AHL Morning Skate: May 8, 2024

A1-Hershey Bears vs. A6-Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Game 3 – Tonight, 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

GAME NOTES
After taking the first two games of the series, Hershey heads into enemy territory looking to finish off Lehigh Valley in Game 3 tonight... The Bears were 2-1 and 5-1 winners to open the series back at Giant Center, scoring seven times despite registering just 44 shots on goal combined... Ethen Frank notched three points in Game 2 on Saturday, scoring twice in the first 8:18 of the contest to match his entire goal output from 16 games during the 2023 postseason... Hendrix Lapierre added a goal and an assist, and Henrik Rybinski scored for the second game in a row after totaling two goals in his last 35 regular-season outings... Hunter Shepard (2-0, 1.00, .968) made 30 saves in Game 2, including a stop of a Bobby Brink penalty shot in the third period... Shepard has allowed a total of 17 goals in his last 16 starts (12-2-2, 1.05, .958) since the beginning of February... Hunter McDonald, who joined the Phantoms after the completion of his season at Northeastern University in March, netted his first goal as a pro for the only Lehigh Valley scoring in Game 2... After each team received a single coincidental minor penalty in Game 1, a total of 158 penalty minutes were handed out in Game 2, including 13 misconducts in the final three minutes... Lehigh Valley outshot Hershey 31-16 in Saturday’s contest... Hershey won 24 road games during the regular season, second-most in the AHL behind Coachella Valley (26).

A2-Providence Bruins vs. A5-Hartford Wolf Pack
Game 3 – Tonight, 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

GAME NOTES
Providence and Hartford head to the Connecticut capital for Game 3 of their Atlantic Division semifinal series tonight... The best-of-five is even at a game apiece after the Bruins’ 6-0 win in Game 2 on Friday... It marked Providence’s largest margin of victory in a postseason game since a 7-1 win over Portland on Apr. 27, 2008, and matched Hartford’s most lopsided playoff loss ever, joining six-goal setbacks to the Worcester IceCats in 1998 and the Worcester Sharks in 2009... Brandon Bussi made 34 saves for the first playoff shutout by a Bruins goaltender since May 9, 2014 (Niklas Svedberg)... Vincent Arseneau (2g, 1a), Ian Mitchell (2g), Brett Harrison (1g, 2a), Jayson Megna (1g, 1a), Georgii Merkulov (2a) and Patrick Brown (2a) all recorded multiple points for Providence in Game 2... The Bruins were 2-for-6 on the power play in Friday’s win... Hartford is home tonight for the first time since Apr. 19 after seven consecutive road games – including five to begin the playoffs... Dylan Garand (3-2, 2.75, .925) made 34 saves in the Game 2 loss... This is the fourth time in their head-to-head postseason history that Providence and Hartford have been tied 1-1 after two games; in 2000, 2007 and 2015, the team that lost Game 3 went on to come back and win the series.

N1-Cleveland Monsters vs. N4-Belleville Senators
Game 3 – Tonight, 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

GAME NOTES
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse hosts its first Calder Cup Playoff game in five years as the Cleveland Monsters take on the Belleville Senators tonight... Cleveland pulled out a split of the first two games of the series with a 4-3 overtime victory on Friday... Defenseman Cole Clayton scored the decisive goal 4:06 into the extra period, moments after the Monsters had successfully killed off a Senators power play... Tyler Angle and Jake Gaudet each tallied a goal and an assist for the Monsters in Game 2, and Josh Dunne scored his second goal of the series... Jet Greaves made 36 saves to pick up the win in net, his first career postseason victory... Stephen Halliday led Belleville with three points, including the first goal of his pro career... Halliday, a fourth-round draft pick by Ottawa in 2022, has 1-5-6 in his last three games... Wyatt Bongiovanni and Cole Reinhardt scored to give the Senators leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first period... Mads Sogaard finished with 31 stops in Game 2... Five of Belleville’s seven postseason games in franchise history have gone to OT... The Sens are 4-for-15 (26.7 percent) on the power play this postseason, as well as 10-for-11 (90.9 percent) on the penalty kill.

