AHL Quick Hits — March 9-11, 2007


LOOKING BACK:
On Wednesday, Jordan Parise made 39 saves and Lowell scored three times in the third period to take a 4-3 decision from Albany… Mark Hartigan recorded a goal and two assists to lead Portland past Worcester, 4-1… Junior Lessard scored twice and Dan Ellis made 22 stops in Iowa’s 3-0 win over Omaha.

Wed 3/7
CHICAGO 4, Houston 1… LOWELL 4, Albany 3… MANCHESTER 4, Hartford 1… NORFOLK 4, W-B/Scranton 2… Iowa 3, OMAHA 0… PORTLAND 4, Worcester 1

Thu 3/8
No games scheduled


LOOKING AHEAD:
Bruce Boudreau brings his defending champion Hershey Bears into Manchester on Friday night for a heavyweight Eastern Conference battle… Boudreau coached the Monarchs for four seasons from 2001-05, then won the Calder Cup in his first year with the Bears… Both teams come in with 85 points, second-most in the AHL… Chris Bourque is carrying a six-game scoring streak for Hershey (3g, 4a), while Joey Tenute has points in five straight (2g, 5a)… Two-time Stanley Cup champion defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky has picked up two goals and four assists in three games since joining the Monarchs… Marty Murray, a Calder Cup champion with Saint John in 2001, also has six points in his last three games for Manchester… Hershey is 5-1-3-1 against the Atlantic Division this season; Manchester is 4-2-4-0 vs. the East.

Just like in-state neighbors Hershey and Wilkes-Barre, Philadelphia is also playing three road games this weekend; the Phantoms begin in Providence on Friday… The Bruins have won four straight by a combined score of 19-5, and are 19-5-0-1 overall since Jan. 7… Philly is 6-2-0-1 in its last nine, closing to within five points of fourth place in the East Division… The Phantoms’ Mark Cullen has two goals and three assists in three games back after missing five weeks with a broken hand… David Krejci, who skated for the parent Boston Bruins on Thursday, has points in 17 of his last 18 games for the P-Bruins (14g, 15a)… Providence is the only team in the AHL with a perfect record when leading after two periods (26-0-0-0).

Peoria continues a seven-game road trip in San Antonio on Friday night… The Rivermen are playing 22 games (15 on the road) over the final 38 days of the regular season, and enter the weekend tied with Iowa for fourth place in the West Division, 10 points ahead of the Rampage… The game marks the first meeting between twin brothers Peter and Chris Ferraro since 2001… Peter has one goal and two assists in two games since joining Peoria last week; Chris has five points and a plus-6 rating in his last three games for San Antonio… Alex Leavitt, the reigning CCM Vector/AHL Player of the Week, has seven points in three games in a Rampage sweater… Trent Whitfield has 17 points (6g, 11a) in 13 games since the All-Star break for the Rivermen, who are 8-2-1-2 in that time.

(all times Eastern)
Fri 3/9
Lowell at Albany, 7:00… Hartford at Worcester, 7:00… Philadelphia at Providence, 7:05… Binghamton at Norfolk, 7:15… W-B/Scranton at Bridgeport, 7:30… Hershey at Manchester, 7:35… Syracuse at Rochester, 7:35… Portland at Springfield, 7:35… Hamilton at Milwaukee, 8:00… Grand Rapids at Omaha, 8:00… Peoria at San Antonio, 8:00… Iowa at Manitoba, 8:30

Sat 3/10
Rochester at Albany, 5:00… Philadelphia at Bridgeport, 7:00… Lowell at Hartford, 7:00… Hamilton at Toronto, 7:00… Manchester at Worcester, 7:00… Hershey at Portland, 7:05… Providence at Springfield, 7:05… Binghamton at Norfolk, 7:15… W-B/Scranton at Syracuse, 7:30… Milwaukee at Chicago, 8:00… Grand Rapids at Omaha, 8:00… Iowa at Manitoba, 8:30… Peoria at Houston, 8:35

Sun 3/11
Hershey at Bridgeport, 3:00… Peoria at Chicago, 4:00… Springfield at Hartford, 4:00… Hamilton at Toronto, 4:00… Philadelphia at Portland, 4:05… Lowell at Providence, 4:05… Syracuse at Albany, 5:00… W-B/Scranton at Rochester, 6:05

Mon 3/12
No games scheduled

Tue 3/13
Syracuse at W-B/Scranton, 7:05


ALUMNI WATCH:
On Thursday, 2007 AHL All-Star Andy Greene scored his first career NHL goal for New Jersey in a 4-3 shootout win over Pittsburgh… 2006 Baz Bastien Award winner and AHL All-Star Dany Sabourin stopped 26 shots for Vancouver in a 4-2 win at Phoenix… On Wednesday, Geoff Platt had two points, including his first career NHL goal, to lead Columbus past Los Angeles, 3-2.


BY THE NUMBERS:
62
— Consecutive road penalty kills without allowing a goal for the Iowa Stars, spanning their last 13 road games since Dec. 29… Iowa, 11-1-1-0 in those games, takes an eight-game road winning streak to Winnipeg this weekend.


AHL ON B2 NETWORKS:
B2 Networks brings AHL action to your computer, web-enabled cell phone or PDA all season long with live video webcasts of nearly every AHL game… Visit theahl.com for details.