📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at Friday night around the AHL:
GRAND RAPIDS 5, TORONTO 4 (OT)
Griffins rookie Cross Hanas scored 1:04 in overtime to complete a comeback after Toronto had taken a 3-0 first-period lead. Pontus Andreasson chipped in two of the Griffins’ three third-period goals before forcing a turnover to set up the Hanas overtime winner. Hanas also had two assists, and Griffins forward Joel L’Esperance scored for his seventh point in the last seven games (three goals, four assists). Toronto’s Dryden McKay stopped 28 shots and was credited with an assist in his AHL debut, while Semyon Der-Arguchintsev notched two Toronto goals and extended his assist streak to seven games. The loss ended the Marlies’ six-game winning streak
CLEVELAND 6, ROCHESTER 5 (OT)
Trey Fix-Wolansky capped a four-point night with his second goal of the game at 1:28 of overtime to give the short-handed Monsters the win. Cleveland, which dressed only 16 skaters (two below the limit) due to NHL recalls, trailed 1-0, 3-1, 4-2 and 5-4 before Kirill Marchenko forced OT with his second goal of the night with 1:04 remaining in regulation. Filip Cederqvist had two goals and an assist for the Amerks.
HERSHEY 4, BRIDGEPORT 3 (OT)
Vincent Iorio scored his first goal as a professional with 2:01 gone in overtime to give Hershey (6-2-2-0) the win. Iorio, Washington’s second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, also notched an assist, and Ethen Frank scored a goal for the fifth consecutive game. Hudson Fasching tallied twice for the Islanders (7-2-2-0).
LAVAL 5, UTICA 4 (OT)
Anthony Richard capped a two-goal night with the overtime winner as Laval (3-6-3-0) rallied for its first OT win in four tries this season. Gabriel Bourque, Danick Martel and Xavier Simoneau also scored for the Rocket. Andreas Johnsson notched a goal and an assist for the Comets (3-4-1-1), and Isaac Poulter made 30 saves in his AHL debut.
PROVIDENCE 5, CHARLOTTE 2
The league-leading Bruins (9-1-1-1) pushed their point streak to seven games (6-0-0-1) behind a 37-save night from rookie Brandon Bussi. Jakub Lauko scored in his first AHL game of the season after returning from the Boston Bruins, while John Beecher, Fabian Lysell, Justin Brazeau and Oskar Steen supplied additional offense and rookie Georgii Merkulov added two assists. Justin Sourdif, a third-round pick by Florida in the 2020 NHL Draft, scored his first pro goal for the Checkers (5-3-1-1), who started a six-game road trip.
CALGARY 3, MANITOBA 2
The Wranglers (6-5-0-0) took a 3-0 lead and held on to win their fourth consecutive game. Cole Schwindt churned out two power-play goals, Jakob Pelletier contributed a pair of assists, and Dustin Wolf finished with 24 saves. Third-period goals 25 seconds apart from Jeff Malott and Evan Polei brought Manitoba (6-3-1-0) back into the game. Oskari Salminen had 22 saves for the Moose.
COACHELLA VALLEY 4, TUCSON 1
The Firebirds (6-3-0-0) continued a stretch of 16 consecutive road games with their third win in the past four contests. Captain Max McCormick had a goal and an assist for the Firebirds, who sent 37 shots on Tucson’s Ivan Prosvetov. Austin Poganski, Ville Petman, and Jesper Froden also tallied for Coachella Valley, while Jean-Sebastien Dea had the lone goal for Tucson (6-3-0-0).
ELSEWHERE
Two goals from Tim Gettinger lifted the Hartford Wolf Pack to their first road win of the season, a 3-1 decision at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton… After falling behind early, Syracuse scored four straight goals en route to a 4-2 win over Belleville… Cooper Marody had a goal and an assist in his return to the lineup and Louie Belpedio netted the game-winner at 5:41 of the third period as Lehigh Valley edged Springfield, 2-1… Nic Petan tallied a goal and two assists to lead Iowa past Milwaukee, 4-3… Calvin Pickard stopped 20 shots for his 17th career AHL shutout, a 2-0 Bakersfield win at San Diego.
TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams has been on the American Hockey League beat for nearly two decades for outlets including NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, The Hockey News, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and SLAM! Sports, and was most recently the co-host of The Hockey News On The ‘A’ podcast. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
