AHL Morning Skate: May 12

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest from around the American Hockey League in today’s Morning Skate.

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

Tonight’s Previews

stj  nor
Game 4 – 7:15 ET, AHL Live (STJ leads series, 2-1)
St. John’s scored four goals in the third period on Saturday night en route to a 5-3 victory and a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinals vs. Norfolk… The four goals were the most allowed by the Admirals in a single period since Springfield scored four times in the first period on Nov. 11, 2012, and came after Norfolk had given up a total of 10 goals in its first 21 periods this postseason… Jerome Samson (1-2-3) scored the game-winner on Saturday with 9:20 to play in regulation — just 65 seconds after Norfolk had re-tied the score at 3-3… Josh Morrissey (2-2-4), Ben Chiarot (2-0-2) and Adam Lowry (1-0-1) also scored in the final frame for the IceCaps, who had trailed 2-1 after 40 minutes… Eric O’Dell (2-0-2) tallied a first-period power-play goal for St. John’s to snap a personal five-game pointless drought… Michael Hutchinson (5-2, 1.73, .943) gave up three goals on 27 shots, but it was enough for his fifth win of the playoffs… Max Friberg (2-2-4), Jesse Blacker (1-0-1) and Josh Manson (1-0-1) scored for the Admirals, whose eight-game postseason home winning streak came to an end… Emerson Etem (0-1-1) notched an assist in his first playoff action for Norfolk… With John Gibson (4-2, 1.45, .955) recalled to Anaheim, Brad Thiessen got the start — his first game action since Apr. 18 — and finished with 26 saves in Game 3.

Eastern Conference Semifinals – Series “I” (best-of-7)
4-St. John’s IceCaps vs. 8-Norfolk Admirals
| Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Tue., May 6 – Norfolk 3, ST. JOHN’S 1
Game 2 – Wed., May 7 – ST. JOHN’S 2, Norfolk 1
Game 3 – Sat., May 10 – St. John’s 5, NORFOLK 3 
Game 4 – Mon., May 12 – St. John’s at Norfolk, 7:15
Game 5 – Tue., May 13 – St. John’s at Norfolk, 7:15
*Game 6 – Fri., May 16 – Norfolk at St. John’s, 6:00
*Game 7 – Sat., May 17 – Norfolk at St. John’s, 6:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

From Calder to Stanley
In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, 1999 AHL All-Star Martin St. Louis tallied a goal to help the New York Rangers to a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh in Game 6 of their second-round series… 2005 Calder Cup champion Patrick Sharp assisted on both Chicago goals in the Blackhawks’ 2-1 win Game 5 win over Minnesota… Erik Haula, a midseason recall from Iowa (AHL), scored for the Wild.

Johnny Be Good
On Saturday night, John Gibson made 28 saves in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut to backstop Anaheim to a 2-0 win over Los Angeles in Game 4 of their series… At the time of his recall from Norfolk on Saturday morning, Gibson led the AHL in wins (tied), shutouts (tied), goals-against average, save percentage, minutes played, saves and shots faced during the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs, going 4-2 in six appearances with a 1.45 GAA, a .955 save percentage and one shutout, allowing nine goals on 198 shots… Gibson became the fourth goaltender ever to win a game in both the AHL and NHL playoffs during the same season, and the first to record a playoff shutout in both leagues in the same year:

2014 – John Gibson, Norfolk Admirals (4-2) and Anaheim Ducks (1-0)
1979 – Robbie Moore, Maine Mariners (1-2) and Philadelphia Flyers (3-2)
1939 – Bert Gardiner, Philadelphia Ramblers (3-2) and New York Rangers (3-3)
1937 – Earl Robertson, Pittsburgh Hornets (1-3) and Detroit Red Wings (3-2)

Working Overtime
There have been 10 overtime games played in the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Road teams are 7-3 this year, and 27-9 in the last 36 playoff OT games overall:

Apr. 23 – Springfield 3, PROVIDENCE 2 (Andrew Joudrey, 2:21) 
Apr. 23 – Texas 3, OKLAHOMA CITY 2 (Mike Hedden, 5:35) 
Apr. 25 – Providence 2, SPRINGFIELD 1 (Matt Fraser, 3:54) 
Apr. 25 – W-B/Scranton 3, BINGHAMTON 2 (Anton Zlobin, 8:40) 
Apr. 25 – Chicago 4, ROCHESTER 3 (Dmitrij Jaskin, 1:06) 
Apr. 25 – Grand Rapids 2, ABBOTSFORD 1 (Ryan Sproul, 39:26)
Apr. 26 – BINGHAMTON 4, W-B/Scranton 3 (Stephane Da Costa, 11:07) 
Apr. 26 – Texas 3, OKLAHOMA CITY 2 (Brendan Ranford, 15:04)
Apr. 30 – W-B/SCRANTON 3, Binghamton 2 (Chuck Kobasew, 7:32) 
Apr. 30 – NORFOLK 1, Manchester 0 (Maxime Sauve, 14:51)

AHL Live

Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2014 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.