AHL Morning Skate: May 23, 2025

GAME NOTES:
Laval looks to punch its ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals when it hosts Rochester in Game 4 tonight... The Rocket took a 2-1 series lead with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday, behind a 32-save performance from Cayden Primeau (2-1, 2.73, .906)... Primeau is 12-1-1 (1.63, .938) at Place Bell this season... Laval needed just 15 seconds to get on the board in Game 3 when Luke Tuch (1-1-2) scored his first goal of the postseason... It was the fastest goal from the start of any Calder Cup Playoff game since May 23, 2023, when Joseph Cecconi scored for Rochester 14 seconds into a game against Hershey... Lukáš Rousek (2-4-6) drew the Amerks even in Game 3 at 2:46 of the third period before the Rocket got goals from Florian Xhekaj (1-2-3), Laurent Dauphin (5-4-9) and Joshua Roy (1-3-4) to secure the win... Dauphin has points in all seven postseason games for Laval... Jiří Kulich (2-6-8) extended his scoring streak to five games with an assist on the Rochester goal in Game 3; Kulich has 9-12-21 in 23 career playoff games for the Amerks... Laval has scored 12 goals on 73 shots (16.4 percent) this series against Devon Levi (4-2, 2.35, .915), who had a .978 save percentage in the division semifinal round... Rochester has won its last four road elimination games, picking up victories at Syracuse (in 2023 and 2024), at Hershey (2023) and at Utica (2022).

GAME NOTES:
A four-goal third period on Wednesday night lifted the Stars to a 6-1 victory and a 2-1 series lead heading into tonight’s Game 4 of the best-of-five Central Division Finals at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena... Cameron Hughes (3-9-12) led the Texas attack with a goal and two assists on Wednesday; Hughes has 7-44-51 in 50 games over the last three Calder Cup postseasons... Justin Hryckowian (5-8-13) had a goal and an assist in Game 3, his fifth consecutive multiple-point effort... Curtis McKenzie (3-2-5) and Kyle Capobianco (2-6-8) also notched a goal and assist each in the win... Remi Poirier (3-0, 1.91, .931) made 30 saves in his first appearance since being lifted during Game 3 of the division semifinals against Grand Rapids... Spencer Stastney (2-2-4) scored the lone Admirals goal on Wednesday evening... Matt Murray (4-4, 3.58, .867) stopped 28 of 33 shots in Game 3 before giving way to Magnus Chrona, who made his Calder Cup Playoff debut in relief... Texas has scored at least four goals in each of its first six games this postseason, and has won 10 of its last 11 road contests going back to the regular season... The 6-1 margin in Game 3 matched a division semifinal loss to Rockford on May 4 as the most lopsided home defeat in Milwaukee’s Calder Cup Playoff history... The Admirals are 13-3 when facing elimination over the last four postseasons, winning twice in 2022, three times in 2023, five times in 2024 and three times so far in 2025.

GAME NOTES:
Abbotsford grabbed a 2-1 series lead in the Pacific Division Finals on Wednesday night when Linus Karlsson scored 18:47 into overtime to give the Canucks a 3-2 victory... Karlsson (5-3-8) leads Abbotsford with five playoff goals after scoring 23 times in 32 AHL games during the regular season... Abbotsford never led in Game 3 until winning it in overtime; Victor Mancini (2-3-5) and Max Sasson (3-3-6) scored in regulation to erase 1-0 and 2-1 deficits... Sammy Blais (3-8-11) assisted on the game-winning goal to extend his scoring streak to six games (0-7-7), and Jonathan Lekkerimäki (1-4-5) registered two assists to give him four points in the last two games... Artūrs Šilovs (7-2, 1.77, .931) made 35 saves in Game 3, stopping all 17 shots he faced during the third period and overtime... John Ludvig (2-2-4) and Jake Wise (2-0-2) scored for the Eagles, who saw a five-game home winning streak end... Jacob MacDonald (0-4-4) recorded an assist in Game 3 but is still looking for his first goal of the playoffs after setting an AHL record for defensemen with 31 in the regular season... Trent Miner (4-3, 2.04, .931) finished the night with 30 saves... The Canucks are now 2-5 all-time in playoff overtime games; all seven have been played on the road, and both of the wins have come at Colorado... The Eagles have sold out 121 consecutive games at Blue Arena, a streak that began during the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs.

