📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at Saturday’s action around the AHL:
LAVAL 6, UTICA 2
The Rocket scored three times shorthanded — two of them eight seconds apart in the second period — and twice more on the power play to roll past the Comets. Laval was the first AHL team to notch three shorties in a game since Providence on Dec. 1, 2019. The Rocket trailed 1-0 before Brandon Gignac and Nate Schnarr scored in quick succession to give Laval the lead for good. Mitchell Stephens broke the game open with goals 2:14 apart early in the third period, and Joël Teasdale scored for the ninth time in his last eight games.
CHICAGO 6, IOWA 5
The Wolves spotted the Wild a 4-1 lead before firing off five consecutive goals and holding to sweep the teams’ home-and-home series. Chicago has won three in a row for the first time this season. All-Star defenseman and Wolves captain Max Lajoie recorded a career-high four points with a goal and three assists, Malte Stromwall scored two power-play goals and Joseph LaBate tallied twice for Chicago. Adam Beckman recorded a hat trick for Iowa.
TORONTO 4, CHARLOTTE 3
The Marlies survived another late rally by the Checkers and pulled out a split of their two-game trip to Charlotte. Toronto went up 4-0 on goals from Adam Gaudette, Nick Abruzzese, Mikhail Abramov and Max Ellis. But the Checkers, who trailed by two with five minutes to play on Friday before pulling out an overtime win, fought back again on third-period goals from Matt Kiersted, Henry Bowlby and Gerry Mayhew. Keith Petruzzelli made 12 of his 26 saves in the final frame for Toronto, which is 18-4-1-1 in its last 24 games.
PROVIDENCE 3, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 1
Georgii Merkulov’s power-play goal with 6:09 remaining in regulation gave the Bruins their fifth straight win and a sweep of their weekend home-and-home with the Penguins. Merkulov has six goals and three assists during the winning streak, including four game-winning tallies. Jack Ahcan and Chris Wagner also scored on the power play as Providence went 3-for-5 with the man advantage. Keith Kinkaid stopped 26 shots for the first-place B’s.
HERSHEY 2, HARTFORD 1
First-period goals from Mike Sgarbossa and Henrik Rybinski stood up as the Bears held off the Wolf Pack at Giant Center. Hunter Shepard made 33 saves in the win for Hershey, which was outshot 28-12 over the first two periods and 34-20 for the game. Will Cuylle had the lone goal for Hartford.
CLEVELAND 3, BELLEVILLE 2
Trey Fix-Wolansky recorded a goal and an assist and Justin Richards recorded three assists to help the Monsters complete a two-game weekend sweep of the Senators. Jake Christiansen also scored, his second goal of the weekend and fourth of the season. Pavel Cajan finished with 21 saves for Cleveland. Cole Cassels (shorthanded penalty shot) and Angus Crookshank scored for Belleville.
MILWAUKEE 4, ROCKFORD 3 (SO)
Keaton Thompson scored in the 15th shootout round as the Admirals prevailed for the second straight night against the IceHogs. Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves before stopping 13 of 15 shootout attempts for Milwaukee, which has won seven of its last eight. Isaak Phillips, Cole Guttman and Mike Hardman scored in regulation for the IceHogs, who had three separate one-goal leads in the game. Cole Schneider, Jordan Gross and John Leonard responded for the Admirals.
CALGARY 5, SAN JOSE 4 (SO)
Connor Zary, Jeremie Poirier and Matthew Phillips converted on their shootout attempts to lead the Wranglers past the Barracuda for the second straight night. William Eklund keyed a San Jose rally with two third-period goals, including the equalizer with 10:01 to play. Emilio Pettersen notched a goal and an assist for Calgary and Daniil Chechelev had 29 saves in his AHL season debut. The Wranglers improved to 31-6-2-0 in their last 39 games and opened up a three-point lead over idle Coachella Valley atop the Pacific Division.
ELSEWHERE
Three third-period goals, including Vinnie Hinostroza’s second of the game, sent Rochester past host Syracuse, 4-1… All-Star Riley Barber scored twice and added an assist as Texas completed a weekend sweep of host Colorado, 5-1… Oskari Salminen made 35 saves while Jansen Harkins and Kristian Reichel each contributed a goal and an assist in Manitoba’s 5-1 win at Grand Rapids… Elliot Desnoyers scored twice and Samuel Ersson made 15 saves for his first AHL shutout as Lehigh Valley handled Bridgeport, 3-0… James Hamblin scored twice for Bakersfield in a 6-1 win over San Diego… Samuel Fagemo netted the deciding shootout goal for the second consecutive night, this time giving Ontario a 3-2 victory at Henderson… Arturs Silovs stopped 27 shots as Abbotsford won its fifth game in a row, 4-1 over Tucson.
TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams has been on the American Hockey League beat for nearly two decades for outlets including NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, The Hockey News, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and SLAM! Sports, and was most recently the co-host of The Hockey News On The ‘A’ podcast. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
