CALDER CUP UPDATE:
All four division semifinals in the Western Conference shift venues for Game 3 tonight, beginning with the first ever Calder Cup Playoff game in Hogtown for a Toronto AHL team… The Marlies host Grand Rapids (7:30 ET) at Ricoh Coliseum with the series even after Toronto’s 6-3 win on Saturday night… Defenseman Brendan Bell had three points for the Marlies in the Game 2 victory… Toronto forward Aleksander Suglobov has recorded three goals and two assists through the first two games of the series… After tying for the league lead with 56 goals in the regular season, Grand Rapids’ Donald MacLean has three goals and an assist in the series… The Griffins have allowed 38 goals in their last nine games overall, and 36 goals in eight games against Toronto this year.
Milwaukee and Iowa are all square in their series as well as the AHL makes its playoff debut in Des Moines tonight (7:05 CT)… The Stars evened things up with a 5-3 victory in Game 2 on Saturday, just their second regulation win in 12 tries against the Admirals this season… Junior Lessard recorded a hat trick and added an assist for Iowa in Game 2… Loui Eriksson added a goal and two assists in the win, and Jamie Johnson and Toby Petersen had two assists each… Darren Haydar and Greg Classen share the Milwaukee team scoring lead, each notching two points in Game 1 and again in Game 2.
Houston opened its West Division semifinal with a pair of overtime wins to take a 2-0 series lead over Peoria… Game 3 is tonight at Carver Arena (7:00 CT), where the Rivermen outscored the Aeros 17-7 in five meetings during the regular season, including an 8-2 win on Mar. 28… Kirby Law (Game 1) and Matt Foy (Game 2) were the OT heroes for Houston… Peoria had killed off 45 consecutive Aeros power play opportunities before Erik Westrum’s goal in Game 2… Mike Zigomanis has registered a point on five of the Rivermen’s six goals in the series (2g, 3a)… Peter Sejna scored both Peoria goals in Saturday’s loss… The Rivermen finished the regular season 5-1-0-1 in their last seven home games.
After two hard-fought wins on home ice, Syracuse takes a two-game lead up to Winnipeg for tonight’s Game 3 against the Moose (7:30 CT)… Manitoba was 37-1-1-0 in the regular season when allowing two goals or fewer, then dropped 1-0 and 2-1 (OT) decisions to open the series with the Crunch… Pascal Leclaire has stopped 77 of 78 shots (0.48, .987) for Syracuse, while Wade Flaherty has made 74 saves on 77 shots (1.46, .961) in a pair of hard-luck losses… Alexandre Burrows, who played 43 NHL games with Vancouver following his recall on Jan. 2, has the Moose’s only goal of the series… Alexandre Picard scored in overtime of Game 2, his first game-winning goal of the year.
ALUMNI WATCH:
Brad Winchester’s first career NHL goal was the game-winner in Edmonton’s 4-2 victory over Detroit on Sunday… 1999 AHL All-Star Martin St. Louis scored twice and 1999 Calder Cup champion John Grahame made 21 saves as Tampa Bay beat Ottawa, 4-3, on Sunday… Vesa Toskala made 25 saves and 2001 AHL All-Star Jonathan Cheechoo had a goal and two assists as San Jose blanked Nashville, 3-0… On Saturday, 1997 AHL All-Star Patrik Elias recorded six points (2g, 4a) in New Jersey’s 6-1 win over the N.Y. Rangers.
BY THE NUMBERS:
19 — Points recorded by rookies in Hartford’s 7-0 win over Manchester on Sunday afternoon… Colby Genoway (2g, 3a), Nigel Dawes (2g, 2a), Brandon Dubinsky (2g, 2a), Marvin Degon (3a), Daniel Girardi (1g, 1a) and Marc Staal (1a) combined for seven goals and 12 assists in the game… Another rookie, Al Montoya, made 30 saves for the shutout.
AHL ON B2 NETWORKS:
B2 Networks brings all the action of the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs to your computer with live video webcasts of every game… Click here for details.
