AHL Morning Skate: May 10, 2024

A1-Hershey Bears vs. A6-Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Game 4 – Saturday, 7:05 ET, 
(Hershey leads series, 2-1)

Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – HERSHEY 2, Lehigh Valley 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 4 – HERSHEY 5, Lehigh Valley 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – LEHIGH VALLEY 2, Hershey 0 | Recap
Game 4 – Sat., May 11 – Hershey at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Lehigh Valley at Hershey, 7:00
*if necessary... All times Eastern

A2-Providence Bruins vs. A5-Hartford Wolf Pack
Game 4 – Tonight, 7:00 ET,
(Hartford leads series, 2-1)

Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – Hartford 4, PROVIDENCE 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 3 – PROVIDENCE 6, Hartford 0 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – HARTFORD 3, Providence 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Providence at Hartford, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Hartford at Providence, 3:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
Hartford hosts Providence in Game 4 of their Atlantic Division semifinal series tonight with a chance to knock out their New England rivals for the second consecutive postseason... The Wolf Pack took a 2-1 series lead with a 3-2 overtime victory on Wednesday night, as Riley Nash scored his second goal of the contest with 4:52 gone in the extra period... Nash (4-2-6) also recorded an assist for a three-point night after going scoreless in the first two games of the series... Rookie Brennan Othmann (1-3-4) scored his first career playoff goal, a power-play tally 8:39 into the game to give Hartford a 2-1 lead... Dylan Garand (4-2, 2.59, .928) rebounded from a 6-0 loss in Game 2 with a 33-save effort in Game 3; Garand has stopped at least 30 shots in each of his six starts this postseason... Marc McLaughlin (1-0-1) and Jayson Megna (2-1-3) scored for the Bruins... McLaughlin’s goal was his first point in seven career playoff games... Brandon Bussi (1-2, 2.30, .919) made 22 saves in Game 3... Ian Mitchell (2-2-4) has a point in all three games to begin the series for Providence... Fabian Lysell returned to the Bruins lineup on Wednesday, his first action since being injured in a game vs. Charlotte on Mar. 23... Bryce McConnell-Barker, a third-round pick by the New York Rangers in the 2022 NHL Draft, made his pro debut for Hartford in Game 3... After Wednesday’s loss, Providence is 1-12 in its last 13 playoff overtime games, and has dropped 17 of its last 22 postseason contests overall.

N1-Cleveland Monsters vs. N4-Belleville Senators
Game 4 – Tonight, 7:00 ET,
(Cleveland leads series, 2-1)

Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – BELLEVILLE 2, Cleveland 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 3 – Cleveland 4, BELLEVILLE 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – CLEVELAND 3, Belleville 2 (2OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Belleville at Cleveland, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Belleville at Cleveland, 3:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
Cleveland stands one win away from the division finals after taking a 2-1 series lead over Belleville with a 3-2 win in double overtime on Wednesday night... Owen Sillinger, David Jiricek and Mikael Pyythia all had a goal and an assist for the Monsters in Game 3, with Jiricek and Pyythia setting up Sillinger’s winning goal 4:41 into the second OT period... Jet Greaves (2-1, 2.03, .934) made 39 saves – 18 of them during sudden death – to backstop Cleveland to its second consecutive overtime win... Josh Currie (3-3-6) and Donovan Sebrango (2-1-3) scored for Belleville, which trailed 2-0 midway through the first period before coming back to tie... Lassi Thomson (0-2-2) and Stephen Halliday (1-7-8) tallied two assists each for the Senators... Halliday, Ottawa’s fourth-round draft choice in 2022, has 1-12-13 in 16 games since making his pro debut on Mar. 29... Mads Sogaard (3-3, 2.46, .910) finished Game 3 with 41 saves for Belleville... Cleveland improved to 7-2 all-time in playoff OT games, while Belleville fell to 1-5; six of the Senators’ eight postseason games in franchise history have required overtime... Wednesday’s crowd of 12,659 fans at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse was the largest for any Calder Cup Playoff game since Cleveland sold out Game 4 of the Calder Cup Finals (19,665) in 2016... The Monsters are 5-6 all-time with a chance to close out a playoff series.

