AHL Morning Skate: May 25

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

   
Game 2 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live (UTI leads series, 1-0)
Follow @GriffinsHockey Follow @UticaComets Tweet #UTIvsGR

Utica and Grand Rapids go right back at it in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals tonight at the Utica Memorial Auditorium… The series opened last night with the Comets taking a 2-1 victory in Game 1 (recap/highlights)… Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves in support of two early Utica goals as the Comets held the league’s top-ranked offense to one goal on 26 shots… Utica’s Nicklas Jensen (2-1-3) opened the scoring just 35 seconds into the game and Brandon DeFazio (2-3-5) netted what would be the game-winner at 11:06 of the first period… Mark Zengerle (1-8-9) recorded the Griffins’ only goal of Game 1 on a power play with 3:57 left in the first… Markstrom (8-5, 1.79, .932), who has given up one goal in his last 130:31 of work, has surrendered two goals or fewer in 11 of his 13 starts this postseason… Tom McCollum (7-3, 2.61, .915) finished the night with 29 saves for the Griffins, losing for just the second time in his last nine decisions… Grand Rapids was 1-for-2 on the power play in Game 1, improving to 10-for-43 in these playoffs (23.3 percent)… Utica, 0-for-3 last night, is 1-for-26 in its last eight games and 6-for-50 (12.0 percent) for the postseason… The Aud will be sold out tonight for the ninth consecutive time this postseason; the Comets are 5-3 at home.

Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
1-Utica Comets vs. 2-Grand Rapids Griffins
Game 1 – Sun., May 24 – UTICA 2, Grand Rapids 1
Game 2 – Mon., May 25 – Grand Rapids at Utica, 7:00
Game 3 – Thu., May 28 – Utica at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 29 – Utica at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 31 – Utica at Grand Rapids, 5:00
*Game 6 – Tue., June 2 – Grand Rapids at Utica, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 3 – Grand Rapids at Utica, 7:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M” (best-of-7)
1-Manchester Monarchs vs. 3-Hartford Wolf Pack
Game 1 – Thu., May 21 – MANCHESTER 3, Hartford 2
Game 2 – Sat., May 23 – MANCHESTER 7, Hartford 4
Game 3 – Tue., May 26 – Manchester at Hartford, 7:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 27 – Manchester at Hartford, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 30 – Hartford at Manchester, 7:00
*Game 6 – Sun., May 31 – Manchester at Hartford, 7:00
*Game 7 – Tue., June 2 – Hartford at Manchester, 7:00

May 14 – Grand Rapids 2, ROCKFORD 1 (Tyler Bertuzzi, 0:13)
May 13 – Hartford 5, HERSHEY 4 (Chris Mueller, 11:39)
May 8 – UTICA 2, Oklahoma City 1 (Alexandre Grenier, 3:32)
May 7 – Oklahoma City 2, UTICA 1 (Curtis Hamilton, 60:16)
May 6 – MANCHESTER 4, W-B/Scranton 3 (Zach O’Brien, 44:13)
May 6 – Hartford 2, HERSHEY 1 (Chris Bourque, 16:47)
May 1 – Chicago 4, UTICA 3 (Joel Edmundson, 2:19)
*May 1 – HARTFORD 3, Providence 2 (Tommy Hughes, 4:35)
*Apr. 29 – ROCKFORD 3, Texas 2 (Stephen Johns, 0:23)
*Apr. 29 – Oklahoma City 2, SAN ANTONIO 1 (Jujhar Khaira, 5:01)
Apr. 29 – UTICA 2, Chicago 1 (Darren Archibald, 10:58)
Apr. 26 – PROVIDENCE 2, Hartford 1 (Seth Griffith, 42:00)
Apr. 25 – OKLAHOMA CITY 4, San Antonio 3 (Connor Jones, 4:01)
Apr. 22 – Utica 3, CHICAGO 2 (Bobby Sanguinetti, 23:10)
  *series clincher