MANITOBA 6, ROCHESTER 2
Two third-period goals by Cody Hodgson broke open a close game and propelled Manitoba to a 6-2 win over Rochester in front of 9,094 fans at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg on Saturday night.
Hodgson, the 10th overall pick in the 2008 NHL draft, finished the night with three points and now has 7-3-10 during a six-game scoring streak.
Sergei Shirokov and Chris Tanev had a goal and an assist each for the Moose, Jeff Tambellini scored his fourth goal in three games and Tyler Weiman made 17 saves for his fourth win of the year.
Brady Calla and Joe Callahan scored for the Americans, who trailed 3-2 early in the third period before Hodgson scored at 5:04 and 8:18 to bust the game open.
The Moose, 4-0-0-1 in their last five games, remained tied for second place in the North Division with Hamilton, four points behind Abbotsford.
Rochester, which came to Winnipeg with a 7-1-1-0 road record on the season, lost to the Moose for the second time in 24 hours.
MILWAUKEE 3, LAKE ERIE 2
Chris Mueller capped his second consecutive two-goal game with a shorthanded tally late in regulation, giving Milwaukee a 3-2 win over Lake Erie in a Saturday matinee at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Mueller, who entered the weekend with 1-0-1 in 13 games for the Admirals this season, opened the scoring on Saturday at the 5:59 mark of the first period, then notched the game-winning goal with 1:07 to play in the third. The ex-Monster finished Milwaukee’s two-game set at Lake Erie with four goals and an assist.
Roman Josi, a second-round draft pick by Nashville in 2008, scored his first career AHL goal and Jeremy Smith, a second-rounder in ’07, made 25 saves to earn the win in his first career AHL start as Milwaukee improved to 5-0-0-1 in its last six contests.
Mike Carman and Justin Mercier tallied a goal and an assist each for Lake Erie.
HAMILTON 2, GRAND RAPIDS 1
The Hamilton Bulldogs defeated the Grand Rapids Griffins, 2-1, at Copps Coliseum on Saturday evening. Max Pacioretty scored the game-winning goal while Curtis Sanford stopped 22 of 23 shots for the win.
The Bulldogs opened the game’s scoring at 7:41 of the first period. David Desharnais raced down the left side of the ice before dishing a pass across the crease to Aaron Palushaj, who tapped the puck past Grand Rapids starting goaltender Thomas McCollum. With the assist, Desharnais extended his season-opening scoring streak to 13 games (5-12-17).
Hamilton increased its lead to 2-0 at 17:56 of the second stanza. Pacioretty hopped off the bench before grabbing a loose puck along the left side boards, then ripped a shot that bounced off the stick of a defender before beating McCollum over the glove.
The Griffins got their only goal of the game at 18:33 of the final frame. Tomas Tatar sent the puck back to Logan Pyett, who was positioned on the point. Pyett blasted a shot that sailed through traffic and past Sanford.
Hamilton improved to 7-1-1-0 on home ice this season, while the Griffins lost for just the second time in seven road tilts.
PEORIA 3, HOUSTON 0
Jake Allen stopped 22 shots for his second shutout and fourth win in four starts this season, backstopping Peoria to a 3-0 victory over Houston at Carver Arena.
Allen, a second-round draft pick by St. Louis in 2008, has stopped 119 of 122 shots to begin his pro career (4-0-0, 0.75, .975).
Matt McIlvane, Derek Nesbitt and T.J. Hensick scored for the Rivermen, who were opening a seven-game homestand.
The Aeros, shut out for the third time already this season, got 21 stops from Anton Khudobin in the loss, which snapped Houston’s six-game points streak (4-0-0-2).
BRIDGEPORT 3, NORFOLK 2
Mark Wotton scored with 10.3 seconds remaining in overtime to give Bridgeport a 3-2 win over visiting Norfolk on Saturday night, ending a three-game Sound Tigers losing streak.
Even with the loss, the Admirals have standings points in each of the first three legs of their five-game road trip (1-0-2-0), which continues tomorrow afternoon against Worcester.
Mike Vernace and Alex Berry each scored their second goals of the season for Norfolk while Dustin Tokarski stopped 20 of 23 shots in net for the Admirals.
After a scoreless first period, the teams exchanged goals midway through the second period. The Sound Tigers took a 1-0 lead 11:00 into the stanza as defenseman Dylan Reese’s shot from the high slot snaked its way through traffic and past a screened Tokarski.
Vernace tied the game at 1-1 just 23 seconds later off a faceoff. He teed up a slap shot from the high slot that eluded Sound Tigers goaltender Mikko Koskinen at 11:23 for his second goal in as many games.
The Admirals took a 2-1 lead early in the third period after a power play expired. Berry sent a snap shot from the right faceoff circle past the blocker of Koskinen at 2:02.
However, Bridgeport tied the game at 2-2 just over three minutes later off a turnover. David Ullstrom fed the puck into the slot from the right corner, and Jesse Joensuu sent a quick wrist shot over the right shoulder of Tokarski at 5:28.
The game remained tied at 2-2 until 10.3 seconds remaining in overtime. Ullstrom sent a shot from the left circle off the leg pads of Tokarski. Wotton found the rebound in the slot and snapped it into the net for the game-winning goal.
SPRINGFIELD 4, HARTFORD 3 (SO)
Dane Byers, Hartford’s captain as recently as three days ago, played the role of spoiler in his Springfield debut, scoring the game-clinching shootout goal to give the Falcons a 4-3 win in Hartford’s final game at the XL Center known as the Wolf Pack.
Hartford will be rebranded as the Connecticut Whale in time for its next home game on Nov. 27.
Byers, traded by the New York Rangers on Thursday in exchange for Chad Kolarik, beat Cameron Talbot to secure the shootout victory in the fourth round. Tomas Kubalik also scored in the shootout for Springfield and David LeNeveu stood down all four Hartford attempts.
