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)
Tied at 1-1, the Eastern Conference Finals shift to the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for the next three games, beginning tonight… St. John’s evened the best-of-seven series with a 2-1 win on Sunday night, getting goals from Kyle MacKinnon (2-2-4) and Carl Klingberg (2-2-4) and 34 saves from Michael Hutchinson (8-4, 1.81, .941)… MacKinnon, scoreless in his first eight playoff games this spring, now has points in four straight contests… Klingberg was without a point through his first seven postseason outings, but now has four points in his last five games… Hutchinson has allowed one goal or fewer in six of his 12 playoff starts… Anton Zlobin (6-4-10) scored the Penguins’ only goal in Game 2, and is now tied for the team lead with six playoff markers… Conor Sheary (6-5-11) assisted on Zlobin’s goal to extend his scoring streak to eight games… Peter Mannino (8-5, 2.44, .907) stopped 27 of 29 shots in Game 2… Both teams are 0-for-8 on the power play in the series… St. John’s has scored first in 10 of its 12 playoff games… Nine of Wilkes-Barre’s 13 playoff games have been decided by a single goal (6-3)… Neither the IceCaps (4-0) nor the Penguins (6-0) have ever lost a series after winning Game 3 when it was tied 1-1.
Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M” (best-of-7)
4-St. John’s IceCaps vs. 6-W-B/Scranton Penguins | Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Sat., May 24 – W-B/Scranton 3, ST. JOHN’S 2
Game 2 – Sun., May 25 – ST. JOHN’S 2, W-B/Scranton 1
Game 3 – Wed., May 28 – St. John’s at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 4 – Thu., May 29 – St. John’s at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 5 – Sat., May 31 – St. John’s at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 6 – Tue., June 3 – W-B/Scranton at St. John’s, 6:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 4 – W-B/Scranton at St. John’s, 6:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
Game 3 – 7:00 ET – AHL Live (Series tied, 1-1)
Texas brought an end to Toronto’s perfect playoff start on Monday night with a convincing 6-3 win, tying the Western Conference Finals at one apiece heading into tonight’s Game 3 tussle at Ricoh Coliseum… Scott Glennie (3-3-6) and Brett Ritchie (3-0-3) each scored twice, Mike Hedden (5-7-12) tallied three assists and Chris Mueller (5-2-7) added a goal and an assist for the Stars, who scored six times against a Marlies team that had allowed a total of 12 goals in winning its first eight playoff outings… Glennie’s two goals ended a seven-game drought… Mueller has now scored in four consecutive games… Travis Morin (3-10-13) capped the victory with an empty-net goal, his first tally in nine games… Cristopher Nilstorp (6-2, 2.07, .918) stopped 27 of 30 shots as he made a third consecutive start for the first time since February… Jerry D’Amigo (5-8-13), Josh Leivo (3-5-8) and Peter Holland (6-2-8) scored for the Marlies in Game 2… Holland has scored a goal in all six games since rejoining the lineup at the start of Toronto’s second-round series with Chicago… Drew MacIntyre (8-1, 1.89, .947) allowed five goals in Game 2 but still owns a .941 save percentage in the series… Toronto went 512 minutes and 5 seconds to begin the postseason before they trailed in a game… The Marlies are outscoring their opponents 13-3 in the first period this postseason; the Stars have a 16-4 scoring edge in the playoffs in the third period and overtime… Texas owned a 52-30 advantage in shots in Game 2, and have taken more than twice as many shots as Toronto (102-49) through the first two games of the series… The Marlies have been outshot in eight of their nine playoff games.
Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
1-Texas Stars vs. 3-Toronto Marlies | Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Fri., May 23 – Toronto 5, TEXAS 1
Game 2 – Mon., May 26 – TEXAS 6, Toronto 3
Game 3 – Wed., May 28 – Texas at Toronto, 7:00
Game 4 – Thu., May 29 – Texas at Toronto, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 31 – Texas at Toronto, 3:00
*Game 6 – Mon., June 2 – Toronto at Texas, 8:30
*Game 7 – Tue., June 3 – Toronto at Texas, 8:30
*if necessary… All times Eastern
Pivotal Game 3
In Calder Cup playoff history, when a best-of-seven series is tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has gone on to win the series 71.0 percent of the time (132 of 186).
