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 || Series Previews
Tonight’s Previews
Game 4 – 5:00 ET, AHL Live (HER leads series, 2-1)
In his first game ever as a visitor at Giant Center, Chris Bourque (3-1-4) scored two goals and added an assist to lead Providence to a 5-1 win over Hershey last night, cutting the Bruins’ series deficit to 2-1 heading into today’s Game 4… Bourque recorded 393 points in 392 regular-season games over six seasons with Hershey, and won three Calder Cups, the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs MVP award and the 2011-12 AHL scoring title… Bobby Robins (1-0-1), Jamie Tardif (2-1-3) and Carter Camper (2-2-4) also scored for the Bruins, who have won six straight road games since a 3-2 loss in Hershey on Mar. 30… After allowing nine goals on 52 shots over the first two games of the series, Niklas Svedberg (1-2, 3.94, .880) bounced back last night and stopped 30 of 31 shots for his first AHL playoff win… Michael Latta (2-1-3) scored 3:44 into Game 3 as Hershey got on the board first for the third straight game… Philipp Grubauer (2-1, 3.61, .907), who made 22 saves, had been 9-1-0 in his previous 10 decisions at home… Hershey (5-for-16, 31.3 percent) and Providence (3-for-11, 27.3 percent) have the top two ranked power plays in the AHL this postseason.
Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “A” (best-of-5)
1-Providence Bruins vs. 8-Hershey Bears
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 26 – Hershey 5, PROVIDENCE 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Hershey 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Sat., May 4 – Providence 5, HERSHEY 1 | Recap
Game 4 – Sun., May 5 – Providence at Hershey, 5:00
*Game 5 – Wed., May 8 – Hershey at Providence, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
About Last Night…
Tomas Tatar recorded two goals and an assist to lead Grand Rapids to a 7-0 win over Houston in Game 5 last night, sending the Griffins into the conference semifinals to play Toronto… The seven-goal margin tied the largest ever in a winner-take-all Calder Cup Playoff game (Quebec def. Providence, 8-1, in 1969)… Petr Mrazek made 24 saves, becoming the 10th goaltender in AHL history to earn a shutout in a winner-take-all game… Temmu Hartikainen and Toni Rajala tallied a goal and two assists each and Yann Danis made 49 saves as Oklahoma City ousted Charlotte with a 6-2 win in Game 5… Josh Green scored a goal for the Barons, his league-leading ninth point of the postseason… Oklahoma City outscored Charlotte 14-3 over the final two games to win the series… Nick Drazenovic scored off a two-on-one rush 8:06 into overtime to give Springfield a 4-3 victory and a 3-1 series triumph over Manchester… It was the Falcons’ third overtime win of the series, joining the 1956 Cleveland Barons as the only teams in AHL history to win three OT games in a single best-of-five playoff series… Chris Bourque‘s three-point night lifted Providence past Hershey, 5-1, and forced this evening’s Game 4 at Giant Center.
0-2 Comebacks
Including this postseason, 84 teams have taken a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five Calder Cup Playoff series. Providence is looking to join nine others who came back from 0-2 down to win the series:
2002, St. John’s Maple Leafs def. Lowell Lock Monsters
2001, Providence Bruins def. Hartford Wolf Pack
1997, Springfield Falcons def. Portland Pirates
1997, Providence Bruins def. Worcester IceCats
1969, Quebec Aces def. Cleveland Barons
1967, Rochester Americans def. Cleveland Barons (lost first two at home)
1965, Hershey Bears def. Baltimore Clippers
1954, Hershey Bears def. Pittsburgh Hornets (lost first two at home)
1952, Providence Reds def. Cleveland Barons
Working Overtime
There have been 10 overtime games played in the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs so far (*winning goal ended series):
Apr. 26 – Texas 3, Milwaukee 2 (Brett Ritchie, 11:44)
Apr. 26 – Charlotte 4, Oklahoma City 3 (Brody Sutter, 3:06)
Apr. 27 – Springfield 2, Manchester 1 (Cody Bass, 10:36)
Apr. 27 – W-B/Scranton 3, Binghamton 2 (Chad Kolarik, 8:18)
Apr. 27 – Syracuse 4, Portland 3 (Richard Panik, 6:36)
Apr. 28 – Hershey 5, Providence 4 (Jon DiSalvatore, 3:05)
Apr. 28 – Springfield 3, Manchester 2 (Cody Bass, 18:44)
*May 1 – Toronto 3, Rochester 2 (Will Acton, 5:14)
*May 2 – Syracuse 4, Portland 3 (Ondrej Palat, 19:43)
*May 4 – Springfield 4, Manchester 3 (Nick Drazenovic, 8:06)
Second-Round Scenarios
Brackets are re-drawn after the first round so that the highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed and the two middle seeds play each other in each conference’s semifinals… The Western Conference semifinal schedules are set; the East is waiting for a winner from the Providence-Hershey series:
Springfield – will play Syracuse or Hershey
Syracuse – will play Springfield or W-B/Scranton
W-B/Scranton – will play Providence or Syracuse
AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2013 Calder Cup championship. AHL Live brings AHL action to your computer all season long with live video webcasts and highlights of every AHL game, as well as behind-the-scenes features and interviews in the Video On Demand section… Visit ahllive.com for details.
