📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at Saturday’s action around the AHL:
TORONTO 5, LEHIGH VALLEY 4 (SO)
Joey Anderson had two goals and an assist in regulation before scoring the decisive goal in the shootout as the Marlies outlasted the visiting Phantoms. Toronto, 8-1-0-1 in its last 10 contests, also got a regulation goal and a shootout goal from Adam Gaudette, and went 3-for-4 on the power play in the contest. Artem Anisimov (2g, 1a) and Olle Lycksell (1g, 2a) led the Lehigh Valley attack.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 4, HARTFORD 3 (OT)
Alex Nylander’s highlight-reel goal 1:24 into overtime capped a Penguins comeback at Mohegan Sun Arena. Jonathan Gruden scored twice and Drake Caggiula and Jack St. Ivany had three assists apiece as the Pens stormed back from a 3-0 deficit. Brandon Scanlin, Will Cuylle and Zac Jones scored for the Wolf Pack, who have points in five of their last six (2-1-1-2).
COACHELLA VALLEY 4, SAN JOSE 0
Joey Daccord stopped 39 shots to earn his third shutout of the season as the Firebirds pushed their win streak to seven games. Coachella Valley has outscored their opponents 27-11 during the streak, which has included three shutouts. Brogan Rafferty, Alexander True, Cameron Hughes and Carsen Twarynski supplied the goals for the Firebirds, who are 5-1-0-0 at Acrisure Arena since opening the building on Dec. 18. The teams meet again Tuesday night.
UTICA 2, SPRINGFIELD 1
Akira Schmid made 38 saves, helping Utica extend its point streak to 10 games (8-0-2-0). Nolan Stevens and Nick Hutchison delivered goals for the Comets, who are also 7-1-3-0 in their last 11 road games. Steven Jandric scored for the Thunderbirds for the second night in a row after going without a goal in his first 18 games.
ABBOTSFORD 2, HENDERSON 1
Linus Karlsson’s between-the-legs goal with 2:38 left to play gave the Canucks a second straight win over the Silver Knights. Abbotsford, 16-4-1-0 in its last 21 contests, also got a power-play goal from Nils Höglander and 26 saves from Arturs Silovs. Laurent Brossoit turned aside 28 of 30 shots for the visitors.
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ROCHESTER 4, SYRACUSE 3
Malcolm Subban stopped 41 shots as Rochester held on to win at Syracuse. The Crunch rallied to tie after trailing 3-0 in the first period, but Jeremy Davies scored with 6:20 left in regulation to send the Amerks to their fifth straight road victory. Subban has won his last six decisions, the longest streak of his pro career. Ethan Prow scored twice for Rochester, his first two-goal game since Dec. 19, 2018. Shawn Element, Jack Finley and Gemel Smith had the goals for Syracuse.
PROVIDENCE 6, BRIDGEPORT 3
Justin Brazeau struck for two goals and an assist during a four-goal second period as the Bruins handled the Islanders for the fourth time in five visits to Bridgeport this season. Joona Koppanen, Oskar Steen, Vinni Lettieri and Mike Reilly all contributed a goal and an assist for Providence, and Brandon Bussi turned aside 36 shots. Cole Bardreau scored twice for the Islanders, who are winless in 10 games (0-7-2-1) and 0-6-1-0 in their past seven home dates.
TEXAS 3, GRAND RAPIDS 2 (SO)
Antonio Stranges had the deciding shootout goal in the seventh round as the Stars edged the Griffins to improve to 13-2-2-0 in their last 17 outings. Jacob Peterson and Matej Blumel built a 2-0 Texas lead before the Griffins rallied with third-period goals from Drew Worrad (at 3:37) and Taro Hirose (at 18:07). Anton Khudobin made 19 saves in the win; Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 36 shots while making his third start in four nights for Grand Rapids.
IOWA 2, ROCKFORD 1 (OT)
Dakota Mermis scored 34 seconds into overtime as the Wild edged the IceHogs at Wells Fargo Arena. Marco Rossi (1g, 1a) and Nic Petan (2a) had two-point efforts for Iowa, and Jesper Wallstedt made 20 saves to earn the win in net. Mike Hardman scored for the IceHogs, who have a five-game point streak (4-0-1-0).
CHICAGO 4, CLEVELAND 1
Zach Sawchenko’s 39-save performance gave the Wolves a split of the teams’ two-game set at Allstate Arena. William Lagesson and Jack Drury had a goal and an assist apiece for Chicago, which improved to 6-3-1-1 in its last 11 games. Josh Dunne scored for the Monsters, who fell despite outshooting the Wolves by a 40-19 margin.
CHARLOTTE 3, HERSHEY 1
Alex Lyon made 24 saves and Cameron Morrison scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 5:44 to go in the game as the Checkers completed a five-game road trip with a win. Aleksi Heponiemi had a first-period goal along with two assists for Charlotte, which has won six of seven following a five-game losing streak. Hendrix Lapierre netted Hershey’s only goal.
MILWAUKEE 5, SAN DIEGO 1
The Admirals rebounded from Friday’s shutout loss to the Gulls with a resounding win in the rematch. Kevin Gravel scored 11:59 into the game to end Lukas Dostal’s shutout streak at a team-record 152:31, and then three Milwaukee goals in a 2:27 span early in the second period chased Dostal from the game. Cole Schneider had two points for the Admirals, including the 300th assist of his AHL career. Devin Cooley needed just 15 saves to earn the victory as Milwaukee finished with a 41-16 advantage in shots.
BELLEVILLE 6, MANITOBA 1
Scott Sabourin scored twice during a four-goal third period as the Senators pulled away from the Moose at CAA Arena. Sabourin has 11 goals on the season, one shy of his career high set as a rookie with Manchester in 2013-14. Ridly Greig extended his scoring streak to five games (6g, 3a) with a goal and an assist, and Kevin Mandolese stopped 31 shots to pick up his first AHL win since Oct. 26.
COLORADO 6, TUCSON 1
Jean-Luc Foudy scored twice and added an assist to power the Eagles to a sweep of their two-game visit to Tucson. Sampo Ranta and Alex Galchenyuk had a goal and an assist apiece, and defenseman Luke Martin recorded his first career AHL point with a third-period marker. Justus Annunen made 26 saves in the win for Colorado.
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.
