AHL Morning Skate: May 22

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from
the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s Morning Skate.

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

   
Game 3 – Wednesday, 7:30 ET, AHL Live
(Hershey leads series, 2-0)
  

Carter Camper scored 9:09 into overtime and Hershey took a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 3-2 victory over Toronto last night at Giant Center… The series moves to Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto for four of the final five games (if necessary), beginning with Game 3 on Wednesday night…. Camper (6-7-13), who also had an assist on the night, now has points in eight consecutive games for the Bears, who are two wins away from their 23rd trip to the Calder Cup Finals… Chandler Stephenson (1-4-5) and Jakub Vrana (5-5-10) also scored for the Bears, while Connor Brown (7-2-9) and Mark Arcobello (2-7-9) had the goals for the Marlies… Josh Leivo (2-8-10) recorded two assists for Toronto, and Connor Carrick (6-9-15) picked up an assist for his league-leading 15th point of the playoffs… Justin Peters (9-4, 1.72, .938) finished with 38 saves on the night as the Bears were outshot by a 40-23 margin… Garret Sparks (2-2, 1.39, .947), making his first start since Game 1 of the Marlies’ second-round series vs. Albany, turned aside 20 shots… Chris Bourque (3-5-8) picked up an assist for his 103rd career Calder Cup Playoff point, tying former Bears teammate Alexandre Giroux for sixth place on the AHL’s all-time playoff scoring list… Toronto has lost the first two games of the series despite scoring first in both contests… The game-winning goal by Camper was the second playoff overtime goal of his AHL career; he scored for Providence on May 15, 2013, at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton… Hershey is now 2-2 in overtime this postseason; Toronto is 0-2… The Marlies have lost back-to-back games for the first time since Mar. 12-13… Hershey is 10-2 all-time at Giant Center in conference finals games… The Bears have won five in a row at home… Twenty-four teams in AHL history have won a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games, including Toronto in 2008 (vs. Syracuse)… Hershey is 29-1 all-time in best-of-seven series when taking a 2-0 lead (only loss: 1989 vs. Adirondack Red Wings, up 3-0).

Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M” (best-of-7) 
N1-Toronto Marlies vs. A1-Hershey Bears
Game 1 – Fri., May 20 – HERSHEY 3, Toronto 1
Game 2 – Sat., May 21 – HERSHEY 3, Toronto 2 (OT)
Game 3 – Wed., May 25 – Hershey at Toronto, 7:30
Game 4 – Fri., May 27 – Hershey at Toronto, 7:30
*Game 5 – Sun., May 29 – Hershey at Toronto, 3:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 31 – Toronto at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 7 – Thu., June 2 – Hershey at Toronto, 7:30
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

   
Game 2 – 10:00 ET, AHL Live
(Lake Erie leads series, 1-0)
  

Ontario hosts Lake Erie tonight in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals after a back-and-forth series opener went in the Monsters’ favor last night… Alex Broadhurst scored the go-ahead with 11:25 remaining in regulation and Lake Erie held on for a 4-3 win in Game 1… Broadhurst (3-7-10) scored 19 seconds after the Reign — who had trailed by two entering the third period — had tied things up at 3-3… Lukas Sedlak (5-3-8), Josh Anderson (6-4-10) and Ryan Craig (3-5-8) all scored in a span of 2:36 during the second period, turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 Monsters lead… It was just the fifth time all season that Ontario allowed three goals in a single period, and just the second time on home ice… Anton Forsberg (2-0, 2.06, .932) made 27 saves in his first start of the 2016 postseason for Lake Erie… Zach Werenski (4-7-11) extended his scoring streak to six games with an assist on the game-winning goal… Sean Backman (1-3-4), Nic Dowd (4-6-10) and Joel Lowry (3-1-4) scored for the Reign in Game 1… Peter Budaj (7-3, 1.95, .912) finished with 30 saves but allowed four goals in a game for the first time in his last 25 starts (Mar. 9 at San Antonio)… The Monsters scored at least four goals for the 17th time in their last 25 games… Game 1 was scoreless through 20 minutes; Ontario has allowed only two first-period goals in 10 games this postseason… The Reign were outshot (34-30) for the first time in these playoffs… Lake Erie was 1-for-4 on the power play in Game 1, moving to 11-for-39 (28.2 percent) on the postseason… It was just the third power-play goal allowed by Ontario in the playoffs (30-for-33, 90.9 percent).

Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
P1-Ontario Reign vs. C2-Lake Erie Monsters
Game 1 – Sat., May 21 – Lake Erie 4, ONTARIO 3
Game 2 – Sun., May 22 – Lake Erie at Ontario, 10:00
Game 3 – Tue., May 24 – Ontario at Lake Erie, 7:00
Game 4 – Thu., May 26 – Ontario at Lake Erie, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 28 – Ontario at Lake Erie, noon
*Game 6 – Tue., May 31 – Lake Erie at Ontario, 10:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 1 – Lake Erie at Ontario, 10:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

Working Overtime
There have been 13 overtime games played in the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Home teams are 8-5:

May 21 – HERSHEY 3, Toronto 2 (Carter Camper, 9:09)
May 16 – Lake Erie 4, GRAND RAPIDS 3 (Zach Werenski, 12:32)
May 15 – HERSHEY 3, W-B/Scranton 2 (Travis Boyd, 10:57)
May 13 – Ontario 4, SAN DIEGO 3 (Mike Amadio, 6:29)
May 9 – W-B/SCRANTON 2, Hershey 1 (Kael Mouillierat, 2:31)
May 8 – ALBANY 3, Toronto 2 (Nick Lappin, 18:40)
May 7 – Ontario 2, SAN DIEGO 1 (Justin Auger, 11:55)
May 5 – LAKE ERIE 3, Grand Rapids 2 (Oliver Bjorkstrand, 12:23)
Apr. 28 – Portland 2, HERSHEY 1 (Rob Flick, 43:10)
Apr. 26 – UTICA 2, Albany 1 (Alexandre Grenier, 9:13)
Apr. 23 – W-B/Scranton 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (Jake Guentzel, 33:52)
Apr. 21 – W-B/SCRANTON 4, Providence 3 (Daniel Sprong, 5:13)
Apr. 20 – W-B/SCRANTON 3, Providence 2 (Carter Rowney, 1:09)

Alumni Watch
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night, Kyle Brodziak and 2007 AHL All-Star Troy Brouwer each scored twice to lead St. Louis to a 6-3 win over San Jose in Game 4 of their Western Conference final series… Jori Lehtera also scored for the Blues, and Magnus Paajarvi, who has 15 points in 19 career Calder Cup Playoff games, notched an assist for his first career NHL playoff point… Jake Allen, the Baz Bastien Award winner as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender in 2013-14, made 31 saves in the win… Joe Pavelski, Chris Tierney and Melker Karlsson scored for the Sharks.

In semifinal action at the 2016 IIHF World Championships in Russia yesterday, former Milwaukee Admirals defenseman Ryan Ellis scored the game-winning goal early in the third period as Canada edged the United States, 4-3, to advance to today’s gold-medal game… Brendan Gallagher (Hamilton Bulldogs), Brad Marchand (Providence Bruins) and Derick Brassard (Syracuse Crunch) also scored for Canada, and Cam Talbot (Hartford Wolf Pack/Connecticut Whale) made 30 saves… David Warsofsky (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) and Tyler Motte (Rockford IceHogs), who both spent time in the AHL this season, scored for Team USA… Mikko Koskinen, who played 41 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers earlier this decade, made 28 saves as Finland defeated Russia, 3-1.

AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2016 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.