Friday wrap: Goalies shine as second half kicks off

Photo: Ross Dettman

📝 With files from Patrick Williams


Here is a look at Friday’s action around the AHL:

CHICAGO 5, IOWA 0
Pyotr Kochetkov recorded his first regular-season AHL shutout, making 28 saves as the Wolves blanked the Wild to snap Iowa’s 13-game point streak (9-0-3-2). Kochetkov, who had two shutouts during the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs, has won five of his seven starts since returning to Chicago from the Carolina Hurricanes. Josh Melnick, Nathan Sucese, Jack Drury, Vasily Ponomarev and Ryan Suzuki delivered Chicago’s scoring.

MILWAUKEE 2, ROCKFORD 1 (SO)
Yaroslav Askarov made a season-high 45 saves as the Admirals edged the IceHogs to open a home-and-home series. Askarov stopped all 19 shots he faced in the third period and overtime before denying both shootout attempts he faced. Cole Schneider scored in the first period for Milwaukee; Cole Guttman answered for Rockford in the second. Arvid Soderblom finished with 30 saves for the IceHogs, who are 3-0-1-1 in their last five.

ABBOTSFORD 4, TUCSON 0
Arturs Silovs stopped all 21 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the Roadrunners. Silovs has stopped 82 of 85 shots over his last four appearances (4-0-0, 0.87, .965). Quinn Schmiemann scored his first pro goal for Abbotsford and Noah Juulsen added a goal and an assist. Ivan Prosvetov stopped 30 shots for Tucson.

LAVAL 3, SYRACUSE 1
Mitchell Stephens broke a 1-1 tie against his former team with a goal 5:06 into the third period, propelling the Rocket to a win over the visiting Crunch. Joël Teasdale scored twice, giving him eight goals in his last seven games, and Cayden Primeau stopped 39 of 40 shots to earn the win. Two-time AHL All-Star Rudolfs Balcers scored his first AHL goal of the season for Syracuse.

SAN DIEGO 2, COACHELLA VALLEY 1 (OT)
Rocco Grimaldi scored 34 seconds into overtime as the Gulls ended a five-game losing streak. Lukas Dostal, coming off co-MVP honors in Monday’s AHL All-Star Challenge, stopped 35 of 36 shots as San Diego earned its first win in six tries against the Firebirds this season. Coachella Valley’s Kole Lind snapped a scoreless tie 2:47 into the third period, but Pavol Regenda replied 76 seconds later for the Gulls. The Firebirds still have just four regulation losses in their last 35 games (26-4-4-1).

CALGARY 4, SAN JOSE 1
Dustin Wolf made 42 saves and earned his league-leading 27th win of the season as the Wranglers took care of the Barracuda. It was the sixth straight road win for Calgary. Matthew Phillips scored his league-high 25th goal and Ben Jones notched a goal and two assists for his fourth three-point game of the season. San Jose All-Star Thomas Bordeleau scored with 2:20 left in the third period to spoil Wolf’s shutout bid.

SPRINGFIELD 4, ROCHESTER 0
Backed by Joel Hofer’s 28-save shutout, the Thunderbirds extended their franchise record with their ninth win in a row. Matthew Peca and Brady Lyle built Springfield a 2-0 lead before Martin Frk and Matthew Highmore finished off the win with empty-net tallies. Malcolm Subban stopped 28 of 30 shots for Rochester, which has dropped eight of its last 10 games.

UTICA 3, HERSHEY 0
Akira Schmid made 19 saves for his first shutout of the season as the Comets handled the visiting Bears. Jack Dugan’s second-period goal stood as the game-winner, and Nolan Foote and Andreas Johnsson (empty net) added insurance goals in the third. Hershey’s Zach Fucale stopped 30 of 32 shots in the loss; the Bears have been shut out twice in their past five games.

PROVIDENCE 4, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 3 (OT)
Mike Reilly’s tally in the seventh round of the shootout pushed the Bruins past the Penguins and into first place in the Atlantic Division. Georgii Merkulov scored twice in regulation for Providence, including the tying goal with 1:33 to play. Tyler Sikura, Jon Lizotte and Valtteri Puustinen scored in a span of 5:50 during the second period to give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 3-1 lead. Each goaltender — the Penguins’ Taylor Gauthier and the Bruins’ Kyle Keyser — stopped 30 of 33 shots.

CLEVELAND 6, BELLEVILLE 2
All-Star defenseman Jake Christiansen set a career high with four points (1g, 3a) to lead the Monsters past the Senators. Trey Fix-Wolansky had two points, including his 20th goal of the season, and Owen Sillinger notched a goal and two assists for Cleveland. David Jiricek supplied three assists in his first game back after missing two contests and the All-Star Classic due to illness. Scott Sabourin and Jonathan Aspirot had Belleville’s goals.

CHARLOTTE 4, TORONTO 3 (OT)
Grigori Denisenko’s goal 1:29 into overtime capped a late rally and gave the Checkers their sixth consecutive win. The Marlies carried a 3-1 lead into the final five minutes of regulation before Zac Dalpe and Aleksi Heponiemi scored late to tie the game. Logan Shaw tallied a goal and an assist and Erik Källgren made 42 saves for Toronto.

ELSEWHERE
Max Willman scored twice and Samuel Ersson made 33 saves as Lehigh Valley grabbed a 5-2 win in Hartford… Jansen Harkins scored the game-winning goal during Manitoba’s four-goal third period and Arvid Holm made 23 saves as the Moose got past Grand Rapids, 4-1… Curtis McKenzie tallied two goals and an assist and Tanner Kero and Riley Barber scored in the shootout to lift Texas to a 4-3 win in Colorado… Samuel Fagemo scored once in regulation and again in the fourth shootout round to give Ontario a 3-2 win at Bakersfield.