N2-Rochester Americans vs. N3-Syracuse Crunch
Game 5 – Tonight, 7:05 ET,
(Series tied, 2-2)

Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 26 – ROCHESTER 3, Syracuse 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Syracuse 4, ROCHESTER 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Thu., May 2 – SYRACUSE 2, Rochester 1 (2OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Sat., May 4 – Rochester 4, SYRACUSE 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Syracuse at Rochester, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
Rochester and Syracuse wrap up their North Division semifinal tonight with Game 5 at a sold-out Blue Cross Arena... The Amerks extended the series – and their season – with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 4 last Saturday, the first time in the franchise’s 68-year history that Rochester won a potential Calder Cup Playoff elimination game after trailing by three goals... Brandon Biro (2-1-3) scored twice and Joseph Cecconi (1-1-2) once during the Amerks’ three-goal third period in Game 4, with Lukas Rousek (0-5-5) assisting on all three tallies... Brett Murray, in the Rochester lineup for the first time since Apr. 3, got the winner at 11:46 of overtime... Coming off a 60-save performance in Game 3, Devon Levi (2-2, 2.25, .938) stopped 41 shots in Game 4 for the Amerks, who improved to 5-1 over the last two postseasons when facing elimination – including 4-0 against Syracuse... Cole Koepke (1-0-1), Waltteri Merelä (2-0-2) and Alex Barré-Boulet (2-1-3) scored for the Crunch in Game 4, and Gage Goncalves (1-3-4) recorded two assists... Brandon Halverson (2-2, 2.28, .918) turned aside 43 of 47 shots in the loss... Each of the last three games of the series has gone into OT, and three of the four contests have featured a team erasing a multiple-goal deficit... Rochester is 12-6 all-time in winner-take-all games, including wins over Syracuse in 2004 and 2023... The Crunch are 2-7, with their only road win coming at Baltimore in 1996.

C1-Milwaukee Admirals vs. C4-Texas Stars
Game 4 – Tonight, 8:00 ET,
(Texas leads series, 2-1)

Game 1 – Thu., May 2 – TEXAS 6, Milwaukee 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 4 – TEXAS 4, Milwaukee 1 | Recap
Game 3 –Wed., May 8 – MILWAUKEE 5, Texas 3 | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Texas at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Texas at Milwaukee, 6:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
Milwaukee got in the win column with a 5-3 victory on Wednesday night, cutting Texas’s series lead to two games to one as the teams return to the ice at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena tonight... Marc Del Gaizo (2-1-3) scored twice and Zach L’Heureux (1-4-5) tallied a goal and three assists in Game 3 for the Admirals, who were playing their first home contest of the postseason after owning the second-best home record in the league (27-9-0-0) during the regular season... Juuso Parssinen tallied three assists in Game 3, and Roland McKeown’s shorthanded goal early in the second period stood up as the game-winner... Troy Grosenick made his series debut in net for Milwaukee and turned aside 28 shots to earn his first playoff victory since 2019... Justin Hryckowian (2-1-3) and Kyle McDonald (2-0-2) both found the net for the second consecutive game for Texas, and Oskar Bäck (1-2-3) scored his first goal of the postseason just eight seconds into the third period... Fredrik Karlström (2-4-6) notched a pair of assists in the loss... The Admirals held Mavrik Bourque (3-7-10) off the scoresheet in Game 3 after he had notched six points in the first two games of the series... Remi Poirier (4-1, 2.61, .911), who entered Wednesday’s game with a .940 save percentage over his first four postseason starts, allowed five goals on 19 shots in 35:36 of work... Milwaukee was 2-for-7 on the power play in Game 3, while Texas went 2-for-6.

C2-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. C3-Rockford IceHogs
(Grand Rapids wins series, 3-1)

Game 1 – Sat., Apr. 27 – Grand Rapids 3, ROCKFORD 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Wed., May 1 – Rockford 5, GRAND RAPIDS 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Fri., May 3 – GRAND RAPIDS 4, Rockford 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Sun., May 5 – Grand Rapids 4, ROCKFORD 2 | Recap

P1-Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. P7-Calgary Wranglers
Game 4 – Tonight, 10:00 ET,
(Coachella Valley leads series, 2-1)

