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
Game 3 – 7:05 ET, AHL Live (Series tied, 1-1)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton visits Providence for Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series tonight after the teams split the first two games back in Northeastern Pennsylvania over the weekend… The Bruins scored four times in the first 8:03 of Game 1 en route to a 4-0 win, but the Penguins bounced back with a 6-1 romp in Game 2… Anton Zlobin (3-1-4) and Brian Dumoulin (2-6-8) had three points each in Saturday’s victory for the Penguins, and Chuck Kobasew (4-4-8) and Tom Kostopoulos (2-3-5) added a goal and an assist apiece… Defensemen Brendan Mikkelson (0-2-2) and Simon Despres (0-2-2), both scoreless through five games, picked up two assists apiece to make it six different Penguins with multiple points in Game 2… Peter Mannino (4-2, 2.17, .911) stopped 23 of 24 shots, allowing only a second-period power-play goal by Bruins forward Justin Florek (1-0-1)… Wilkes-Barre was 3-for-6 on the power play in Game 2 after going 3-for-27 in its first five playoff games… The Penguins have allowed just one goal in the last 111:57 after the Bruins’ quick start in Game 1.
Eastern Conference Semifinals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
6-W-B/Scranton Penguins vs. 7-Providence Bruins | Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Fri., May 9 – Providence 4, W-B/SCRANTON 0
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – W-B/SCRANTON 6, Providence 1
Game 3 – Wed., May 14 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
Game 4 – Fri., May 16 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
Game 5 – Sat., May 17 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
*Game 6 – Mon., May 19 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 7 – Wed., May 21 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
Game 4 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (TEX leads series, 2-1)
After taking a pair of heavy blows in Cedar Park to open the series, Grand Rapids got up off the mat last night and countered with a 5-2 victory over the Stars, closing their series deficit to two games to one with a pivotal Game 4 set for Van Andel Arena tonight… Tomas Jurco (5-1-6) notched his second career hat trick, Teemu Pulkkinen (3-5-8) added a goal and two assists and Cory Emmerton (2-4-6) registered three assists to pace Grand Rapids’ offense… Petr Mrazek (4-3, 2.51, .919) halted the two-game losing slide with a 35-save performance in Game 3… Andrej Nestrasil (3-2-5) also scored for Grand Rapids, which led 5-0 after two periods… Mike Hedden (4-2-6) and Brendan Ranford (6-1-7) tallied for the Stars in the third period… Ranford has now scored goals in five consecutive games… Travis Morin (2-7-9) and Curtis McKenzie (1-5-6) extended their point-scoring streaks to five games with the assists on Ranford’s goal… The Griffins have scored 19 goals in their four playoff wins, and three goals in their three losses… The Texas defeat was the team’s first in regulation on the road in nearly three months, since a loss at Toronto on Feb. 17 (10-1-0-3)… Stars captain Maxime Fortunus became the 16th skater in AHL history to appear in 100 career Calder Cup Playoff games.
Western Conference Semifinals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
1-Texas Stars vs. 4-Grand Rapids Griffins | Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Thu., May 8 – TEXAS 5, Grand Rapids 2
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – TEXAS 4, Grand Rapids 0
Game 3 – Tue., May 13 – GRAND RAPIDS 5, Texas 2
Game 4 – Wed., May 14 – Texas at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 16 – Texas at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 6 – Sun., May 18 – Grand Rapids at Texas, 8:00
*Game 7 – Mon., May 19 – Grand Rapids at Texas, 8:30
*if necessary… All times Eastern
Game 3 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (TOR leads series, 2-0)
Toronto brings a 2-0 series advantage home to Ricoh Coliseum for Game 3 against Chicago tonight… The Marlies raced out to 3-0 leads in both Game 1 and Game 2, and the Wolves cut the deficit to 3-2 both times before Toronto held on… At 5-0, the Marlies have tied a franchise record for consecutive playoff wins… Jerry D’Amigo (3-6-9), Trevor Smith (2-5-7) and Josh Leivo (2-4-6) have all recorded points in each of Toronto’s first five postseason games… Peter Holland (2-2-4) has four points in two games since returning to the Marlies lineup at the start of the series… Drew MacIntyre (5-0, 1.60, .947), 17-7-1 at home during the regular season, has not allowed more than two goals in a game yet this postseason… Dmitrij Jaskin (3-5-8), who had a goal in Game 2, continues to lead the Wolves in playoff scoring… Chicago has not lost three straight non-shootout games all year; in games following back-to-back Wolves losses this season, Jake Allen is 6-0-0 with a 0.83 GAA, a .964 save percentage and two shutouts… Wolves head coach John Anderson was a standout for the junior Marlies before going on to be a four-time 30-goal scorer with the Maple Leafs… Prior to tonight, Toronto played two home games in the last 37 days.
Western Conference Semifinals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
2-Chicago Wolves vs. 3-Toronto Marlies | Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Fri., May 9 – Toronto 5, CHICAGO 2
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – Toronto 4, CHICAGO 2
Game 3 – Wed., May 14 – Chicago at Toronto, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 16 – Chicago at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 17 – Chicago at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 19 – Toronto at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 21 – Toronto at Chicago, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
About Last Night…
The Norfolk Admirals saved their season with a 3-2 win over St. John’s in Game 5 last night, as Andre Petersson scored on a power play 13:10 into overtime… With the IceCaps still up three games to two, the series returns to Newfoundland for Game 6 on Friday and, if necessary, Game 7 on Saturday… Max Friberg and Shea Theodore scored in regulation for the Admirals… For Theodore, Anaheim’s first-round draft pick in 2013, it was his first professional goal… Eric O’Dell scored both goals for St. John’s last night, giving the former Anaheim draft pick five goals in the three games played at Norfolk Scope… Brad Thiessen turned aside 36 of 38 shots for the Admirals, improving to 9-2 in 11 career AHL playoff starts when facing elimination… Michael Hutchinson made 13 of his 34 saves in overtime.
From Calder to Stanley
In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, Brian Boyle, an AHL All-Rookie forward in 2007-08, scored for the New York Rangers in their 2-1 Game 7 victory at Pittsburgh… Boyle’s first professional points (3-5-8) came with Manchester during the Monarchs’ run to the Calder Cup conference finals in 2007… Corey Crawford made 34 saves to backstop Chicago to a series-clinching 2-1 overtime win over Minnesota in Game 6.
Working Overtime
There have been 11 overtime games played in the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Road teams are 7-4 this year, and 27-10 in the last 37 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)
May 13 – NORFOLK 3, St. John’s 2 (Andre Petersson, 13:10)
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.
