📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at Saturday around the AHL:
TUCSON 9, SAN DIEGO 4
The Roadrunners (12-8-4-0) set a franchise mark for goals in a period and tied their record for goals in a game as they rolled to victory in San Diego. Laurent Dauphin, Michael Carcone and Adam Cracknell scored in a 45-second span to give Tucson a 3-0 lead less than four minutes into the game en route to a 6-1 advantage after the first period. The Roadrunners, who have scored 19 goals in their last three contests, got points from 13 different skaters in the game, led by Carcone with two goals and two assists; Dauphin and Nathan Smith added two goals each. Justin Kirkland and David Cotton recorded a goal and an assist apiece for the Gulls (6-21-0-0), who have lost 11 in a row.
HENDERSON 3, ABBOTSFORD 0
Laurent Brossoit picked up his second consecutive shutout as the Silver Knights (11-16-0-1) won for the fifth time in the past six games. Brossoit, whose scoreless streak sits at 142:26, has stopped 147 of 151 shots over his last five starts (0.81, .974). Sheldon Rempal, Lukas Cormier and Byron Froese scored for Henderson, which handed the Canucks (14-9-1-1) their first shutout loss of the season. Jake Kupsky made 23 saves in his AHL debut for Abbotsford.
ROCHESTER 4, CHARLOTTE 0
Malcolm Subban stopped 30 shots as the Amerks (14-9-1-1) shut out host Charlotte for their third win in a row. Subban, who had 45 saves on Friday, handled 75 of 77 Charlotte shots this weekend in Rochester’s sweep of the teams’ weekend set. Amerks leading scorer Brandon Biro had a goal and an assist for his fourth consecutive multi-point game, and Linus Weissbach also had two points (1g, 1a) for Rochester. Alex Lyon made 24 saves for the Checkers (12-11-2-1), who have lost five straight.
TEXAS 3, IOWA 1
The Central Division-leading Stars (16-7-2-2) won their seventh straight game, defeating the Wild (11-11-2-2) for the second night in a row. It is Texas’s longest winning streak since an 11-game run during their 2013-14 Calder Cup championship season. Riley Barber’s team-leading 15th goal early in the third period broke a 1-1 tie. Matthew Murray made 16 saves for the Stars, who have won nine consecutive visits to Wells Fargo Arena. Jesper Wallstedt stopped 25 shots for Iowa.
HERSHEY 2, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 1 (OT)
Mike Sgarbossa’s second goal of the game 3:59 into overtime gave the Bears (18-6-2-1) a win and a split of a two-game trip to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Clay Stevenson had 23 stops for Hershey, which held onto its one-point lead over Providence atop the overall AHL standings. Filip Lindberg made 30 saves for the Penguins (13-6-2-2), who had a three-game winning streak ended.
CLEVELAND 7, LAVAL 4
The Monsters (10-9-3-1) rallied from down 3-1 and 4-3 to skate past Laval in the opener of a two-game set at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Cleveland scored four times in the third period, with Brett Gallant netting his first career game-winning goal at the 8:41 mark. Emil Bemstrom (2g, 1a), Trey Fix-Wolansky (1g, 2a), and rookie David Jiricek (3a) all had three-point afternoons for the Monsters, whose league-leading power play went 3-for-4 and is operating at 34.1 percent this season (27-for-92). Defenseman Justin Barron had a goal and two assists for the Rocket (9-14-3-1).
TORONTO 6, MILWAUKEE 5
The Marlies (16-8-1-1) fended off Milwaukee in a wild inter-conference meeting at Panther Arena. Toronto chased Admirals starter Yaroslav Askarov with four goals on its first six shots, including shorthanded tallies from Logan Shaw and Joseph Blandisi, and held a 4-3 lead after the opening period. Blandisi finished the night with three points (1g, 2a), Semyon Der-Arguchintsev had a goal and an assist, and Graham Slaggert’s empty-net goal ended up standing as the game-winner after Jimmy Huntington tallied in the final minute for the Admirals (15-8-0-2).
ELSEWHERE
Cal Petersen (4-1-0, 1.61, .947) recorded a 19-save shutout to carry Ontario to a 2-0 win over Bakersfield… Jeff Malott scored twice and Declan Chisholm and Alex Limoges each delivered three assists to lead Manitoba past Belleville, 6-2… Nolan Stevens scored twice to help Utica hold off Springfield, 7-3… Vinni Lettieri scored 52 seconds into overtime to give Providence a 2-1 win at Lehigh Valley; the teams exchanged OT victories in their weekend home-and-home series… Gemel Smith extended his scoring streak to 12 games with a goal and an assist and Gabriel Dumont scored twice as Syracuse edged Bridgeport, 4-3… Dylan Wells made 38 saves and Michal Teply had a goal and an assist in Rockford’s 3-2 win over visiting Hartford… Ryan Suzuki scored his first two goals of the season and Cale Morris stopped 31 shots as Chicago skated past Grand Rapids, 5-1, to snap an eight-game home losing streak… Spencer Smallman, Ryan Wagner and Cal Burke all had a goal and an assist and Jonas Johansson made 25 saves to lead Colorado to a 5-2 win over San Jose.
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.
