AHL Morning Skate: Nov. 25

Last night’s results || Today’s scoreboard || Standings || League Leaders

tor @ stj 6:00 ET, AHL Live
Division leaders St. John’s and Toronto open a two-game weekend set at Mile One Centre tonight… The game marks the return of the Maple Leafs’ affiliate to St. John’s, where they played from 1991-2005 before moving to Toronto and becoming the Marlies… The host IceCaps have the AHL’s best record at 12-3-3-0, including seven wins in their last eight games, and they lead the league in offense at 3.72 goals per game… Spencer Machacek has points in four straight contests (1-5-6) for St. John’s… Toronto comes to town on a four-game winning streak, taking all four games by a single goal… The Marlies lead the league in penalty killing allowing just seven goals in 80 times shorthanded (91.3 percent), including a 42-for-45 effort (93.3%) on the road… Nazem Kadri has 1-5-6 in his last four contests for Toronto… Marlies head coach Dallas Eakins played for the St. John’s Maple Leafs in 1998-99.

spr @ adk 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Adirondack returns home to take on Springfield tonight in the second of four meetings between the teams this season… The Phantoms were on the short end of a 5-2 decision in Binghamton last night, and remain one point behind the Falcons (as well as Albany and Bridgeport) for second place in the Northeast Division… Tom Sestito scored both goals for Adirondack last night, ending an eight-game drought… Johan Backlund made his season debut for the Phantoms and stopped all 15 shots he faced in 31 minutes of work… Springfield has won three straight and seven of nine, and Martin St. Pierre‘s current 10-game scoring streak (3-13-16) is the longest in the AHL this season… Falcons rookie Cam Atkinson has 7-2-9 in his last eight games.

ct @ bri 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Connecticut makes a visit to the Webster Bank Arena to face off against Bridgeport tonight… Each of the teams’ first three meetings this season required extra time, most recently the Whale’s 3-2 overtime win last Friday… Connecticut, which has seen nine of its first 17 games go beyond regulation, has won three straight games — two in OT and one in a shootout… Whale defenseman Brendan Bell has 3-1-4 in those three games, including both overtime winners… Rookie Tim Erixon had three assists in Wednesday’s 3-2 Connecticut win over Portland… Bridgeport, off since Sunday’s 5-3 win over Adirondack, has points in eight of its last 11 games (6-3-2-0)… Rhett Rakhshani made his season debut Sunday and recorded two assists for the Sound Tigers… Jeremy Colliton scored Sunday, the first goal in 12 games for the Bridgeport captain.

okc @ gr 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Oklahoma City begins a three-game, three-day road trip with a visit to Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids tonight… The Barons are two points out of first place in the West Division and sport a 6-2-0-0 road record on the year… Philippe Cornet (12-2-14) and former Griffin Ryan Keller (5-9-14) lead Oklahoma City in scoring this season… Grand Rapids snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over Hamilton on Wednesday night… Defenseman Doug Janik has 2-6-8 in his last six games for the Griffins… The teams split a pair of meetings back in OKC on Oct. 21-22.

wor @ por 7:00 ET, AHL Live
Worcester and Portland kick off their 12-game season series with a home-and-home this weekend, beginning tonight at the Cumberland County Civic Center… The visiting Sharks are 2-5-2-0 in nine games in November after starting off 4-0-0-2 in October… Tommy Wingels had the Worcester goal in a 2-1 loss at Manchester on Wednesday night… Portland has earned points in five straight contests, although their four-game win streak ended with a 3-2 overtime loss at Connecticut on Wednesday… Pirates rookie Evan Bloodoff had a goal and an assist in the loss, his first two professional points.

her @ wbs 7:05 ET, AHL Live
Hershey and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton renew acquaintances at Mohegan Sun Arena tonight… The Bears snapped a four-game winless skid with a 4-3 win over Providence on Wednesday, and can now boast points in five of their last six (2-1-1-2)… Keith Aucoin (4-20-24) had three assists to take over the league lead with 20 helpers on the season… Former Penguin Dany Sabourin made 24 saves for Hershey on Wednesday, earning his first win since Oct. 23… The Pens are stuck in an 0-2-0-2 slide after Wednesday’s 7-5 loss to Syracuse… Wilkes-Barre is in first place in the East Division despite a 2-4-1-1 record at home… Bryan Lerg scored twice in Wednesday’s loss, his first two goals since scoring six times in the first seven games of the year… Colin McDonald leads all scorers in the season series with 2-4-6 in four games vs. Hershey.

bng @ syr 7:30 ET, AHL Live
Binghamton heads up Interstate 81 to visit Syracuse tonight, the Senators’ first trip to the War Memorial this season… The Sens were 5-2 winners over Adirondack last night, with Mark Parrish (2-1-3), Derek Grant (1-2-3) and Nikita Filatov (1-2-3) recording three points each… It was the second straight three-point game for both Parrish and Filatov… Mike McKenna stopped 37 of 39 shots in last night’s win… Syracuse allowed 54 shots to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday — the most in an AHL game this season — but pulled out a 7-5 win behind three-point efforts from Kyle Palmieri (2-1-3) and Peter Holland (1-2-3)… Iiro Tarkki made 49 saves in the victory.