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 – Tonight, 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

GAME NOTES
Texas hits the road for the first time this postseason with a 2-0 series lead over Milwaukee in the Central Division semifinals... The Stars, who swept their best-of-three opening-round series from Manitoba before taking the first two games from the Admirals in Cedar Park, have not been away from home since a two-game visit to San Jose on Apr. 12-13... Texas tied for sixth in the AHL in scoring during the regular season averaging 3.25 goals per game, but has been clicking at 4.50 goals per game through four postseason contests... Matej Blümel (3-3-6) recorded a goal and an assist in the Stars’ 4-1 win in Game 2 on Saturday, his third two-point game of the postseason... Mavrik Bourque (3-7-10) recorded two more assists, giving him 10 points in four playoff games and 3-11-14 in his last seven outings overall... Remi Poirier (4-0, 1.75, .940) stopped 32 of 33 shots in Game 2 for Texas... The Admirals, who will need three straight wins at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena to advance to the division finals, owned the AHL’s second-best home record (27-9-0-0) during the regular season... Milwaukee is also 14-3-1-1 at home against Texas (including postseason) going back to March 2019... Ozzy Wiesblatt scored the Admirals’ only goal in Game 2, the first playoff tally of his pro career... Yaroslav Askarov (0-2, 4.13, .840) has allowed eight goals on 50 shots in the series for Milwaukee, and now has a 3.48 GAA and an .876 save percentage in seven starts against the Stars this season... The Admirals won three games when facing elimination during the 2023 postseason... Twelve teams in AHL history have won a best-of-five series after losing the first two games, most recently Rochester (vs. Syracuse) in 2023.

C2-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. C3-Rockford IceHogs
(Grand Rapids wins series, 3-1)

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 4, ROCKFORD 2 | Recap

P1-Coachella Valley Firebirds vs. P7-Calgary Wranglers
Game 3 – Tonight, 10:00 ET,
(Series tied, 1-1)

Game 1 – Fri., May 3 – CALGARY 4, Coachella Valley 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 5 – Coachella Valley 4, CALGARY 3 (OT) | Recap
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
Coachella Valley hosts Calgary in Game 3 of their Pacific Division semifinal series tonight after earning a split of the first two games north of the border... The Firebirds’ 4-3 overtime victory on Sunday evened the best-of-five series at a game apiece... Devin Shore scored the winning goal 7:54 into the extra period, his first postseason tally since 2015 when he was a 20-year-old just out of the University of Maine skating for the Texas Stars... Game 2 was scoreless until late in the second period, before the teams combined to score six goals in a span of 18:12... Kole Lind, Max McCormick and Andrew Poturalski – three key returnees from Coachella Valley’s 2023 Calder Cup finalist team – all had a goal and an assist in Game 2... Chris Driedger (1-1) made 30 saves for the Firebirds to earn the first postseason victory of his 10-year pro career... Cole Schwindt scored twice and Sam Morton once in the third period as Calgary built 2-1 and 3-2 leads in Game 2... Dustin Wolf stopped 26 shots for the Wranglers but fell to 4-5 in playoff overtime games, including 0-3 against Coachella Valley... The Firebirds are home tonight for the first time in these playoffs; they were 20-10-3-3 at Acrisure Arena during the regular season and were 12-4 home ice last postseason, outscoring their opponents 62-33... Calgary is 0-for-9 on the power play through the first two games of the series; Coachella Valley is 1-for-6.