Game 1 – Fri., May 3 – CALGARY 4, Coachella Valley 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 5 – Coachella Valley 4, CALGARY 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – COACHELLA VALLEY 7, Calgary 5 | Recap
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Calgary at Coachella Valley, 10:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Calgary at Coachella Valley, 6:00
*if necessary... All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
Coachella Valley is on the verge of knocking out Calgary for the second straight spring after a back-and-forth 7-5 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday night... Devin Shore (2-1-3) and Max McCormick (3-1-4) scored back-to-back power-play goals midway through the third period to snap a 4-4 tie and send the Firebirds to their second straight win... McCormick and Marian Studenic (2-1-3) each scored twice and John Hayden (1-2-3) added a goal and an assist... Jeremie Poirier (1-3-4) had a goal and two assists and fellow defenseman Jonathan Aspirot (1-2-3) added a goal and an assist to lead the Wranglers’ offense in Game 3... Cole Schwindt (4-1-5) added his fourth goal of the postseason... Despite allowing six goals in Game 3, Dustin Wolf (3-2, 2.74) still has a .927 save percentage in five starts this postseason for the Wranglers... Calgary was 4-for-7 on the power play in Game 3 after going 1-for-14 over its first four playoff games... Coachella Valley was 2-for-4 with the man advantage on Wednesday and also scored a shorthanded goal... The teams combined for seven goals in the third period of Game 3, including five in a span of 5:25... Nine of the Wranglers’ 12 goals in the series have been scored in the third period... The Firebirds were 4-3 last postseason with a chance to close out a series, including a Game 4 loss to Calgary in the division finals.

P3-Ontario Reign vs. P5-Abbotsford Canucks
(Ontario wins series, 3-0)

Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – ONTARIO 3, Abbotsford 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 5 – ONTARIO 4, Abbotsford 0 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – Ontario 4, ABBOTSFORD 3 | Recap

Devin Shore is adapting quickly to playoff hockey.

The nine-year pro has played 443 games in the National Hockey League, but has had minimal experience in the postseason. There were three games with the Texas Stars in 2015 shortly after he turned pro out of the University of Maine. He played two playoff games with Columbus in the 2020 Stanley Cup bubble, and two more with Edmonton in 2021.

So Shore has taken quickly to a chance to play for the Calder Cup this spring with Coachella Valley. He has three points in the first three games of the Firebirds’ division semifinal against Calgary, including scoring the overtime winner in Game 2. His third-period power-play goal in Game 3 put his team ahead for good in an eventual 7-5 victory, giving the Firebirds a chance to close out the series tonight.

“I think we’re sticking with it as we have all year,” Shore told reporters after Wednesday’s win. “You develop a plan and you try your best to execute that plan, but I guarantee you that things are going to go wrong out there. It’s about sticking with it and realizing each game, each shift, even each little play in a game is independent of previous plays regardless of whether they went well.”

Shore, who signed as a free agent with Seattle late in the offseason, had 25 points in 39 regular-season games for Coachella Valley. He added a goal and three assists in 21 games with the Kraken.

“There are a lot of surprises in the playoffs, a lot of unexpected things,” he continued. “Just keep on playing. Keep enjoying it. It’s fun out there.”

The Milwaukee Admirals got another key piece back as they try to extend their season tonight.

All-Star defenseman Spencer Stastney was cleared to be returned to the Admirals after suffering an injury in Game 3 of Nashville’s Stanley Cup Playoff series against Vancouver two weeks ago.

The Mequon, Wis., native registered 20 points and a plus-27 rating in 44 games with Milwaukee during the regular season. He also had two goals and two assists in 20 regular-season games with Nashville before making his NHL postseason debut.

― with files from Patrick Williams

In Thursday’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, Roope Hintz recorded a goal and three assists as Dallas defeated Colorado, 5-3, in Game 2 of their series... Hintz tallied 12 points in 22 playoff games during the Texas Stars’ run to the Calder Cup Finals in 2018... Chris Kreider scored a shorthanded goal and Igor Shesterkin made 45 saves as the New York Rangers took a 3-0 series lead with a 3-2 overtime victory at Carolina.

Watch the Calder Cup Playoffs on AHLTV
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2024 Calder Cup championship. AHLTV features live streaming of every AHL game in high definition on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices, as well as OTT platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. A subscription is just $29.99 to watch every game for the entire postseason, or just $8.99 for a day pass. Visit AHLTV.com for details.