A win tonight would do more than simply force a Game 5, captain Mason Jobst says. It would also allow this Amerks team to keep playing together. Simple as that.

“This group loves each other, really enjoys spending time together,” Jobst explained. “I think when there’s a threat [that] is potentially going to end, you get a little bit extra. We all want to continue to play together. It’s a great group of guys, and we’re just worried about winning one game.”

Rochester has controlled significant stretches of this series and outshot Laval on Wednesday, 33-20. In all, they have a 96-73 shots advantage through the first three games of this series. But Laval executed in Game 3 and the Amerks did not do enough, even with some prime scoring chances.

“We have confidence that we are the better team when we play our style and our brand,” Jobst continued. “I think you’ve seen it in different spurts. I think you saw it a lot in Game 2, but you have to execute.”

Head coach Michael Leone also expects a strong response from goaltender Devon Levi tonight. After back-to-back shutouts against Syracuse in the North Division Semifinals, Levi has surrendered 12 goals on 73 shots this series.

“I think if you ask Dev, I know he’s got more to give,” Leone said. “He’s been a horse for us all season. We believe in him. We’re going to need him to be really good, and he’ll be ready to go.”

Rocket defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon’s status remains unclear for Game 4 after he left Wednesday’s game and did not return. Laval did not skate Thursday.

Head coach Pascal Vincent did not provide an update on Wotherspoon after Game 3, only saying, “When you lose a guy like Tyler, it hurts.”

Wotherspoon has played all 79 of the Rocket’s regular-season and playoff games this season. The Laval blue line is already without Calder Cup-winning veteran Josh Jacobs, who had season-ending knee surgery in January.

Elimination games are an all-too-familiar situation for the Admirals, who have played 16 of them – winning 13 times – since the start of the 2022 postseason, including three in their division semifinal comeback against Rockford.

“All we can do is come [tonight] and win a game,” captain Kevin Gravel stated after Wednesday’s 6-1 loss. “We’re still confident in our group. We’ve done a really good job this year of turning the page. We’ll be fired up and ready to go.”

Head coach Karl Taylor makes it a point of emphasis to not overreact – win or lose – and the lopsided result in Game 3 did nothing to stray from that.

“You believe, and you’ve got to trust your players,” Taylor said. “We have a lot of good guys in the room, guys that really care, guys that love playing in Milwaukee. They’re going to find some energy, and they’re going to be great because that’s what they’ve done all season.”

Meanwhile, Stars head coach Neil Graham and his team’s leadership group will continue to stress composure. As the Calder Cup Playoffs move along, emotions begin to fray and it can be all too easy to be lured into penalties.

Now is not the time to test a Milwaukee power play that finished 10th in the regular season at 19.5 percent. The Stars have surrendered just nine Admirals power plays through three games, and have been shorthanded just 17 times in six games this postseason.

“I like the focus of our group,” Graham said following Game 3. “There’s things that matter this time of year, and there’s things that don’t. We have to be smart, we have to be intelligent with what matters most to us right now.”

― with files from Patrick Williams

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs yesterday, 2018-19 AHL scoring champion Carter Verhaeghe recorded three assists to help Florida to a 5-0 win over Carolina and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Final.

In yesterday’s quarterfinal action at the 2025 IIHF World Championship, Patrick Russell assisted on both goals as Denmark scored twice in the final 2:17 of regulation to upset Canada, 2-1... Travis Sanheim scored and 2018 AHL All-Star Jordan Binnington made 31 saves for Canada... Conor Garland scored twice for the United States in a 5-2 win over Finland... Christoph Bertschy, Timo Meier, Kevin Fiala and Simon Knak all scored and 2013 AHL All-Star Nino Niederreiter had two assists as Switzerland blanked Austria, 6-0... Filip Forsberg scored a goal, Rasmus Sandin and Mika Zibanejad each recorded two assists and 2015 AHL All-Star Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves in Sweden’s 5-2 win over Czechia.