Saturday’s boxscores
SYRACUSE 4, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 3
Syracuse scored three quick goals in the third period and Jean-Philippe Levasseur finished with 42 saves as the Crunch brought an end to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s season-opening nine-game winning streak with a 4-3 decision at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night.
With the Crunch down by two goals after 40 minutes, Brandon McMillan, Nicolas Deschamps and Trevor Smith scored in the first 7:46 of the final period, and Levasseur stopped all 15 Penguins shots in the final frame to send the Penguins to their first loss of the 2010-11 season.
The rookie McMillan added two assists for a three-point night, Maxime Macenauer recorded a pair of helpers and Brett Festerling had a power-play goal for Syracuse, which won for just the second time in six tries on the road this year (2-3-0-1).
Ten of the Crunch’s 11 games this season have been decided by a single goal.
Brett Sterling scored twice and Tim Wallace had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who have now had five different nine-game winning streaks in franchise history but never one that reached double digits.
PROVIDENCE 5, PORTLAND 4 (OT)
Jamie Arniel sniped a shot home 1:25 into overtime as Providence handed Portland its first home loss of the season, 5-4.
The Pirates had won their first seven games at the Cumberland County Civic Center this year, but quickly fell behind 3-0 on goals by Levi Nelson, Jordan Knackstedt and Joe Colborne in the first 7:17 of the game.
Portland chipped away and eventually grabbed a 4-3 lead, getting two goals from Paul Byron and one each from T.J. Brennan and Dennis Persson.
Colborne’s second of the night tied the score at 4-4 late in the second period.
Nolan Schaefer made 36 saves for the Bruins, stopping all 15 shots he faced over the third period and overtime.
ROCHESTER 6, ALBANY 4
Scott Timmins and Ryan Del Monte scored 1:43 apart late in the third period as Rochester prevailed, 6-4, in a see-saw game in Albany on Saturday night.
The Americans led by a single goal three times, but trailed 4-3 until Timmins’ goal with 4:59 left in regulation. Del Monte scored the game-winner with 3:16 to play, and Evgeny Dadonov iced the win with an empty-netter.
Rochester improved to 6-1-1-0 away from home this season with a fourth straight road win.
Bill Thomas scored twice for the Amerks and Michal Repik was credited with three assists. Jacob Markstrom (5-5-0) made 27 saves in the win.
Rookie winger Mattias Tedenby led the Devils with a goal and an assist. Brad Mills and Vladimir Zharkov scored shorthanded goals for Albany.
CHARLOTTE 3, NORFOLK 1
Justin Pogge stopped 41 of 42 shots for his third consecutive win between the pipes and Charlotte ran its points streak to six games (3-0-1-2) with a 3-1 victory over Norfolk at Scope Arena.
Zac Dalpe, Zach Boychuk and Jacob Micflikier scored for the Checkers, who earned a split of the teams’ home-and-home set.
Alex Berry scored his first of the year for the Admirals, who lost in regulation on home ice for the first time (2-1-1-1).
BRIDGEPORT 4, HARTFORD 1
Jon Sim scored twice and Kevin Poulin made 28 saves as Bridgeport extended Hartford’s struggles with a 4-1 victory at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
The Wolf Pack have lost a franchise-record nine straight (0-7-2-0), scoring 10 goals in that span.
Sim, who had a hat trick in his AHL season debut for the Sound Tigers on Wednesday, netted the first two goals of this game. Rob Hisey assisted on both of Sim’s goals and Tony Romano recorded a goal and an assist.
The teams complete the home-and-home series in Hartford on Sunday evening.
GRAND RAPIDS 4, CHICAGO 2
Ilari Filppula’s three-point night paced Grand Rapids to a 4-2 win over Chicago at Van Andel Arena.
Filppula, the older brother of former AHL All-Star Valtteri Filppula of the Detroit Red Wings, has 15 points in 11 games for the Griffins this season.
