📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at a busy Saturday around the AHL:
MANITOBA 3, MILWAUKEE 2
Greg Meireles scored with 2:38 left in regulation to give the Moose (10-5-2-1) a 3-2 win over the visiting Admirals. Manitoba’s Nicholas Jones (1g, 1a) and Ville Heinola (2a) had two-point efforts, and rookie Wyatt Bongiovanni scored for the second consecutive game. The Moose held Milwaukee (14-6-0-0) without a shot on goal in the third period, and Arvid Holm finished with 19 saves for the win.
CALGARY 6, SAN DIEGO 0
Thirteen players recorded at least one point as the Wranglers (14-6-1-0) completed a sweep of their two-game visit to San Diego. Calgary has won four straight and is on an 11-1-1-0 run since Nov. 4. Colton Poolman opened the scoring with his first goal in 99 games (regular season and playoffs) since Mar. 27, 2021. Clark Bishop scored twice and Matthew Phillips netted his league-leading 15th goal, while Dustin Wolf needed just 17 stops to earn his second shutout of the season. Lukas Dostal made 35 saves for the Gulls (6-16-0-0), who lost their sixth consecutive game.
BRIDGEPORT 5, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 1
The Islanders (13-3-4-0) got a goal and two assists from Chris Terry and 32 saves from Cory Schneider to improve to 5-0-4-0 in their last nine road games and 6-0-1-0 in their last seven overall. After a scoreless first period, Ruslan Iskhakov, Collin Adams and Andy Andreoff broke the game open with goals in an eight-minute span of the second. Nathan Légaré provided the lone goal for the Penguins (10-6-1-2).
SYRACUSE 3, TORONTO 1
Felix Robert broke a 1-1 tie with 5:43 left in regulation to help the Crunch (8-8-2-2) halt a three-game losing streak. Alex Barré-Boulet added a goal and an assist, and Cole Koepke, assigned by Tampa Bay before the game, picked up an empty-netter in his season debut with the Crunch. Max Lagace made 26 saves for Syracuse. Alex Steeves scored the only goal and recorded a game-high eight shots for the Marlies (12-7-1-0).
CHARLOTTE 6, LEHIGH VALLEY 4
Henry Bowlby and Grigori Denisenko snapped a 2-2 tie late in the second period and sent the Checkers (12-6-2-1) on their way to a split of a two-game home series with the Phantoms (9-8-1-1). Denisenko, Logan Hutsko, Anthony Bitetto, Lucas Carlsson and former Phantom Gerry Mayhew all notched a goal and an assist for Charlotte. Tyson Foerster, Adam Brooks and Elliot Desnoyers all scored power-play goals for Lehigh Valley, which is 6-for-10 on the man advantage over its last four games.
UTICA 7, BELLEVILLE 3
The Comets (7-7-3-1) scored four times in a span of 7:34 during the first period and rolled to a 7-3 victory, extending their road point streak to four games (3-0-1-0). Tyler Wotherspoon had a goal, two assists and a plus-6 rating for Utica, and D partner Simon Nemec tallied a goal, an assist and a plus-5. Nico Daws made 20 of his 43 saves in the first period for Utica. Rourke Chartier, Angus Crookshank and Egor Sokolov scored for the Senators (9-10-1-0).
SAN JOSE 4, TUCSON 2
Thomas Bordeleau (1g, 2a) and Ryan Merkley (3a) each had three power-play points to lead the Barracuda (11-9-0-1) past the Roadrunners. San Jose has converted at least once on the power play in eight straight games (11-for-41). William Eklund served up a goal and an assist and Strauss Mann made 22 saves for the win. Jan Jenik and J.S. Dea scored for Tucson (10-7-1-0).
ABBOTSFORD 7, LAVAL 5
Phil Di Giuseppe and Lane Pederson each scored twice and had an assist to lead a group of 14 Canucks who picked up at least one point in a 7-5 win over the visiting Rocket. Jett Woo, Vincent Arseneau, and Linus Karlsson also scored for Abbotsford (10-7-1-1). Anthony Richard had four points (1g, 3a) in the loss for Laval (7-12-3-0), while Peter Abbandonato scored two of the team’s three power-play goals.
ELSEWHERE
Riley Damiani finished the night with two goals and an assist and Texas (11-7-2-2) scored five times in the first period en route to a 6-3 win at Grand Rapids (8-11-1-0)… Brad Hunt scored his second goal of the game with 2:13 left in regulation to lift Colorado (14-6-1-0) to a 5-4 win in Bakersfield… Vinni Lettieri tied the game midway through the third and Justin Brazeau scored the winner with 2:55 to play as Providence (13-3-3-2) rallied for a 2-1 win over visiting Springfield (7-10-4-0)… Lukas Reichel and Dylan Sikura each had a goal and an assist and Jaxson Stauber, son of former Wolf Pack goaltender Robb Stauber, made 28 saves as the IceHogs (11-7-0-1) won their first-ever meeting with Hartford (5-8-1-4), 3-2… Joona Luoto tallied a goal and an assist to lift Cleveland (10-6-1-2) to a 4-3 win over Rochester (11-7-1-1)… Zach Sawchenko made 23 saves for his first shutout of the season as Chicago snapped a four-game slide with a 4-0 win at Iowa (8-7-2-2)… Tye Kartye, Shane Wright and Andrew Poturalski scored in the shootout to lift Coachella Valley (11-4-2-0) to a 3-2 win over Henderson (6-15-0-1).
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.
