AHL Morning Skate: May 4

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

rch  chi
Game 5 – 4:00 ET, AHL Live (Series tied, 2-2)
The first round of the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs ends this afternoon with a winner-take-all Game 5 between the second-seeded Chicago Wolves and the seventh-seeded Rochester Americans at Allstate Arena… The Americans evened up the Western Conference quarterfinal series with a convincing 7-2 win in Game 4 on Friday night… Rochester scored twice in a span of eight seconds to take a 2-0 lead just 1:39 into the game… Rookie Joel Armia (3-3-6), a first-round pick by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, finished with two goals and two assists on the night, and Brayden Irwin (2-0-2) also scored twice… Nick Crawford (1-1-2), Frederick Roy (1-0-1) and Johan Larsson (1-2-3) each scored his first goal of the series and Kevin Porter (0-3-3) recorded three assists after being held scoreless in the first three games as Rochester became the first team in Chicago’s AHL playoff history (124 games) to score seven goals in a postseason game against the Wolves… Andrey Makarov (2-2, 3.00, .906) stopped 28 of 30 shots to pick up the win, snapping a streak of six consecutive Amerks losses when facing elimination… Nathan Longpre (2-0-2) and Christian Hanson (1-0-1) scored for Chicago in Game 4… Jake Allen (2-2, 3.09, .884) allowed five goals on 17 shots before giving way to Matt Climie, who stopped 13 of 15 shots in relief… Before Game 4, Allen, the Baz Bastien Award winner as the AHL’s outstanding goaltender, had completed each of his previous 88 regular-season and playoff starts in the AHL since he was last lifted on Oct. 12, 2012… Rochester, 3-for-8 on the power play in Game 4, is 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) in the series; Chicago is 5-for-22 (22.7 percent)… The Wolves are bidding for their 21st straight playoff series victory after winning Game 1, and their 13th since joining the AHL in 2001-02… Tonight is the 158th mutual-elimination playoff game in AHL history, and the 46th Game 5 in a best-of-five series… Since 2002, AHL teams are 41-12 when scoring the first goal in a winner-take-all game… A Chicago win tonight would pit the Wolves against Toronto in the second round; a Rochester win would set up a date between the Americans and Texas.

Western Conference Quarterfinals – Series “F” (best-of-5)
2-Chicago Wolves vs. 7-Rochester Americans
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – Chicago 4, ROCHESTER 3 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – ROCHESTER 3. Chicago 2
Game 3 – Thu., May 1 – CHICAGO 4, Rochester 0
Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Rochester 7, CHICAGO 2
Game 5 – Sun., May 4 – Rochester at Chicago, 4:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

About Last Night…
Seth Griffith scored twice during a wild first period and Providence erased an early two-goal deficit and went on to defeat Springfield, 6-3, in the decisive Game 5 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series last night… The Bruins, now 5-0 in first-round elimination games over the last two postseasons, scored four goals in a span of 7:15 during the opening frame and came back from 1-0 and 3-1 down… The teams combined for seven goals in a first period that saw both starting goaltenders replaced… Griffith (2g, 1a) and Joe Morrow (1g, 2a) had three points each for Providence, Alexander Khokhlachev and Matt Lindblad tallied a goal and an assist each, and Niklas Svedberg stopped 20 of 21 shots in nearly 50 minutes of relief work… Providence improved to 7-2 all-time in winner-take-all games, including 6-1 on the road… The win sends the seventh-seeded Bruins off to a second-round meeting with sixth-seeded Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, a rematch of their 2013 conference semifinal which saw the Penguins become just the third team in AHL history to win a series after losing the first three games… Fourth-seeded St. John’s will play eighth-seeded Norfolk in the other Eastern Conference semifinal… All three division winners in the Eastern Conference (Manchester, Springfield, Binghamton) were upset in the first round.

Winner-Take-All
Chicago and Rochester meet tonight in the 158th winner-take-all game in Calder Cup Playoff history… The Wolves are 6-2 all-time, including 4-2 at Allstate Arena… The Americans are 10-5 all-time, including 4-1 on the road.

Chicago Wolves (6-2)
2012, Game 5 – San Antonio 3, CHICAGO 2 (2OT)
2010, Game 7 – Texas 6, CHICAGO 5 (OT)
2010, Game 7 – CHICAGO 2, Milwaukee 1
2008, Game 7 – CHICAGO 4, Rockford 1
2003, Game 5 – CHICAGO 3, Hershey 2 (OT)
2002, Game 7 – Chicago 6, SYRACUSE 2
2002, Game 5 – Chicago 4, GRAND RAPIDS 2
2002, Game 3 – CHICAGO 3, Cincinnati 2

Rochester Americans (10-5)
2010, Game 7 – Abbotsford 2, ROCHESTER 0
2004, Game 7 – Rochester 4, SYRACUSE 3 (OT)
2003, Game 3 – MILWAUKEE 6, Rochester 1
2000, Game 5 – ROCHESTER 2, Albany 0
1997, Game 7 – Albany 6, ROCHESTER 2
1996, Game 7 – ROCHESTER 2, Portland 1
1993, Game 7 – Rochester 3, BINGHAMTON 2
1992, Game 3 – Adirondack 5, ROCHESTER 3
1992, Game 7 – Rochester 4, BINGHAMTON 2
1988, Game 7 – Adirondack 6, ROCHESTER 4
1987, Game 7 – Rochester 4, SHERBROOKE 2
1984, Game 7 – ROCHESTER 4, St. Catharines 2
1983, Game 7 – ROCHESTER 4, New Haven 2
1967, Game 5 – ROCHESTER 3, Cleveland 1
1960, Game 7 – ROCHESTER 4, Cleveland 1

Working Overtime
There have been 10 overtime games played in the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Road teams are 7-3 this year, and 27-9 in the last 36 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)

Comeback Central
Fifteen of the first 31 games in this year’s Calder Cup Playoffs have been come-from-behind victories, including five teams who erased two-goal deficits:

Game 2 – Norfolk 3, MANCHESTER 2 (trailed 0-2)
Game 1 – Springfield 3, PROVIDENCE 2 (OT; trailed 0-1)
Game 3 – SPRINGFIELD 3, Providence 2 (trailed 0-1)
Game 5 – Providence 6, SPRINGFIELD 3 (trailed 0-1, 1-3)
Game 1 – W-B/Scranton 3, BINGHAMTON 2 (OT; trailed 0-1, 1-2)
Game 2 – BINGHAMTON 4, W-B/Scranton 3 (OT; trailed 0-1, 1-3)
Game 2 – ALBANY 4, St. John’s 2 (trailed 0-1)
Game 1 – Texas 3, OKLAHOMA CITY 2 (OT; trailed 0-2)
Game 2 – Texas 3, OKLAHOMA CITY 2 (OT; trailed 0-1, 1-2)
Game 1 – Chicago 4, ROCHESTER 3 (OT; trailed 0-2, 1-3)
Game 2 – ROCHESTER 3, Chicago 2 (trailed 0-1)
Game 1 – Grand Rapids 2, ABBOTSFORD 1 (2OT; trailed 0-1)
Game 2 – Grand Rapids 7, ABBOTSFORD 2 (trailed 0-1, 1-2)
Game 3 – Abbotsford 2, GRAND RAPIDS 1 (trailed 0-1)
Game 4 – GRAND RAPIDS 5, Abbotsford 3 (trailed 0-1)

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.