AHL Morning Skate: May 5, 2024

A1-Hershey Bears vs. A6-Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Game 3 – Wednesday, 7:05 ET,
(Hershey leads series, 2-0)

Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – HERSHEY 2, Lehigh Valley 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 4 – HERSHEY 5, Lehigh Valley 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – Hershey at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 4 – Sat., May 11 – Hershey at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Lehigh Valley at Hershey, 7:00
*if necessary... All times Eastern

A2-Providence Bruins vs. A5-Hartford Wolf Pack
Game 3 – Wednesday, 7:00 ET,
(Series tied, 1-1)

Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – Hartford 4, PROVIDENCE 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 3 – PROVIDENCE 6, Hartford 0 | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – Providence at Hartford, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Providence at Hartford, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Hartford at Providence, 3:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

N1-Cleveland Monsters vs. N4-Belleville Senators
Game 3 – Wednesday, 7:00 ET,
(Series tied, 1-1)

Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – BELLEVILLE 2, Cleveland 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 3 – Cleveland 4, BELLEVILLE 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – Belleville at Cleveland, 7:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Belleville at Cleveland, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Belleville at Cleveland, 3:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

N2-Rochester Americans vs. N3-Syracuse Crunch
Game 5 – Friday, 7:05 ET,
(Series tied, 2-2)

Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 26 – ROCHESTER 3, Syracuse 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Syracuse 4, ROCHESTER 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Thu., May 2 – SYRACUSE 2, Rochester 1 (2OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Sat., May 4 – Rochester 4, SYRACUSE 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Syracuse at Rochester, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C1-Milwaukee Admirals vs. C4-Texas Stars
Game 3 – Wednesday, 8:00 ET,
(Texas leads series, 2-0)

Game 1 – Thu., May 2 – TEXAS 6, Milwaukee 3 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 4 – TEXAS 4, Milwaukee 1 | Recap
Game 3 –Wed., May 8 – Texas at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Texas at Milwaukee, 8:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Texas at Milwaukee, 6:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

C2-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. C3-Rockford IceHogs
Game 4 – Today, 5:00 ET,
(Grand Rapids leads series, 2-1)

Game 1 – Sat., Apr. 27 – Grand Rapids 3, ROCKFORD 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Wed., May 1 – Rockford 5, GRAND RAPIDS 1 | Recap
Game 3 – Fri., May 3 – GRAND RAPIDS 4, Rockford 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 4 – Sun., May 5 – Grand Rapids at Rockford, 5:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
Rockford hosts Grand Rapids in Game 4 of their best-of-five Central Division semifinal needing a victory to keep its season alive... The Griffins moved to within one win of advancing on Friday night when Jonatan Berggren (2-2-4) became the 13th player in AHL history to score two sudden-death overtime goals in the same playoff series... Berggren’s goal at 8:12 of OT salvaged Game 3 after Grand Rapids had allowed the IceHogs to tie it up with two goals in the final 3:38 of regulation... Marco Kasper (1-0-1), Austin Czarnik (2-0-2) and Elmer Söderblom (1-0-1) also scored for Grand Rapids, which is looking to secure its first series win since capturing the Calder Cup in 2017... Sebastian Cossa (2-1, 3.12, .870) made 27 saves in the Game 3 victory... Rem Pitlick (1-3-4) and Zach Sanford (2-1-3) led the IceHogs with a goal and an assist apiece on Friday night... Rockford defenseman Filip Roos (0-3-3) has recorded an assist in each of the first three games of the series, and in five consecutive games going back to the final weekend of the regular season... Drew Commesso (1-1, 2.34, .929) finished with 38 saves, his season high... Grand Rapids has outshot Rockford, 107-77, in the series... The IceHogs have the special-teams edge so far, going 2-for-5 on the power play and 6-for-6 on the penalty kill through three games... Rockford is 2-8 all-time when facing playoff elimination.

P1-Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. P7-Calgary Wranglers
Game 2 – Today, 6:00 ET,
(Calgary leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Fri., May 3 – CALGARY 4, Coachella Valley 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 5 – Coachella Valley at Calgary, 6:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – Calgary at Coachella Valley, 10:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Calgary at Coachella Valley, 10:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Calgary at Coachella Valley, 6:00
*if necessary... All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
Calgary hosts Coachella Valley in Game 2 at Scotiabank Saddledome this afternoon with the Wranglers holding a 1-0 series lead after Friday’s 4-1 victory... Dustin Wolf stymied the Firebirds with 35 saves in Game 1; Wolf has stopped 121 of 125 shots (3-0, 1.33, .968) to begin the postseason... Adam Klapka (1-4-5) notched a goal and an assist for Calgary in Game 1, and Mitch McLain (1-0-1) scored the go-ahead goal at 3:16 of the third period, his first goal in 25 career Calder Cup Playoff contests... Sam Morton (2-0-2) and Yan Kuznetsov (1-0-1) added empty-net goals late to seal the win for Calgary... Morton has 7-2-9 in 16 games since joining the Wranglers from Minnesota State University... Ryker Evans, who scored the only goal for Coachella Valley in Game 1, has eight goals in 96 regular-season games over two seasons with the Firebirds but six goals in 27 playoff games... Chris Driedger stopped 23 shots for the Firebirds in his Calder Cup Playoff debut; the 10th-year pro’s only previous postseason experience was three appearances with the Florida Panthers in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs... Friday was Coachella Valley’s first-ever loss in a Game 1; they were 5-0 in series-openers last postseason... The Firebirds are also now 1-7 in their last eight road playoff games.