In back-and-forth regulation play, Maksim Mayorov had a goal and an assist for the Falcons and Michael Blunden scored the game-tying goal with 3:25 remaining, just under two minutes after Jeremy Williams had given the Wolf Pack their first lead with his second goal of the evening.
Kolarik also scored in his Hartford debut, and Kris Newbury recorded two assists.
ABBOTSFORD 4, ADIRONDACK 2
Bryan Cameron’s power-play goal late in the second period stood up as the game-winner as Abbotsford recorded a 4-2 win over Adirondack in Glens Falls, N.Y.
Cameron and Jon Rheault finished with a goal and an assist each and J.D. Watt and Lance Bouma also scored for the first-place Heat, winners of five in a row.
Leland Irving made 19 saves to become the AHL’s first 10-game winner this season.
Erik Gustafsson had a goal and an assist and Denis Hamel scored his sixth goal in five games for the Phantoms.
PROVIDENCE 3, MANCHESTER 1
Providence moved back to .500 on the season with a 3-1 win in Manchester on Saturday night.
Providence notched two goals within 50 seconds of each other in the first period to open the scoring. Yury Alexandrov tallied his fourth goal of the year at the 3:19 mark, as Kirk MacDonald set him up nicely with a great pass in traffic. At 4:09, Levi Nelson grabbed his third goal of the season with a wrister that beat Manchester goalie Martin Jones; Wyatt Smith got the lone assist on the play.
Matt Bartkowski netted his second goal of the season, while on the power play at 6:58 of the second period, with Arniel and Zach Hamill credited with the assists.
Manchester got on the board at 28 seconds of the third period, when Viatcheslav Voynov scored after weaving through the crease and a pair of P-Bruins defenders.
Michael Hutchinson finished the night with 24 saves for the P-Bruins, notching his third win of the season. Jones blocked 30 shots in the loss for Manchester.
PORTLAND 5, ALBANY 2
Jhonas Enroth made 22 saves in his first game back from Buffalo and five Pirates scored to lead Portland to a 5-2 victory over the Albany Devils in front of 6,003 fans at the Cumberland County Civic Center Saturday night.
Mark Parrish and Marc-Andre Gragnani each registered a power-play goal and an assist for the Pirates, who improved to 12-3-1-0 on the season and 8-0-1-0 at home. Dennis McCauley, Paul Byron and Travis Turnbull also scored for the Pirates in the win.
Matt Anderson and Nathan Perkovich netted the only goals for Albany, losers of five straight and now 6-8-0-0 on the season.
The Devils struck early as Anderson lit the lamp for his sixth goal of the year on a rebound tip-in at the 3:13 mark of the opening period. McCauley began the scoring onslaught for Portland as he capitalized on a cross-ice pass from Jacob Lagace midway through the first period to tie the game at one. The power-play prowess began with Byron adding a goal off the man advantage to cap off the first period scoring and send the Pirates into the locker room up 2-1. Turnbull notched his fourth goal of the season in the second period which turned out to be the game-winning-goal. To establish the final margin, Portland registered a couple of power-play goals in the third period by Parrish and Gragnani, sandwiched with an Albany goal by Perkovich.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 2, WORCESTER 0
Ryan Craig’s power-play goal turned out to be his second game-winning goal in the last three games, and Brad Thiessen matched a season high with 38 saves as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins blanked the Worcester Sharks 2-0 on Saturday night at the DCU Center.
The first period featured a lot of offensive chances by both teams, with the shots ending up 12-10 in favor of Worcester. The Penguins were able to kill off an early penalty to Corey Potter with numerous saves from Thiessen. The visitors then earned a late power play opportunity of their own, and were able to cash in with 1:02 remaining. Keven Veilleux’s and Geoff Walker’s hard work behind the net forced the puck in front, where Craig battled to slide the puck behind Sharks goaltender Alex Stalock.
The Sharks were handed three straight power plays in the second period, but it was the Penguins who capitalized. On Worcester’s second opportunity, Robert Bortuzzo was able to send Dustin Jeffrey and Tim Wallace taking off on a two-on-one rush. Jeffrey sent a saucer pass from the right boards to Wallace, who fired the puck inside the left post for the team’s fifth shorthanded goal of the season.
The Sharks battled ferociously in the third, outshooting the Penguins 15-6, but Thiessen shut the door on all of Worcester’s chances. One of his highlight saves was a glove stop made on the Sharks’ Jonathan Cheechoo, who tried to drive the net from the left wing.
Thiessen improved to 7-0-0 on the season, helping the Penguins to the same road record. Stalock stopped 24 of 26, and dropped to 5-5-1.
TORONTO 4, BINGHAMTON 3
The Marlies Express rolled into Binghamton on Saturday night and pulled out of town with another win, this time a 4-3 decision over the Senators.
Toronto is 6-0-0-2 in its last eight games – all on the road – with two more games left before returning home.
Justin Hodgman and Joey Crabb gave the Marlies a 2-0 lead just 4:09 into the game and Binghamton never got the equalizer, despite pulling to within one goal three times.
Greg Scott and Josh Engel also scored for Toronto and James Reimer made 32 saves.
Geoff Kinrade, Colin Greening and Corey Locke scored for the Senators.
HERSHEY 3, SYRACUSE 0
Hershey got back in the win column with a 3-0 victory in Syracuse on Saturday night.
Ashton Rome, Andrew Gordon and Brian Willsie provided the offense for the Bears, while Dany Sabourin made 24 saves for his 15th career AHL shutout.
Hershey finished the night with a 40-24 edge in shots, including 32-13 over the first two periods of play.
Jean-Philippe Levasseur made 37 saves in the loss for the Crunch.
