AHL Morning Skate: May 7

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from
the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s Morning Skate.

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

   
Game 2 – 12:00 ET, AHL Live
(Lake Erie leads series, 1-0)
 

Lake Erie brings a 1-0 series lead into today’s Game 2 matinee following a 3-2 overtime victory in the series opener on Thursday night… Oliver Bjorkstrand (3-2-5) scored 12:23 into OT to give the Monsters their fourth consecutive win to start the postseason and seventh straight win overall… Alex Broadhurst (2-4-6) tallied a goal and an assist, and Lukas Sedlak (2-1-3) also scored for Lake Erie in Game 1… Joonas Korpisalo (4-0, 1.90, .922) made 22 saves to remain unbeaten in the playoffs… Grand Rapids got goals from Eric Tangradi (1-3-4) and Brian Lashoff (2-0-2), but Andy Miele failed to convert on a penalty shot in the final minute of regulation and Tangradi’s potential game-winner early in OT was waved off after he directed the puck in with his glove… Tom McCollum (3-1, 1.43, .955) stopped 36 of 39 shots but suffered his first loss of the playoffs… The Monsters were 2-for-6 on the power play in Game 1 and are now 7-for-17 (41.2 percent) for the postseason.

Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7) 
C2-Lake Erie Monsters vs. C4-Grand Rapids Griffins 

Game 1 – Thu., May 5 – LAKE ERIE 3, Grand Rapids 2 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., May 7 – Grand Rapids at Lake Erie, 12:00
Game 3 – Sun., May 8 – Lake Erie at Grand Rapids, 4:00
Game 4 – Tue., May 10 – Lake Erie at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 14 – Grand Rapids at Lake Erie, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 16 – Lake Erie at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 7 – Tue., May 17 – Grand Rapids at Lake Erie, 7:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

   
Game 3 – 7:05 ET, AHL Live
(Series tied, 1-1)
  

Justin Peters answered Casey DeSmith’s Game 1 shutout with one of his own in Game 2, stopping 27 shots to lead Hershey to a 2-0 victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Giant Center last night… With the series all square at one game apiece, the teams head to Wilkes-Barre for Game 3 this evening… Sean Collins (2-0-2) and Carter Camper (1-2-3) scored 2:23 apart during the first period, supplying the only offense of Game 2… Collins’ goal was the third shorthanded marker allowed by the Penguins already this postseason… Peters (4-2, 1.05, .960) has now stopped 169 of the 176 shots he has faced in six appearances during these playoffs… Wilkes-Barre/Scranton enters Game 3 with a 10-game home winning streak against the Bears in postseason play; Hershey has not won a playoff game at Mohegan Sun Arena since a 2-0 victory on May 5, 2007… This is the first time two teams have alternated shutouts to begin a Calder Cup Playoff series since the Philadelphia Phantoms and Albany River Rats did it in 2008.

Atlantic Division Finals – Series “I” (best-of-7)
A1-Hershey Bears vs. A3-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Game 1 – Wed., May 4 – W-B/Scranton 4, HERSHEY 0
Game 2 – Fri., May 6 – HERSHEY 2, W-B/Scranton 0
Game 3 – Sat., May 7 – Hershey at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 4 – Mon., May 9 – Hershey at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 5 – Wed., May 11 – W-B/Scranton at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 6 – Fri., May 13 – Hershey at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 7 – Sun., May 15 – W-B/Scranton at Hershey, 5:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

   
Game 2 – 10:05 ET, AHL Live
(Ontario leads series, 1-0)
  

Ontario got two goals and an assist from Michael Mersch in a 5-3 win to open the Pacific Division Finals on Thursday night; the Reign visit San Diego tonight for Game 2… Mersch (2-3-5) scored 13 goals and tied for the league lead with 22 points in 18 games last spring and helped Manchester capture the AHL title, but was limited to just two assists in the Reign’s first-round series vs. San Jose… Vincent LoVerde (1-1-2), Joel Lowry (1-1-2) and Jeff Schultz (1-2-3) also scored for Ontario in Game 1, and Kevin Raine (0-2-2) tallied two assists… Schultz’s empty-net shorthanded marker with 32.3 seconds left ended a drought of 81 consecutive playoff games (AHL/NHL combined) without a goal; his only previous postseason goal came in his professional debut with Hershey on May 7, 2006, against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Marc-Andre Fleury)… Kalle Kossila (1-0-1), Matt Bailey (1-2-3) and Corey Tropp (1-1-2) had the goals for the Gulls, who have scored 15 times in their last three games… Ontario was 3-for-3 on the penalty kill in Game 1, improving to 12-for-12 this postseason… San Diego has lost back-to-back games only once since the All-Star break (Apr. 10-15).

Pacific Division Finals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
P1-Ontario Reign vs. P2-San Diego Gulls
Game 1 – Thu., May 5 – ONTARIO 5, San Diego 3
Game 2 – Sat., May 7 – Ontario at San Diego, 10:05
Game 3 – Sun., May 8 – San Diego at Ontario, 10:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 13 – Ontario at San Diego, 10:05
*Game 5 – Sat., May 14 – San Diego at Ontario, 10:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 16 – Ontario at San Diego, 10:05
*Game 7 – Wed., May 18 – San Diego at Ontario, 10:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

About Last Night
#HERvsWBS: Justin Peters made 27 saves for his second shutout of the postseason, backstopping Hershey past Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Game 2 of the Atlantic Division Finals, 2-0

#TORvsALB: T.J. Brennan and Zach Hyman each scored twice for Toronto in a 5-3 win over Albany in Game 2 of the North Division Finals

Working Overtime
There have been 6 overtime games played in the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs so far:

May 5 – LAKE ERIE 3, Grand Rapids 2 (Oliver Bjorkstrand, 12:23)
Apr. 28 – Portland 2, HERSHEY 1 (Rob Flick, 43:10)
Apr. 26 – UTICA 2, Albany 1 (Alexandre Grenier, 9:13)
Apr. 23 – W-B/Scranton 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (Jake Guentzel, 33:52)
Apr. 21 – W-B/SCRANTON 4, Providence 3 (Daniel Sprong, 5:13)
Apr. 20 – W-B/SCRANTON 3, Providence 2 (Carter Rowney, 1:09)

Alumni Watch
In Stanley Cup Playoff action last night, Jason Garrison scored 1:34 into overtime to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 win and a 3-1 series lead over the New York Islanders… 2013 Calder Cup finalist Andrej Sustr and 2012 Calder Cup champion Ondrej Palat assisted on the game-winning goal… Jean-Francois Berube, who won the Calder Cup with Manchester last spring, made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut in net for the Islanders, making two saves in 4:47 of work while Thomas Greiss tended to an equipment issue.

At the IIHF World Championships in Russia yesterday, 2013 Calder Cup champion Gustav Nyquist scored in overtime to give Sweden a 2-1 win over Latvia… AHL alumni Taylor Hall, Brendan Gallagher, Boone Jenner and Brad Marchand scored for Canada in a 5-1 win over the United States… Tomas Kundratek had a goal to help the Czech Republic past Russia, 3-0… 2016 AHL All-Star Esa Lindell had an assist for Finland in their 6-2 victory over Belarus.

AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2016 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.