Alumni Watch
2005 AHL rookie of the year Rene Bourque notched a hat trick and fellow former AHL All-Stars Tomas Plekanec (1g), Lars Eller (2a) and P.K. Subban (1a) had points also has Montreal staved off elimination with a 7-4 win over the New York Rangers last night… AHL alumni Andrei Markov (3a), Max Pacioretty (1g, 1a) and Dale Weise (2a) also had multiple-point nights for Montreal… Chris Kreider, who began the 2013-14 season in the AHL with Hartford, tallied a goal and three assists for the Rangers… Montreal’s Dustin Tokarski and New York’s Cam Talbot, who came on in relief in the second period, also faced each other in the second round of the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs when Tokarski was with Norfolk and Talbot with Connecticut.
Working Overtime
There have been 15 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)
May 16 – Texas 3, GRAND RAPIDS 2 (Chris Mueller, 3:18)
Eastern Conference Finals History
The Richard F. Canning Trophy is presented each season to the playoff champions of the AHL’s Eastern Conference… Here are the results of the Eastern Conference Finals since the league split into two conferences in 1995-96:
2013 – Syracuse Crunch 4, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 1
2012 – Norfolk Admirals 4, St. John’s IceCaps 0
2011 – Binghamton Senators 4, Charlotte Checkers 0
2010 – Hershey Bears 4, Manchester Monarchs 2
2009 – Hershey Bears 4, Providence Bruins 1
2008 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 4, Portland Pirates 3
2007 – Hershey Bears 4, Manchester Monarchs 0
2006 – Hershey Bears 4, Portland Pirates 3
2005 – Philadelphia Phantoms 4, Providence Bruins 2
2004 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 4, Hartford Wolf Pack 3
2003 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Binghamton Senators 1
2002 – Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2001 – Saint John Flames 4, Providence Bruins 1
2000 – Hartford Wolf Pack 4, Providence Bruins 3
1999 – Providence Bruins 4, Fredericton Canadiens 2
1998 – Saint John Flames 4, Hartford Wolf Pack 1
*1997 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Albany River Rats 1
*1996 – Portland Pirates 4, Saint John Flames 3
*known as Northern Conference
Western Conference Finals History
The Robert W. Clarke Trophy is presented each season to the playoff champions of the AHL’s Western Conference… There have been eight different conference champions in the last eight years; either Texas (2010) or Toronto (2012) will end that streak… Here are the results of the Western Conference Finals since the league split into two conferences in 1995-96:
2013 – Grand Rapids Griffins 4, Oklahoma City Barons 3
2012 – Toronto Marlies 4, Oklahoma City Barons 1
2011 – Houston Aeros 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2010 – Texas Stars 4, Hamilton Bulldogs 3
2009 – Manitoba Moose 4, Houston Aeros 2
2008 – Chicago Wolves 4, Toronto Marlies 1
2007 – Hamilton Bulldogs 4, Chicago Wolves 1
2006 – Milwaukee Admirals 4, Grand Rapids Griffins 0
2005 – Chicago Wolves 4, Manitoba Moose 0
2004 – Milwaukee Admirals 4, Rochester Americans 1
2003 – Houston Aeros 4, Grand Rapids Griffins 3
2002 – Chicago Wolves 4, Houston Aeros 1
2001 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 4, Hershey Bears 0
2000 – Rochester Americans 4, Hershey Bears 0
1999 – Rochester Americans 4, Philadelphia Phantoms 2
1998 – Philadelphia Phantoms 4, Albany River Rats 2
*1997 – Hershey Bears 4, Springfield Falcons 3
*1996 – Rochester Americans 4, Syracuse Crunch 1
*known as Southern Conference
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.