P3-Ontario Reign vs. P5-Abbotsford Canucks
Game 2 – Today, 6:00 ET,
(Ontario leads series, 1-0)

Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – ONTARIO 3, Abbotsford 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 5 – Abbotsford at Ontario, 6:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – Ontario at Abbotsford, 10:00
*Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Ontario at Abbotsford, 10:00
*Game 5 – Sun., May 12 – Ontario at Abbotsford, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

GAME NOTES
Ontario and Abbotsford resume their Pacific Division semifinal series this afternoon at Toyota Arena with the host Reign holding a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five match-up... Rookie Erik Portillo made 23 saves for Ontario in a 3-1 win on Wednesday night, his third consecutive victory to open the postseason and his third straight game allowing only a single goal (3-0, 1.00, .962)... Alex Turcotte (1-1-2) and Nikita Pavlychev (1-0-1) each scored their first career playoff goals in Game 1, and T.J. Tynan (1-2-3) added a goal and an assist... Max Sasson (1-2-3) tallied the only goal for Abbotsford in Game 1, his third straight game with a point... Zach Sawchenko (2-2, 2.66, .914) made his fourth consecutive start and stopped 18 shots for the Canucks, who remain without Artūrs Šilovs after he backstopped Vancouver to a Stanley Cup Playoff series win over Nashville this week... Vasily Podkolzin made his first appearance of the postseason for Abbotsford in Game 1 and registered a team-high four shots on goal... Including its three playoff wins, Ontario is now 22-4-0-1 since Feb. 23... The Reign have six wins and a shootout loss in its last seven home games against the Canucks... As the higher seed Ontario exercised its option to begin this series at home, so after today the series shifts north to Abbotsford for the final three games (if necessary).

An injury kept forward Brandon Biro out of the Rochester Americans’ charge to last year’s Eastern Conference Finals. He is already making significant contributions to this year’s push.

Returning healthy, Biro had another one of his typically steady performances in the regular season by supplying 43 points (16 goals, 27 assists) in 59 regular-season games for the Amerks and providing reliable two-way play. And last night, with Rochester down 3-0 and 20 minutes away from elimination in Game 4 against Syracuse, Biro’s goal 19 seconds into the third period sparked a season-saving comeback. He later assisted on Joseph Cecconi’s goal at the 10:20 mark, then delivered again with his second goal with 5:12 to go in regulation, tying the game.

Brett Murray swatted in a loose puck at 11:46 of overtime for a 4-3 Amerks victory, setting up a winner-take-all showdown Friday in Rochester.

“You work all year for moments like that,” Biro told reporters after the win. “You’re not out of it until zeroes hit the clock.”

The Texas Stars know how difficult it will be to close out the Milwaukee Admirals. Last year, the roles were reversed.

Facing elimination in Game 4 of their division final series in 2023, the Stars trailed by two goals early but came back to scratch out a win in double overtime, pushing the series to the limit. The Admirals eventually prevailed in Game 5, but enough players on both sides remain to know how hard a team can fight when up against postseason elimination.

This time, it’s the Stars with a chance to end the series after capturing the first two games of their Central Division semifinal series on Cedar Park ice. But the rest of the series will be played in Milwaukee, beginning with Game 3 on Wednesday.

“They’re a good hockey club,” Stars head coach Neil Graham told reporters after last night’s 4-1 win in Game 2. “They won the division for a reason. It’s important that we keep our foot on the gas.

“We’ll take a moment here, and then we’ll get back to work and start getting ready for Game 3.”

― with files from Patrick Williams

In Saturday’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, David Pastrnak scored 1:54 into overtime to give Boston a 2-1 win over Toronto in Game 7 of their series at TD Garden... Pastrnak, who recorded 32 points in 28 AHL games over the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, was one of 11 Providence Bruins alumni in Boston’s lineup... Jeremy Swayman, an Atlantic Division AHL All-Star in 2020-21, made 30 saves in the win... 2016 AHL All-Star William Nylander scored his third goal in the last two games for the Maple Leafs.

Watch the Calder Cup Playoffs on AHLTV
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2024 Calder Cup championship. AHLTV features live streaming of every AHL game in high definition on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices, as well as OTT platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. A subscription is just $29.99 to watch every game for the entire postseason, or just $8.99 for a day pass. Visit AHLTV.com for details.