📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at Saturday’s action around the AHL:
COACHELLA VALLEY 5, ONTARIO 4 (OT)
Max McCormick scored his third goal of the night with 3:32 gone in overtime as the Firebirds extended their point streak to 12 games — matching the AHL season high — with a win in Ontario. McCormick’s hat trick was the third of his AHL career and the fourth by a Coachella Valley skater this season. Luke Henman and Tye Kartye also scored for the Firebirds, who are 22-3-3-1 in their last 29 games. Rookie Martin Chromiak had a hat trick of his own for the Reign and T.J. Tynan recorded four assists, giving him 398 for his AHL career.
CALGARY 5, ABBOTSFORD 3
Dustin Wolf made 32 saves for his 23rd win of the season as the Wranglers finished off a sweep of their three-game visit to Abbotsford. Ben Jones led the Calgary offense with a goal and an assist, and Connor Zary scored for the fourth time in his last six outings. Linus Karlsson, Vasily Podkolzin and Danila Klimovich countered for the Canucks.
BAKERSFIELD 3, TUCSON 2
Justin Bailey and Ty Tullio scored third-period goals and Calvin Pickard made 15 of his 35 saves in the final frame as the Condors rallied past the Roadrunners. It was Bakersfield’s first win in five tries against Tucson this season (1-3-0-1). Raphael Lavoie had the Condors’ other goal, and Luke Esposito tallied two assists. Laurent Dauphin and Nathan Smith each recorded a goal and an assist for the Roadrunners.
COLORADO 5, HENDERSON 4
Alex Beaucage and Keaton Middleton each had a goal and an assist and Sampo Ranta’s goal with 7:54 stood up as the difference as the Eagles built a 4-1 lead and held on to defeat the Silver Knights. Connor Ford had an AHL career-high three points (1g, 2a) for Henderson, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end.
CHICAGO 6, ROCKFORD 2
Jamieson Rees scored twice and William Lagesson recorded three assists as the Wolves handed the IceHogs their fourth straight defeat. Chicago has scored 12 goals in its last two games after being shut out in back-to-back outings previously. Brendan Perlini added a goal and an assist and Pyotr Kochetkov made 22 saves for the Wolves, who put the game away with four goals in the third period. Adam Clendening and D.J. Busdeker scored for Rockford.
MANITOBA 5, TEXAS 4 (OT)
AHL All-Star defenseman Declan Chisholm scored 1:23 into overtime as the Moose edged the Central Division-leading Stars. Tyler Boland scored twice and Alex Limoges had a goal and three assists for Manitoba, which held a 4-2 lead until Marian Studenic and Will Butcher scored in the third period to tie the game for Texas. The Stars still have just one regulation loss since the start of December (13-1-3-0).
CHARLOTTE 9, CLEVELAND 0
Riley Nash had two goals and two assists and Spencer Knight made 23 saves in his Checkers season debut as Charlotte routed Cleveland. The Checkers scored seven times in 14:46 during the second period on their way to equaling the AHL’s season high for goals in a game. Thirteen different Charlotte skaters had at least one point, including Connor Bunnaman (1g, 2a) and Aleksi Heponiemi (3a) with three apiece.
HERSHEY 4, BELLEVILLE 2
Down 2-0 going into the third period, the Bears scored four times to defeat the Senators in Belleville. Ethen Frank got Hershey on the board with 14:56 to play before Beck Malenstyn tied the game with a shorthanded goal four minutes later and Garrett Pilon potted the game-winner with 6:23 to go. Frank added an empty-netter to move into a tie for the league lead among rookies with 18 goals on the season. Scott Sabourin and Viktor Lodin scored for the Sens.
UTICA 3, SYRACUSE 2 (OT)
Nolan Foote scored just 12 seconds into overtime to give the Comets their first win in four tries against Syracuse this season. Akira Schmid made 28 saves in the win for Utica, which also received special-teams goals from Ryan Schmelzer (shorthanded) and Graeme Clarke (power play). Simon Ryfors and Jack Thompson scored while Kaden Fulcher made 29 saves in his team debut for the Crunch, who saw their five-game winning streak snapped.
TORONTO 4, LAVAL 3 (SO)
Logan Shaw assisted on two Nick Abruzzese power-play goals in regulation before netting netted the decisive shootout tally as the Marlies beat the Rocket for their eighth consecutive win. Xavier Simoneau and Anthony Richard scored on the man advantage for Laval, which is 8-for-25 (32.0 percent) on the power play over its last four games. Erik Källgren stopped 23 shots for the Marlies, while Kevin Poulin had 30 saves for Laval.
HARTFORD 4, ROCHESTER 1
Dylan Garand made 23 saves, allowing only a 6-on-4 power-play goal with 1:08 remaining in the game, as the Wolf Pack improved to 4-1-2-2 in their last nine games with a win over the Amerks. Turner Elson, Cristiano DiGiacinto, Lauri Pajuniemi and Zach Giuttari scored for Hartford. Michael Houser stopped 29 shots in net for Rochester.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 3, BRIDGEPORT 2
Drake Caggiula’s goal with 1:53 to go in the second period held up as the Penguins slipped past the Islanders at Total Mortgage Arena. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton nursed the one-goal lead through a third period in which they allowed only two Bridgeport shots on net. Sam Houde and Alex Nylander scored 60 seconds apart in the first period to put the Pens ahead 2-0, but AHL All-Star defenseman Samuel Bolduc answered with a pair of goals for the Isles. Dustin Tokarski stopped 22 shots in his first game back from a three-week stint in Pittsburgh.
SPRINGFIELD 3, GRAND RAPIDS 2 (OT)
Nikita Alexandrov scored 1:31 into overtime as the Thunderbirds completed a comeback from two goals down to sweep their three-game Midwest road trip. Drew Callin and Matthew Kessel also scored and Will Bitten and Brady Lyle had two assists each for Springfield, which defeated Milwaukee and Rockford earlier in the week. Albert Johansson and Jakub Vrana staked the Griffins to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
MILWAUKEE 4, IOWA 3 (SO)
Devin Cooley made 43 saves and Phil Tomasino had the lone goal in the shootout as the Admirals ended the Wild’s six-game winning streak with a victory in Des Moines. Spencer Stastney, Jachym Kondelik and Zach Sanford all had goals for Milwaukee in regulation and Cooley stopped 20 shots in the third period alone as Iowa finished with a 46-20 advantage in shots on goal, including 40-14 over the final 45 minutes. Marco Rossi scored twice for the Wild, including the equalizer with 15.3 seconds left in regulation.
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.
