Calder Cup with Hershey in 2010, made 26 saves as Washington evened its series with the N.Y. Rangers with a 3-2 win in Game 2 last night.
By the Numbers
9 – Years since the last time two teams coming off sweeps met in a Calder Cup Playoff series… Toronto and Abbotsford are the first pair to do that since Bridgeport and Binghamton met in the conference semifinals in 2003.
8-0 – Series record of Game 1 winners during the first round of the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs.
On This Date
May 1, 2007 – Jason Jaffray records a hat trick and Yannick Tremblay scores the tiebreaking goal with 5:51 left in regulation as Manitoba defeats Grand Rapids, 4-1, in Game 7 of their North Division semifinal.
May 1, 2005 – Ilya Bryzgalov makes 23 saves and Mark Popovic scores with 13 seconds left in regulation as Cincinnati stuns defending champion Milwaukee, 4-3, in Game 7 of their first-round series at the Bradley Center, capping a comeback from a 3-1 series deficit.
May 1, 2004 – Jason Pominville has a goal and an assist and Norm Milley nets the game-winner 17:53 into overtime as Rochester defeats Syracuse, 4-3, in Game 7 of their North Division semifinal.
May 1, 1999 – Chris Ferraro scores at 17:55 of the second overtime period, giving Hamilton a 3-2 win over Albany in the winner-take-all Game 5 of their conference quarterfinal series.
May 1, 1971 – The Springfield Kings wrap up a Calder Cup championship with a 5-3 win over the Providence Reds.
May 1, 1963 – In the first AHL game ever played in the month of May, the Buffalo Bisons defeat Hershey, 6-2, in Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals at the Aud in Buffalo.
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.
