AHL Quick Hits: Aeros, Admirals heat up West race

LOOKING BACK:
In Thursday’s only action, David Spina netted a pair of goals as San Antonio doubled up Peoria, 4-2 … On Wednesday, Mike Ouellette tallied a hat trick to help Hartford drop Lowell, 8-2… Alexander Nikulin scored twice and added an assist to lead Binghamton over Hamilton, 7-1… Daniel Taylor posted a 31-save shutout as Manchester downed Portland, 2-0.

Wed 3/26
Hartford 8, LOWELL 2
SYRACUSE 3, Toronto 2 (SO)
MANCHESTER 2, Portland 0
BINGHAMTON 7, Hamilton 1
Bridgeport 3, W-B/SCRANTON 2
Manitoba 4, ROCHESTER 1
GRAND RAPIDS 6, Lake Erie 1
Hershey 4, NORFOLK 1


LOOKING AHEAD:
Bridgeport, five points back of Hershey for the East Division’s final playoff spot, welcomes the Bears to the Arena at Harbor Yard for a pivotal game on Friday… The Sound Tigers, who will also host Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hartford this weekend, have won three of their last four games and are 18-9-0-2 since Jan. 16… Colton Fretter has six goals in his last five games for the Sound Tigers, and rookie Trevor Smith has tallied a point in four of his last five contests (2-3-5)… Ben Walter leads Bridgeport’s active roster with 17 goals and 49 points, and he has a team-high seven points (2-5-7) in four games against Hershey… The Bears enter as winners of three straight after dropping nine of their previous 11… Alexandre Giroux has notched 19 points (9-10-19) in 15 games since rejoining the Bears on Feb. 26… Kyle Wilson (3-3-6) and Chris Bourque (1-3-4) each have a four-game scoring streak for Hershey.

Chicago visits intra-state rival Rockford on Friday in a battle of the West Division’s top two teams… The Wolves boast a 12-point lead over Rockford, and only five points separate the second-place IceHogs from fifth-place Milwaukee… Chicago is 5-2-0-0 against the IceHogs this season, but Rockford has taken two of the three meetings at the MetroCentre thus far… Wolves center Jason Krog leads the AHL in goals (35), assists (62), and points (97), while Rockford’s Martin St. Pierre ranks second in both assists (61) and points (81)… Krog enters with a goal in five of his last six games (5-6-11) and a point in seven of his last eight… Wolves goaltender Ondrej Pavelec leads all rookies and ranks second overall with 29 wins on the season (29-12-2)… Petri Kontiola has a point in eight of his last nine games (3-8-11) for Rockford.

After visiting Rochester on Friday, Manitoba travels to Toronto on Saturday for the first of four clashes with the North-leading Marlies over the season’s final 16 days… The Moose, winners of 10 straight games overall and eight straight on the road, enter the weekend six points back of Toronto for the division’s top spot… Brad Moran has team-high 69 points (20-49-69) for the Moose and is currently riding a seven-game scoring streak (4-11-15)… Second-year pro Jannik Hansen has a goal in three straight games and a point in his last six contests (4-5-9)… Manitoba goaltenders Drew MacIntyre and Cory Schneider have combined to go 10-0-1 with a 1.08 GAA and .958 save percentage since Mar. 1… David Ling leads the Marlies with 51 points (13-38-51), and John Mitchell paces the active roster with a career-high 17 goals (17-23-40)… Ten different players have scored the game-winning goal in Toronto’s last 10 victories.

(all times Eastern)

Fri 3/28
Worcester @ Hartford, 7:00
Milwaukee @ Grand Rapids, 7:00
Lowell @ Portland, 7:05
Springfield @ Providence, 7:05
Binghamton @ Philadelphia, 7:05
Hamilton @ W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Manchester @ Norfolk, 7:15
Hershey @ Bridgeport, 7:30
Albany @ Syracuse, 7:30
Toronto @ Lake Erie, 7:30
Manitoba @ Rochester, 7:35
Quad City @ Iowa, 8:07
Chicago @ Rockford, 8:30
Peoria @ Houston, 8:35
Sat 3/29
Springfield @ Hartford, 7:00
W-B/Scranton @ Bridgeport, 7:00
Hamilton @ Hershey, 7:00
Rochester @ Grand Rapids, 7:00
Manitoba @ Toronto, 7:00
Worcester @ Lowell, 7:05
Portland @ Providence, 7:05
Manchester @ Norfolk, 7:15
Lake Erie @ Syracuse, 7:30
Houston @ Chicago, 8:00
Peoria @ San Antonio, 8:00
Milwaukee @ Quad City, 8:05
Rockford @ Iowa, 8:07
Sun 3/30
Hartford @ Bridgeport, 4:00
Lake Erie @ Toronto, 4:00
Albany @ Portland, 4:05
Worcester @ Providence, 4:05
Manchester @ Hershey, 5:00
Grand Rapids @ Chicago, 5:00
Houston @ Milwaukee, 5:00
Iowa @ Rockford, 5:05
Hamilton @ Philadelphia, 5:05
Binghamton @ Rochester, 6:05
Mon 3/31
No Games Scheduled
 
Tue 4/1
Quad City @ Iowa, 8:07
Chicago @ Manitoba, 8:30


ALUMNI WATCH:
2007 AHL All-Star Tomas Fleischmann netted the overtime game-winner to give Washington a 4-3 win over Tampa Bay on Thursday… On Wednesday, 2008 AHL All-Star Clay Wilson tallied his first career NHL goal as Columbus dropped Chicago, 4-0… 2008 AHL All-Star Bobby Ryan lit the lamp in Anaheim’s 2-1 shootout win over Los Angeles.


BY THE NUMBERS:
4,000 — Regular-season games in Rochester’s 52-year history, a milestone that will be achieved at home on Friday against Manitoba… Through the years, the Americans have totaled 14 division titles and six Calder Cups.


AHL ON B2 NETWORKS:
B2 Networks brings AHL action to your computer all season long with live video webcasts of every AHL game… Visit theahl.com for details.