pro @ nor 7:30 ET, AHL Live
Providence tries to snap a four-game winless streak (0-3-0-1) with the first of a two-game set in Norfolk tonight… The Bruins are making their first appearance to Scope since Feb. 27, 2009, and have not lost in Norfolk since Dec. 27, 2006 (2-0-0-0)… Providence defenseman David Warsofsky has 1-4-5 in the Bruins’ last four games… The Admirals kicked off a six-game homestand with a 6-3 loss to Charlotte on Wednesday night… Cory Conacher‘s scoring streak stands at eight games (6-4-10), and he continues to lead all AHL rookies in scoring with 10-12-22 on the year — three points more than teammate Carter Ashton (10-9-19).

ham @ le 7:30 ET, AHL Live
Hamilton and Lake Erie square off at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland tonight… The Bulldogs won the first meeting of the season between the clubs, a 1-0 decision on Nov. 5 behind Nathan Lawson‘s 24-save shutout… Hamilton is 1-4-0-1 in its last six games, and Lawson is 0-3-1 in four decisions since that shutout… Cedrick Desjardins, who played 92 games with Hamilton over his first four pro seasons, is 4-2-1 in seven appearances in net for the Monsters, and leads the AHL with a .947 save percentage while ranking second with a 1.70 GAA… Lake Erie is 3-0-0-1 in its last four games and is 7-4-0-1 since opening the season with six straight losses… Greg Mauldin is on a four-game scoring streak (1-5-6) for the Monsters.

alb @ RCH 7:35 ET, AHL Live
Albany puts its eight-game points streak (6-0-1-1) on the line as the Devils visit Rochester tonight… It’s the first of four meetings this season between the in-state rivals; last season, Jeff Frazee shut out the Amerks in both of Albany’s visits to the Blue Cross Arena… Nathan Perkovich, who had 0-1-1 in his first 12 games this season, now has a goal in three straight for the Devils (3-0-3)… The Amerks’ four-game winning streak ended with a pair of losses to Toronto last weekend, dropping them four points behind the first-place Marlies in the North Division… Rochester leading scorer Zack Kassian (7-7-14) was recalled by Buffalo yesterday… Rookie Marcus Foligno is tied for the Amerks’ team lead with seven goals.

peo @ rfd 8:05 ET, AHL Live
Peoria and Rockford collide for their sixth of 12 meetings this season… The teams have combined for 41 goals in their first five get-togethers, with the Rivermen (3-2-0-0) holding a 6-5 points advantage over the IceHogs (2-2-1-0)… T.J. Hensick leads the AHL in scoring with 6-19-25 in 19 games, including 3-6-9 in five contests vs. Rockford… Peoria, in the midst of playing nine straight road games, has lost two in a row and is four points behind first-place Charlotte in the Midwest Division… The IceHogs snapped a six-game home losing streak with a 6-3 win over San Antonio on Wednesday night… Brandon Pirri recorded a hat trick in the win, and now has 4-4-8 in his last four games… Brian Connelly recorded four assists for Rockford on Wednesday, and Rostislav Olesz (3-3-6) had his third straight two-point night since joining the IceHogs.

tex @ hou 8:35 ET, AHL Live
Texas visits the Toyota Center for the front end of a home-and-home series with Houston… The teams split a pair of meetings last weekend, and the Stars’ 3-2 overtime win on Nov. 18 stands as their only victory in their last six (1-4-0-1)… Jordie Benn recorded a goal and an assist in Wednesday’s 3-2 Texas loss to Chicago, giving him 3-2-5 in his last five games… Houston, 2-0-1-1 in its last four games, enters the weekend two points out of first place in the West Division… Aeros goalie Matt Hackett made 23 saves in Sunday’s 1-0 shootout loss to Abbotsford… Jon DiSalvatore (7-11-18) leads Houston in scoring on the season… Texas leads the AHL in road power-play efficiency, scoring 11 goals in 35 chances (31.4 percent).

sa @ abb 10:00 ET, AHL Live
San Antonio and Abbotsford begin a two-game weekend set in B.C. tonight… The Rampage erased an early 3-0 lead but ultimately dropped a 6-3 decision in Rockford on Wednesday night… Evan Barlow, who played eight games for the Heat in 2009-10, tallied a goal and an assist for San Antonio on Wednesday… Bracken Kearns extended his scoring streak to four games with an assist (1-4-5)… Abbotsford is returning home with the best record in the Western Conference (13-5-1-0) after a 6-1-0-0 road trip… Leland Irving was the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week last week, going 3-1-0 with two shutouts… Krys Kolanos (9-8-17), Jon Rheault (9-8-17) and Greg Nemisz (7-10-17) share the lead atop the Heat scoring page for the season.