LOOKING BACK:
In a game that saw both teams score twice in the final 109 seconds, Chicago came away with a 4-3 win in San Antonio on Thursday night… Hamilton needed a 10-round shootout to pull out a 4-3 win at Manitoba on Thursday… In Wednesday night’s action, Quintin Laing’s hat trick helped Hershey to a 7-4 victory over Albany… Joel Lundqvist got the overtime winner in Iowa’s 4-3 decision at Grand Rapids… Milwaukee ran its points streak to nine games (7-0-0-2) with a 3-2 win in Omaha.
Wed 12/20
Hershey 7, ALBANY 4… Iowa 4, GRAND RAPIDS 3 (OT)… Manchester 3, LOWELL 2… MANITOBA 2, Hamilton 1 (OT)… Milwaukee 3, OMAHA 2… NORFOLK 6, Bridgeport 2
Thu 12/21
Chicago 4, SAN ANTONIO 3… Hamilton 4, MANITOBA 3 (SO)
LOOKING AHEAD:
Darren Haydar looks for an early Christmas present – a place in the American Hockey League record book – as he takes a 30-game scoring streak into Chicago’s weekend tilts at Houston (Friday) and home vs. San Antonio (Saturday)… Haydar has recorded 61 points and a plus-20 rating to reach the cusp of Mike Richard’s AHL-best 31 games with a point, a mark that has stood for nearly two decades… The Wolves, meanwhile, have won a league-high 21 games and are a combined 6-0-0-0 against the two Texas teams this season… Brett Sterling’s hat trick for Chicago on Thursday night marked his 10th multiple-goal game of the year.
Norfolk can hit the holiday break alone atop the East Division with a pair of wins this weekend, hosting Hershey on Friday and visiting Wilkes-Barre on Saturday… Just one point separates those teams, who own the three best records in the Eastern Conference, and they are on a combined 15-0-2-2 streak… Brandon Bochenski has 10 points (3g, 7a) and Martin St. Pierre has nine (4g, 5a) in four games since both rejoined the Admirals last week… Norfolk’s Corey Crawford leads the AHL with 16 wins, but is 0-4-0 against the Bears and Penguins this season… Wilkes-Barre has won 13 of its last 14 meetings with Norfolk; including last year’s playoffs, Hershey has won seven in a row over the Admirals.
Worcester tries to snap a seven-game home losing streak when Manchester visits the DCU Center on Friday night… Fortunately for the Sharks, they are 5-1-0-1 in their last seven on the road and are still in the thick of the wild Atlantic Division race, seven points behind the tied-for-first-place Monarchs entering the weekend… Manchester has won six of its last seven, with Konstantin Pushkarev leading the way with six points (4g, 2a) in that span… Monarchs rookie Matt Moulson has three goals in his last three games… Worcester kicked of a stretch of 20 straight games against division foes on Dec. 8, and is 1-3-0-1 a quarter of the way through it… Graham Mink has recorded 10 points in 10 games for the Sharks this season.
(all times Eastern)
Fri 12/22
San Antonio at Omaha, ppd… Springfield at Hartford, 7:00… Manchester at Worcester, 7:00… Binghamton at Philadelphia, 7:05… Providence at Portland, 7:05… Bridgeport at W-B/Scranton, 7:05… Hershey at Norfolk, 7:15… Albany at Hamilton, 7:30… Toronto at Rochester, 7:35… Milwaukee at Iowa, 8:05… Grand Rapids at Peoria, 8:30… Chicago at Houston, 8:35
Sat 12/23
Manchester at Bridgeport, 7:00… Providence at Hartford, 7:00… Philadelphia at Hershey, 7:00… Lowell at Worcester, 7:00… Rochester at Binghamton, 7:05… Springfield at Portland, 7:05… Norfolk at W-B/Scranton, 7:05… Albany at Syracuse, 7:30… San Antonio at Chicago, 8:00… Milwaukee at Omaha, 8:00
Sun 12/24
No games scheduled
Mon 12/25
No games scheduled
Tue 12/26
Peoria at Grand Rapids, 7:00… Hartford at Worcester, 7:00… Syracuse at Binghamton, 7:05… Hamilton at Rochester, 7:05… Philadelphia at W-B/Scranton, 7:05… Hershey at Bridgeport, 7:30… Chicago at Milwaukee, 8:00… San Antonio at Houston, 8:05… Omaha at Iowa, 8:05
ALUMNI WATCH:
On Thursday, Janis Sprukts recorded an assist for his first NHL point in Florida’s 3-2 win over the New York Rangers… David Backes netted his first NHL goal to help St. Louis beat Los Angeles, 5-2.
BY THE NUMBERS:
28.0 — Shooting percentage of Peoria forward Charles Linglet this season (14 goals on 50 shots), tops in the AHL… Leaguewide, skaters are scoring on 9.9 percent of their shots on goal through Thursday’s games.
AHL ON B2 NETWORKS:
B2 Networks brings AHL action to your computer all season long with live video webcasts of nearly every AHL game… Visit theahl.com for details.