Cory Emmerton notched a goal and an assist and Travis Ehrhardt and Tomas Tatar also scored as the Griffins moved to 6-3-0-2 on the season.
Thomas McCollum made 19 saves in the win, allowing only a pair of goals to Andre Deveaux.
BINGHAMTON 7, ADIRONDACK 3
One of five Senators with multiple points on the night, Corey Locke had a goal and three assists as Binghamton rolled to a 7-3 win over visiting Adirondack on Saturday.
Ryan Keller scored twice, rookies Bobby Butler and Colin Greening added a goal and two assists apiece and Mike Hoffman potted his first goal as a professional as the Sens scored seven goals in a game for the first time since a 7-0 win over the Phantoms on Nov. 26, 2009.
Barry Brust (4-3-1) made 37 saves for Binghamton.
Former B-Sens captain Denis Hamel made his return to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in a visitors uniform and scored a pair of goals for Adirondack, but the Phantoms still dropped their ninth in a row (0-8-1-0).
WORCESTER 3, MANCHESTER 2
Sean Sullivan’s power-play goal with six minutes left in regulation sent Worcester to a 3-2 win over Manchester at the DCU Center on Saturday.
Jonathan Cheechoo and Brandon Mashinter also scored with the man advantage for the Sharks, who improved to 3-1-1-1 on home ice this season.
Rookie Ray Kaunisto led the Monarchs with a goal and an assist, and Oscar Moller scored his first goal of the season.
MANITOBA 3, ROCKFORD 1
Manitoba scored three late goals in 87 seconds, the last two by Jeff Tambellini 32 seconds apart, to close out a seven-game road trip with a 3-1 win in Rockford.
The game was scoreless until rookie Ben Smith put the IceHogs on the board at 5:02 of the third period. Rockford held the lead until Cody Hodgson tied it for the Moose with just 4:40 remaining in regulation.
Tambellini, assigned to Manitoba by the parent Vancouver Canucks earlier this week, broke the tie at the 16:15 mark and provided a big insurance tally at 16:47.
Eddie Lack earned the win stopping 28 of 29 shots for the Moose, who return home after going 3-3-0-1 on their road swing. Hannu Toivonen, who took a shutout into the final five minutes, finished with 18 saves in defeat.
TORONTO 3, TEXAS 0
James Reimer picked up his third career AHL shutout with a 32-save performance, leading Toronto to a 3-0 road victory over Texas in Cedar Park.
The Marlies are 2-0-0-1 after three games of their 10-game road trip, which continues Sunday in Oklahoma City.
Ryan Hamilton, Joey Crabb and Greg Scott provided the goals for Toronto, sending the Stars to their fourth straight loss.
Brent Krahn stopped 25 of 27 shots in net for Texas.
HOUSTON 4, OKLAHOMA CITY 2
Jarod Palmer scored his first pro goal and tallied a pair of assists as Houston doubled up Oklahoma City, 4-2, to end the Barons’ winning streak at five games.
The victory, the Aeros’ fourth in a row overall, was also their third in as many visits to the Cox Convention Center this season.
Brock McBride, Carson McMillan and Robbie Earl also scored for Houston and Anton Khudobin finished the night with 23 saves.
Alex Plante and Ben Ondrus both potted their first goals of the season for Oklahoma City.
ABBOTSFORD 4, SAN ANTONIO 1
The Abbotsford Heat put in a solid team effort on both ends of the ice and skated to a 4-1 victory over San Antonio in AHL action Saturday night at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre.
Cam Cunning, Giffen Nyren, Keith Seabrook and Greg Nemisz (empty net) scored for the Heat, while Leland Irving collected his sixth win of the season by stopping 22 of 23 shots on the night.
With the win, the Heat move to 7-6-0-1 on the season and retain a share of second place in the North Division.
Matt Pope had the only goal for San Antonio, and Matt Climie made 34 saves. The Rampage spilt the two-game series in Abbotsford and are now 8-4-1-0, still good for first place in the AHL’s West Division.
