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 6 – 8:00 ET, AHL Live (TEX leads series, 3-2)
The Texas Stars get two cracks at knocking out the defending Calder Cup champions, beginning with tonight’s Game 6 at the Cedar Park Center… Chris Mueller (2-1-3) scored 3:18 into overtime to give Texas a 3-2 win over Grand Rapids in the pivotal Game 5 on Friday… Mike Hedden (5-3-8) extended his scoring streak to six games with a goal in Game 5… Brendan Ranford (7-1-8) added his fifth goal of the series and his seventh of the postseason, tied for the league lead… Cristopher Nilstorp (4-1, 1.84, .929) earned the win in Game 5, stopping all four shots he faced in relief of Jack Campbell (2-1, 2.54, .917), who left the contest with an injury late in regulation… Mitch Callahan (1-4-5) and Teemu Pulkkinen (4-6-10) scored for the Griffins, who battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie Game 5 before falling in OT… Petr Mrazek (5-4, 2.49, .920) turned aside 26 of 29 shots in the loss… Cory Emmerton (2-7-9) picked up an assist, and now leads all scorers with 1-6-7 in the series… To continue its Calder Cup defense, Grand Rapids needs to become the ninth team in AHL history (but the sixth in the last five years) to win Games 6 and 7 of a playoff series on the road (see below).
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 – GRAND RAPIDS 3, Texas 2
Game 5 – Fri., May 16 – Texas 3, GRAND RAPIDS 2 (OT)
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
About Last Night…
Anton Zlobin‘s fourth goal of the playoffs proved to be his third game-winner as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defeated Providence, 3-2, to take a 3-2 series lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal… Zlobin snapped a 2-2 tie with 5:40 left in regulation, giving the Penguins a chance to wrap up the series at home on Monday… Harry Zolnierczyk and Josh Archibald also scored for Wilkes-Barre in Game 5, and Peter Mannino finished with 31 saves, including 23 over the final two periods… Craig Cunningham and Tyler Randell scored for the Bruins.
Alumni Watch
AHL alumni Ryan McDonagh (1g, 3a), Mats Zuccarello (1g, 2a), Chris Kreider (1g, 1a), Martin St. Louis (1g, 1a), Dominic Moore (1g, 1a), Kevin Klein (1a), John Moore (1a) and Marc Staal (1a) combined for 16 points in the New York Rangers’ 7-2 win over Montreal in Game 1 of the NHL’s Eastern Conference Finals yesterday afternoon.
Road Work
Both Grand Rapids and Providence are looking to add their names to the list of eight teams in AHL history that have won Games 6 and 7 of a playoff series on the road… The feat has happened five times since 2010:
2013 – W-B/Scranton Penguins def. Providence Bruins, 4-3
2011 – Manitoba Moose def. Lake Erie Monsters, 4-3
2011 – Binghamton Senators def. Manchester Monarchs, 4-3
2010 – Texas Stars def. Hamilton Bulldogs, 4-3
2010 – Abbotsford Heat def. Rochester Americans, 4-3
2007 – Providence Bruins def. Hartford Wolf Pack, 4-3
1996 – Portland Pirates def. Saint John Flames, 4-3
1983 – Maine Mariners def. Nova Scotia Voyageurs, 4-3
Working Overtime
There have been 14 overtime games played in the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:
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)
May 14 – W-B/Scranton 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (Simon Despres, 26:32)
May 14 – TORONTO 4, Chicago 3 (Jerry D’Amigo, 3:28)
May 16 – PROVIDENCE 3, W-B/Scranton 2 (Cory Kane, 6:31)
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.
