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AHL Morning Skate: May 24

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from
the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s Morning Skate.

Complete Schedule || Playoff Brackets || Today’s Scoreboard || League Leaders

   
Game 3 – Wednesday, 7:30 ET, AHL Live
(Hershey leads series, 2-0)
  

The Eastern Conference Finals resume on Wednesday night with Game 3 in Toronto, as the regular-season champion Marlies face an 0-2 deficit in the best-of-seven… The Marlies have lost back-to-back games for the first time since Mar. 12-13… Twenty-four teams in AHL history have won a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games, including Toronto in 2008 (vs. Syracuse)… Hershey is 29-1 all-time in best-of-seven series when taking a 2-0 lead (only loss: 1989 vs. Adirondack Red Wings, up 3-0).

Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M” (best-of-7) 
N1-Toronto Marlies vs. A1-Hershey Bears
Game 1 – Fri., May 20 – HERSHEY 3, Toronto 1
Game 2 – Sat., May 21 – HERSHEY 3, Toronto 2 (OT)
Game 3 – Wed., May 25 – Hershey at Toronto, 7:30
Game 4 – Fri., May 27 – Hershey at Toronto, 7:30
*Game 5 – Sun., May 29 – Hershey at Toronto, 3:00
*Game 6 – Tue., May 31 – Toronto at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 7 – Thu., June 2 – Hershey at Toronto, 7:30
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

   
Game 3 – 7:00 ET, AHL Live
(Lake Erie leads series, 2-0)
  

With a 2-0 series lead after a big weekend in California, Lake Erie returns home for Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals tonight at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland… The Monsters defeated the Reign, 3-2, on Sunday night, handing Ontario its first back-to-back losses on home ice since dropping three in a row from Dec. 31 to Jan. 3… Lake Erie raced out to a 2-0 lead in Game 2 when Markus Hannikainen and Lukas Sedlak scored 12 seconds apart… Hannikainen (1-5-6) and Sedlak (6-4-10) each recorded a goal and an assist, Ryan Craig (3-7-10) notched two assists and Anton Forsberg (3-0, 2.04, .932) stopped 27 shots for the Monsters, who have won 18 of their last 22 games overall… T.J. Tynan (1-4-5) scored what stood up as the game-winning goal, his first goal of the playoffs… Paul Bissonnette (1-1-2) and Kevin Gravel (1-6-7) both scored their first career playoff goals for the Reign… Making his 71st start in 79 Ontario games this season, Peter Budaj (7-4, 2.05, .908) finished with 18 saves in Game 2… Lake Erie improved to 6-1 on the road and 6-1 in one-goal games this postseason… The Reign had allowed a total of two first-period goals all postseason (10 games) before the Monsters scored twice in the opening frame of Game 2… Ontario has scored 13 goals in its last six games — 10 in the third period or overtime, but just three in the second period and none in the first… Lake Erie is 2-for-8 on the power play in the series; Ontario’s opponents had been 2-for-29 over the first two rounds.

Western Conference Finals – Series “N” (best-of-7)
P1-Ontario Reign vs. C2-Lake Erie Monsters
Game 1 – Sat., May 21 – Lake Erie 4, ONTARIO 3
Game 2 – Sun., May 22 – Lake Erie 3, ONTARIO 2
Game 3 – Tue., May 24 – Ontario at Lake Erie, 7:00
Game 4 – Thu., May 26 – Ontario at Lake Erie, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 28 – Ontario at Lake Erie, noon
*Game 6 – Tue., May 31 – Lake Erie at Ontario, 10:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 1 – Lake Erie at Ontario, 10:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern

Working Overtime
There have been 13 overtime games played in the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs so far… Home teams are 8-5:

May 21 – HERSHEY 3, Toronto 2 (Carter Camper, 9:09)
May 16 – Lake Erie 4, GRAND RAPIDS 3 (Zach Werenski, 12:32)
May 15 – HERSHEY 3, W-B/Scranton 2 (Travis Boyd, 10:57)
May 13 – Ontario 4, SAN DIEGO 3 (Mike Amadio, 6:29)
May 9 – W-B/SCRANTON 2, Hershey 1 (Kael Mouillierat, 2:31)
May 8 – ALBANY 3, Toronto 2 (Nick Lappin, 18:40)
May 7 – Ontario 2, SAN DIEGO 1 (Justin Auger, 11:55)
May 5 – LAKE ERIE 3, Grand Rapids 2 (Oliver Bjorkstrand, 12:23)
Apr. 28 – Portland 2, HERSHEY 1 (Rob Flick, 43:10)
Apr. 26 – UTICA 2, Albany 1 (Alexandre Grenier, 9:13)
Apr. 23 – W-B/Scranton 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (Jake Guentzel, 33:52)
Apr. 21 – W-B/SCRANTON 4, Providence 3 (Daniel Sprong, 5:13)
Apr. 20 – W-B/SCRANTON 3, Providence 2 (Carter Rowney, 1:09)

Alumni Watch
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night, Joe Pavelski notched two goals and an assist as San Jose defeated St. Louis, 6-3, to take a 3-2 series lead in the NHL’s Western Conference final… Joel Ward also scored twice and 2010 AHL All-Star Logan Couture recorded his 14th assist of the postseason, tied for the NHL lead… 2011 AHL All-Star Martin Jones stopped 18 shots in the win.

Seven players who skated in the American Hockey League during the 2015-16 won medals at the 2016 IIHF World Championships in Russia… Michael Matheson (Portland Pirates) and Calvin Pickard (San Antonio Rampage) helped Canada to a gold medal; Mikko Rantanen (San Antonio Rampage), Esa Lindell (Texas Stars), Juuse Saros (Milwaukee Admirals) and Ville Pokka (Rockford IceHogs) won silver with Finland; and Alexey Marchenko (Grand Rapids Griffins) captured bronze with Russia.

AHL Live
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2016 Calder Cup championship. AHL Live brings AHL action to your desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet all season long with live video webcasts and free highlights of every AHL game… Visit ahllive.com for details.