AHL Quick Hits

LOOKING BACK:
On Wednesday night, Jonathan Bernier snapped a personal five-game winless skid with 33 saves in Manchester’s 2-1 win at Lowell… Jerome Samson notched a hat trick to lead Albany past Adirondack, 6-2… Evgeny Dadonov had a goal and an assist as Rochester beat Lake Erie, 3-1… Former Crunch players Jeremy Reich (1g), Mark Flood (1g), Greg Mauldin (1g) and Brett Motherwell (3a) paced Bridgeport to a 5-2 win over Syracuse… Brock Trotter scored twice in Hamilton’s 7-1 decision over Manitoba.

Wed 3/24
Albany 6, ADIRONDACK 2
Toronto 5, BINGHAMTON 2
BRIDGEPORT 5, Syracuse 2
Rochester 3, LAKE ERIE 1
Manchester 2, LOWELL 1
Hamilton 7, MANITOBA 1
W-B/Scranton 3, NORFOLK 0
PEORIA 4, Chicago 2

Thu 3/25
Grand Rapids 3, MILWAUKEE 2


LOOKING AHEAD:
Worcester kicks off a seven-game road stretch with a visit to Hershey on Friday in a battle of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference… The Sharks have won seven of their last eight, including a 6-2 romp over the Bears on Mar. 14… Alex Stalock set an AHL rookie record with his 36th victory of the season for Worcester on Tuesday… Andrew Desjardins scored twice in Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Syracuse, running his scoring streak to seven games (5-6-11)… John McCarthy also has points in seven straight (4-4-8) for Worcester, and his plus-32 rating for the season ranks third among AHL rookies… The Bears, who had their AHL-record 24-game home winning streak snapped by Adirondack on Sunday, are still eyeing the league mark of 33 home wins in a season… Chris Bourque (3-6-9) and Kyle Wilson (3-4-7) are both on five-game scoring streaks for Hershey, while Andrew Gordon has five goals in his last three outings.

Seven points out of a playoff spot entering the weekend, Peoria visits third-place Rockford on Friday before a two-game home set with Houston on Saturday and Sunday… The Rivermen sport a 5-2-0-2 mark against the IceHogs this season, including last Friday’s 3-1 victory at the MetroCentre… Joe Fallon (18-14-1, 2.70, .911), who began the year with Rockford, has started seven of Peoria’s last nine games in net… Pascal Pelletier , another former IceHog, has 3-4-7 in his last four contests for the Rivermen… Peoria is 5-2-1-1 in its last nine road games… Rockford, which has hit the 40-win mark for the third consecutive season since joining the AHL, saw its six-game home winning streak snapped with a pair of losses last weekend… Bracken Kearns continues to lead the IceHogs in both assists (33) and points (48)… Corey Crawford is 4-1-1 against the Rivermen this season.

Toronto continues its climb towards a playoff berth on Friday night when Syracuse hosts the Marlies at the War Memorial… The Marlies’ power play unit, ranked last in the AHL entering the game, scored four times with the man advantage en route to a 5-2 win at Binghamton on Wednesday night… Toronto is now 6-0-1-0 in its last seven games and just five points behind fourth-place Manitoba in the North Division… Kyle Calder has 4-6-10 in those seven games, Tim Brent has tallied 3-5-8 in his last six matches and Ryan Hamilton carries a four-game scoring streak (4-1-5) into the weekend… This is the second and final meeting of the year between the former division foes; the Crunch took a 4-3 shootout decision back on Jan. 24… Syracuse is playing six of its final eight games at home.

(all times Eastern)
Fri 3/26
Milwaukee @ Grand Rapids, 7:00
Adirondack @ Hartford, 7:00
Worcester @ Hershey, 7:00
Springfield @ Lowell, 7:00
Portland @ Providence, 7:05
Binghamton @ Rochester, 7:05
W-B/Scranton @ Norfolk, 7:15
Bridgeport @ Manchester, 7:30
Toronto @ Syracuse, 7:30
Peoria @ Rockford, 8:05
Texas @ Chicago, 8:30
Lake Erie @ Houston, 8:35
Hamilton @ Abbotsford, 10:30

Sat 3/27
Rochester @ Toronto, 4:00
Hamilton @ Abbotsford, 7:00
Texas @ Grand Rapids, 7:00
Bridgeport @ Hartford, 7:00
W-B/Scranton @ Hershey, 7:00
Adirondack @ Manchester, 7:00
Springfield @ Portland, 7:00
Worcester @ Norfolk, 7:15
Albany @ Syracuse, 7:30
Houston @ Peoria, 8:00
Lake Erie @ San Antonio, 8:00
Chicago @ Rockford, 8:05

Sun 3/28
Toronto @ Rochester, 3:00
Albany @ Springfield, 3:00
Worcester @ W-B/Scranton, 3:05
Texas @ Chicago, 4:00
Bridgeport @ Lowell, 4:00
Houston @ Peoria, 4:00
Hartford @ Portland, 4:00
Lake Erie @ San Antonio, 4:00
Manchester @ Providence, 4:05
Binghamton @ Hershey, 5:00

Mon 3/29
Manitoba @ Abbotsford, 10:30

Tue 3/30
Manitoba @ Abbotsford, 10:30


ALUMNI WATCH:
On Thursday, 2010 AHL All-Stars Bryan Rodney (Carolina) and John Carlson (Washington) scored their first career NHL goals in the Hurricanes’ 3-2 shootout win over the Capitals… Oskars Bartulis scored his first NHL goal in Philadelphia’s 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota… Mike Blunden scored his first NHL goal to help Columbus over Chicago, 8-3… Mark Flood logged 10:49 of ice time in his NHL debut for the N.Y. Islanders vs. Calgary.


BY THE NUMBERS:
26 — Trips to overtime taken by Bridgeport this season, most in the AHL… The league record is held by Milwaukee, which played 29 overtime games in 2006-07.


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