LOOKING BACK:
In Wednesday’s action, Chris Minard netted his second hat trick of the season as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton doubled up Syracuse, 6-3… Hamilton goaltender Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 of 36 shots to lead the Bulldogs past Rockford, 2-1… Rookie Derek Joslin had a goal and an assist in Worcester’s 3-1 win over Hershey… Rookie Colin McDonald tallied two regulation goals as Springfield edged Lowell in a shootout, 4-3.
Wed 1/2
Portland 3, HARTFORD 2 (SO)
Springfield 4, LOWELL 3 (SO)
WORCESTER 3, Hershey 1
W-B/SCRANTON 6, Syracuse 3
TORONTO 2, Rochester 0
Hamilton 2, ROCKFORD 1
CHICAGO 4, Milwaukee 1
Thu 1/3
No games scheduled
LOOKING AHEAD:
First place in the West Division is on the line when Chicago makes its first-ever visit to the Rockford MetroCentre on Friday night… The Wolves have won six of their last seven (6-1-0-0) overall as well as all three meetings with the IceHogs this season… The game features the AHL’s top two scorers in Chicago’s Jason Krog (14-35-49) and Rockford’s Martin St. Pierre (13-31-44), as well as Wolves forward Brett Sterling, who is second in the league with 20 goals in just 29 games… Krog is riding a 10-game scoring streak (5-18-23), while St. Pierre has a point in an AHL season-high 14 straight outings (5-15-20)… Darren Haydar has notched a point in all six games (2-12-14) since returning to Chicago from NHL Atlanta… Of Troy Brouwer’s team-leading 16 goals for Rockford, a league-high 13 have come on the power play.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goes for a franchise-record 10th straight win on Friday when it travels to face North-leading Toronto at Ricoh Coliseum… The Penguins have outscored opponents 41-16 in their nine-game run, and Tim Brent (4-14-18) and Nathan Smith (5-7-12) each has a point in all nine of the games… Kurtis McLean boasts a six-game scoring streak (4-7-11) for the Penguins… Rookie John Curry is 5-0-0 with a 1.40 GAA during the winning streak… Toronto has won seven of its last eight outings (7-1-0-0) and is 10-2-0-2 since Nov. 30… Second-year goaltender Justin Pogge has two shutouts in his last four games and is 12-2-4 with a 2.24 GAA on the season… David Ling paces the Marlies’ offense with 33 points (7-26-33), while Kris Newbury has a team-high 12 goals (12-14-26), including four game-winners.
Portland sits just two points out of second place in the Atlantic Division entering a home contest against Binghamton on Friday… The Pirates are 4-0-1-1 in their last six games and enter tied for the league lead with 13 home victories (13-4-1-1)… Center Andrew Ebbett, who notched 65 points as a rookie with the Senators last season, paces Portland with 37 points (9-28-37) in 36 games… Geoff Platt has a team-high 17 goals and has registered a point in 15 of 18 games since joining the Pirates from Syracuse on Nov. 16… Binghamton is 0-3-0-1 in its last four overall and has lost seven straight games in New England since a 1-0 win at Bridgeport on Nov. 24, 2006… Josh Hennessy has two goals and five assists in seven games without injured captain Denis Hamel in the lineup, and is now tied with Hamel for the team lead with 25 points on the year.
(all times Eastern)
Fri 1/4
Hershey @ Hartford, 7:00
Syracuse @ Albany, 7:00
Manchester @ Worcester, 7:05
Binghamton @ Portland, 7:05
Lowell @ Philadelphia, 7:05
Bridgeport @ Norfolk, 7:15
Providence @ Springfield, 7:30
W-B/Scranton @ Toronto, 7:30
Grand Rapids @ Hamilton, 7:30
Milwaukee @ Peoria, 8:00
Rochester @ Manitoba, 8:30
Chicago @ Rockford, 8:30
Iowa @ Houston, 8:35
Sat 1/5
Hamilton @ Toronto, 4:00
Lowell @ Hartford, 7:00
Portland @ Springfield, 7:00
Philadelphia @ Albany, 7:00
Binghamton @ Manchester, 7:05
Providence @ Worcester, 7:05
Bridgeport @ Norfolk, 7:15
Grand Rapids @ Syracuse, 7:30
Iowa @ San Antonio, 8:00
Peoria @ Quad City, 8:05
Lake Erie @ Rockford, 8:05
Rochester @ Manitoba, 8:30
Chicago @ Milwaukee, 9:00
Sun 1/6
Quad City @ Peoria, 4:00
Hamilton @ Lake Erie, 5:00
Bridgeport @ Philadelphia, 5:05
Iowa @ Houston, 5:05
Mon 1/7
No games scheduled
Tue 1/8
No games scheduled
ALUMNI WATCH:
On Thursday, 1998 AHL All-Stars Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara netted goals as Boston blanked Washington, 2-0… Joakim Lindstrom, who currently leads Syracuse with 15 goals and 38 points, tallied a goal and an assist for Columbus in a 4-3 win at Los Angeles… On Wednesday, Andrew Murray scored his first NHL goal in the Blue Jackets’ 2-1 loss to Anaheim… New Jersey’s Noah Clarke scored a goal in his first NHL game of the season, a 3-2 victory over Florida.
BY THE NUMBERS:
8 — Consecutive wins by Manitoba against division-rival Rochester, including a 4-0-0-0 mark this season… The Moose and Americans will play a two-game set this weekend at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.
AHL ALL-STAR FAN BALLOTING:
2008 AHL All-Star Classic Fan Balloting presented by Reebok ends at 11:59 p.m. ET this Sunday, January 6. Go to theahl.com and vote today to help pick the starting lineups and for a chance to win a team-signed AHL All-Star jersey.
B2 Networks brings AHL action to your computer all season long with live video webcasts of every AHL game… Visit theahl.com for details.
