📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at a 16-game Saturday night around the AHL:
COLORADO 3, COACHELLA VALLEY 2 (OT)
The Eagles (10-5-1-0) completed a sweep of their two-game home set with the Firebirds with their second consecutive OT victory. Defenseman Wyatt Aamodt struck 32 seconds into overtime while Jonas Johansson had 30 saves as Colorado extended its point streak to eight games (7-0-1-0) and moved into the Western Conference lead with 21 points. Coachella Valley built a 2-0 lead on second-period goals by Max McCormick and Ville Petman before the Eagles rallied, with Cal Burke forcing overtime with a goal at 16:58 of the third. Christopher Gibson made 32 saves for the Firebirds (7-3-2-0), who are 3-1-2-0 so far on a 16-game road trip.
SYRACUSE 5, BELLEVILLE 4
It was a double-milestone night for the Crunch, who won for the 1,000th time in franchise history and gave Ben Groulx his 300th career victory as an AHL head coach. Syracuse (6-6-1-2) has won four in a row and five of six since a 1-5-1-2 start to the season. a four-game winning streak. The Crunch scored four goals in the first 9:03 of the game to chase Senators starter Logan Flodell, then held on as Belleville (7-7-1-0) cut the deficit to one by the end of the second period. Daniel Walcott, Shawn Element and Trevor Carrick each had a goal and an assist for Syracuse.
TUCSON 6, SAN JOSE 3
The Roadrunners (8-4-1-0) spotted San Jose a 3-0 first-period lead before reeling off six unanswered goals, including Milos Kelemen’s hat trick. Kelemen, a 2022 Olympian for his native Slovakia in his first season in North America, tied the game late in the second period and gave Tucson the lead with 7:31 left in the third. Michael Carcone notched a goal and two assists for the Roadrunners, who were 3-for-10 on the power play. William Eklund, Scott Reedy and Andrew Agozzino scored for the Barracuda (7-6-0-1).
SAN DIEGO 6, GRAND RAPIDS 1
Glenn Gawdin notched his second career hat trick to propel the Gulls (6-10-0-0) past the visiting Griffins. Brayden Tracey, Drew Helleson and Dmitry Osipov also scored for San Diego; Olli Juolevi recorded three assists; and Lukas Dostal stopped 20 of 21 shots. Pontus Andreasson scored the lone goal for the Griffins (7-8-1-0), his seventh point in the last six games and the team’s fifth power-play goal of the weekend.
CALGARY 5, BAKERSFIELD 2
Dustin Wolf posted 31 saves for the Wranglers (8-5-1-0), who completed a two-game sweep of their visit to Bakersfield and improved to 6-0-1-0 in their last seven games. Matthew Phillips broke a 2-2 tie with 5:40 left in regulation, and Connor Zary and Cole Schwindt each provided a goal and an assist for Calgary, which went 2-for-6 on the power play on Saturday and 6-for-14 for the weekend. Justin Bailey, playing his second game of the season, scored his first two goals for the Condors (7-6-1-0), and Ryan Fanti stopped 37 of 40 shots.
LAVAL 5, CLEVELAND 4 (SO)
The Rocket peppered Jet Greaves with 51 shots but needed Brandon Gignac’s goal in the eighth shootout round to get past the Monsters. Danick Martel had a goal and an assist and Peter Abbandonato recorded three helpers for Laval (5-9-3-0). Owen Sillinger scored twice for the Monsters (8-5-0-2), who have points in six straight outings (4-0-0-2). Trey Fix-Wolansky scored again for Cleveland, his seventh goal and 14th point in the last four games.
HERSHEY 6, HARTFORD 1
The Bears (9-3-2-0) scored a season-high six goals and improved to 8-0-1-0 at Giant Center with a convincing win over the Wolf Pack. Henrik Borgstrom, Mason Morelli and Garrett Pilon each had a goal and an assist during Hershey’s three-goal first period. Sam Anas notched his 100th career AHL goal for the Bears, who host Hartford (4-5-1-3) again today.
LEHIGH VALLEY 3, PROVIDENCE 2 (SO)
The Phantoms (7-5-1-0) won their fifth consecutive game and completed a sweep of their two-game visit to league-leading Providence (10-2-1-2). Tanner Laczynski scored his first goal of the season and later had the only successful attempt in the shootout. Brandon Bussi stopped 43 of 45 shots for the Bruins.
ROCKFORD 4, CHICAGO 3 (OT)
Michal Teply scored his second goal of the night in the waning moments of overtime to give the IceHogs (7-6-0-1) a split in the teams’ home-and-home weekend series. Alex Vlasic and David Gust contributed a goal apiece. Former IceHog Cale Morris fought off 41 shots in the loss for the Wolves (5-6-2-0).
ELSEWHERE
Mikhail Abramov, Adam Gaudette and Noel Hoefenmeyer each had a goal and an assist and Toronto scored three times on the power play in a 5-3 win over Abbotsford… Gage Quinney broke a 1-1 tie midway through the third period goal to lift Henderson past Ontario, 3-1… Otto Koivula, William Dufour and Parker Wotherspoon notched a goal and an assist apiece as Bridgeport ended a four-game winless streak and rallied past Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 4-2… Devin Cooley made 28 saves and Kiefer Sherwood scored 1:26 into overtime to give Milwaukee a 2-1 win over Iowa… Rookie winger Isak Rosen, the 14th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, netted the winning goal and added an assist for Rochester in a 3-2 victory at Utica… Mack Guzda made 33 saves to backstop Charlotte to a 4-1 win in Springfield, finishing a 4-2-0-0 road trip for the Checkers… Manitoba scored three times in the first 4:22 of the contest and Oskari Salminen finished with 39 saves in the Moose’s 4-3 shootout win at Texas.
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.