P3-Ontario Reign vs. P5-Abbotsford Canucks
Game 3 – Tonight, 10:00 ET,
(Ontario leads series, 2-0)

Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – ONTARIO 3, Abbotsford 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sun., May 5 – ONTARIO 4, Abbotsford 0 | Recap
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
The Ontario Reign are a win away from the division finals as they head to Abbotsford to take on the Canucks in Game 3 of their best-of-five series tonight... The Reign have outscored their opponents 15-3 over the first four games of their postseason run, including 3-1 and 4-0 victories over the Canucks last week... Erik Portillo (4-0, 0.75, .972) made 29 saves in Sunday’s Game 2 shutout victory and has now stopped 103 of 106 shots to begin his playoff career... Going back to the regular season, Portillo has won 11 of his last 12 starts... Akil Thomas (2-1-3), Charles Hudon (2-1-3), Andre Lee (2-0-2) and Tyler Madden (4-1-5) scored in Game 2 for the Reign, who are 23-4-0-1 since Feb. 23... AHL All-Rookie defenseman Brandt Clarke (0-4-4) added two assists in the win... Zach Sawchenko (2-3, 2.74, .908) made his fifth consecutive start in net for the Canucks and turned aside 22 shots on Sunday... Abbotsford is on home ice tonight for the first time since finishing the regular season with a pair of wins over Calgary, Apr. 19-20... The Canucks were 20-13-3-0 at Abbotsford Centre in 2023-24, including three wins in four visits by Ontario... The Reign were 23-12-1-0 away from home during the regular season, the third-best road record in the AHL... Sunday marked the first shutout by Ontario in their Calder Cup Playoff history.

The Milwaukee Admirals are looking to the past as a template for what they hope can become a successful week.

With the Admirals facing elimination by Texas in Game 3 of the teams’ best-of-five Central Division Semifinal series tonight, they face the task of having to defeat the Stars in back-to-back games even to force a winner-take-all Game 5 that would be played Sunday.

It is a difficult order, but they have done it before. Milwaukee defeated the Stars on back-to-back nights at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Jan. 19-20. Those victories came in the early portion of what eventually grew to become a 19-game winning streak for the Admirals, the second-longest such streak in AHL history.

Take Game 3, then Game 4, and then winning this series comes down to one game, Admirals defenseman Roland McKeown reasons. That said, the club also knows that doing so will require breaking down the task to a shift-by-shift approach.

“We’ve got to know that we can do that again,” McKeown told reporters yesterday. “Then Game 5 is a coin toss. You go out there and put your best foot forward, and that’s what we’re going to do.

“Let’s be that team that is hard to put out.”

The Coachella Valley Firebirds worked more than six months for the reward of having home-ice advantage through the Western Conference side of the Calder Cup Playoff bracket.

And it is quite the advantage for the Firebirds, who will take the Acrisure Arena ice tonight for their first home playoff game since Game 7 of last year’s Finals.

Coachella Valley ranked fifth in the AHL in attendance during the regular season, averaging 8,844 fans per game. The 10,087-seat building was sold out six times during the 2023 postseason, including all four home dates during the Calder Cup Finals.

There is an obvious parallel between the Firebirds’ current playoff series with Calgary and last year’s meeting, when the teams split the first two games in Alberta before Coachella Valley won two of three at home – both in overtime – to advance.

Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma has worked on hockey’s biggest stages, including the Stanley Cup Final and the Olympics, and knows quite well what kind of mood that fans can set.

“It’s unbelievable,” Bylsma said of the Acrisure Arena environment. “Our fans and our building and the atmosphere, it feels like an NHL playoff game. There’s a different level to the playoffs in the National Hockey League in terms of the fans and energy in the building in how they back the team, how they motivate the team. We have that.

“Our fans are electric. Fortunately for us, we get it all year long, and it’s amplified in the playoffs. It almost feels like we’ve got 10,000 people on the ice playing for us.”

― with files from Patrick Williams

In Tuesday’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, Vincent Trocheck scored 7:24 into the second overtime to lift the New York Rangers to a 4-3 victory over Carolina in Game 2 of their series... Igor Shesterkin made 54 saves for the Rangers... Jake Guentzel scored twice for the Hurricanes... Miles Wood scored at 11:03 of OT as Colorado defeated Dallas, 4-3, in Game 1 of their series... Jamie Benn, a Calder Cup finalist with Texas in 2010, had a goal and an assist for the Stars... On Monday night, Mason Lohrei and Justin Brazeau scored their first career NHL playoff goals in Boston’s 5-1 win at Florida... Lohrei and Brazeau were both recalled from Providence to make their NHL debuts earlier this season.

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.