Mathieu Darche ended a month-long drought with a big night, helping Worcester to a 6-4 win over Manchester at the DCU Center on Friday night.
Darche, who had been stuck on 19 goals since Nov. 25, recorded a hat trick and added two assists for a five-point night, while linemate Graham Mink tallied five helpers as the Sharks ended a seven-game home losing streak.
Darche now ranks second in the AHL with 22 goals this season.
Mike Iggulden had a goal and an assist and Riley Armstrong also scored for Worcester, which broke the game open with a four-goal second period.
John Zeiler scored twice, Mike Hoffman registered a goal and an assist and Matt Moulson chipped in two assists for the Monarchs, who fell out of a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division.
NORFOLK 6, HERSHEY 3
Martin St. Pierre scored twice and Brandon Bochenski recorded three assists as Norfolk doubled up Hershey, 6-3, handing the Bears just their fourth regulation loss of the season and vaulting the Admirals into first place in the East Division.
St. Pierre (6g, 5a) and Bochenski (3g, 10a) have combined for 24 points in five games since rejoining the Admirals from the parent Chicago Blackhawks last weekend. Norfolk has won all five contests, scoring 27 goals.
Matt Keith and Carl Corazzini each had a goal and an assist for Norfolk, and Corey Crawford made 21 saves for his league-leading 17th victory of the season.
CHICAGO 7, HOUSTON 5
Former Aero Kyle Wanvig scored the go-ahead goal with 2:24 left in regulation and sent Chicago to a wild 7-5 win over Houston at the Toyota Center on Friday.
It was the second goal of the night for Wanvig, a member of the Aeros’ 2003 Calder Cup championship team, and came just four seconds after a minor penalty to Peter Olvecky had expired.
Darren Haydar tied an AHL record by tallying a point in his 31st consecutive game. Haydar’s league-leading 62nd point of the season was an assist on rookie Brett Sterling’s league-leading 30th goal of the year, a 5-on-3 power-play tally 7:50 into the game. Mike Richard of the Binghamton Whalers had a 31-game scoring streak during the 1987-88 season.
Alex Bourret recorded three assists and another former Aero, Cory Larose, had two helpers. Mark Popovic, Kevin Doell, Brian Fahey and Steve Martins also scored for the Wolves.
Roman Voloshenko led Houston with two goals and an assist.
PORTLAND 5, PROVIDENCE 3
Pierre Parenteau scored three goals and assisted on a fourth and Dov Grumet-Morris made 40 saves for his first career AHL win as Portland took over sole possession of the top spot in the Atlantic Division with a 5-3 win over Providence.
Parenteau’s hat trick, which included the game-winning goal with 10:09 left in regulation, was his second of the year. Both have come against the Bruins.
Aaron Rome and Drew Miller also scored for the Pirates and Brett Skinner registered three assists.
Ben Walter and Matt Lashoff had a goal and an assist each for the P-Bruins.
HARTFORD 2, SPRINGFIELD 1
Jed Ortmeyer scored with 1:11 left in regulation to give Hartford a 2-1 win over visiting Springfield.
For Ortmeyer, who also had an assist in the game, it was his first goal since being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism during the off-season.
Craig Weller also scored for the Wolf Pack, and Al Montoya made 30 saves for his third win of the season (3-9-0).
Karri Ramo stopped 31 shots in the loss for the Falcons.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 6, BRIDGEPORT 1
Micki DuPont scored twice during a first-period outburst as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton rolled to a 6-1 win over Bridgeport.
The Penguins scored four times in a span of 2:10, the fastest four goals in team history, including three power-play goals in 95 seconds.
Stephen Dixon had two goals and an assist, Noah Welch and Daniel Carcillo added a goal and an assist each and Rob Schremp, Connor James and Tyler Kennedy all had two assists on the night.
Frans Nielsen spoiled Jeff Deslauriers’ shutout bid with three seconds remaining in the game.
PHILADELPHIA 4, BINGHAMTON 2
Pete Zingoni snapped a tie with 7:14 left and sent Philadelphia to a 4-2 win over Binghamton at the Wachovia Spectrum.
The game was scoreless until early in the third period, when the teams each scored twice in a span of three minutes and 21 seconds.
Mark Cullen and Nolan Baumgartner had a goal and an assist each for the Phantoms and Scott Munroe made 23 saves.
Ryan Vesce and Brian Maloney scored for the Senators.
HAMILTON 2, ALBANY 1
Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves to improve on his league-leading totals, backstopping Hamilton to a 2-1 win over visiting Albany.
Halak lowered his goals-against average to 1.48 and upped his save percentage to .950 while earning his 10th win of the year.
Matt D’Agostini and Andre Benoit scored for the Bulldogs, who are 17-4-1-1 in their last 23 games.
Ben Guite scored and Justin Peters stopped 21 shots for the River Rats.
TORONTO 5, ROCHESTER 3
Toronto scored three times early and held on for a 5-3 win over Rochester at the Blue Cross Arena.
Colin Murphy, Brett Engelhardt and Jaime Sifers staked the Marlies to a 3-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old. Engelhardt, Boyd Devereaux and Jeff Corey all finished with a goal and an assist for Toronto.
Drew Stafford moved into a share of the Amerks’ team lead with his 12th goal of the year.
IOWA 4, MILWAUKEE 1
Chris Conner and Janos Vas each picked up a goal and an assist as Iowa snapped Milwaukee’s nine-game points streak with a 4-1 win over the Admirals at Wells Fargo Arena.
Yared Hagos’s first goal of the season was the game-winner, snapping a 1-1 tie with 2:06 left in the second period.
Mark Ardelan also scored for the Stars, and Dan Ellis stopped 24 of 25 shots.
Rich Peverley had the lone Milwaukee goal, his third shorthanded marker of the year.
GRAND RAPIDS 3, PEORIA 2
Ryan Keller and Matt Hussey scored in the third period as Grand Rapids snapped a four-game losing slide with a 3-2 win in Peoria.
Stefan Liv made 22 saves to end a personal 0-6-1 slide and pick up his first victory since his AHL debut on Oct. 7.
Jeff Campbell had a goal and an assist for the Griffins. Peter Sejna and Mike Glumac scored power-play goals for the Rivermen.
