Two more teams punched their tickets to the 2005 Calder Cup Playoffs on Sunday as the AHL’s regular season continued down the home stretch.
The Milwaukee Admirals were idle on Sunday, but the defending Calder Cup champions found their way into the postseason thanks to Hamilton’s 4-1 victory over Grand Rapids at Copps Coliseum.
Antti Miettinen and Tomas Plekanec each had a goal and an assist for the Bulldogs, who now sit five points ahead of Syracuse in fourth place in the North Division.
The loss left the Griffins stuck in fifth in the West, looking up at Cincinnati and Houston.
In the East, Philadelphia moved back into first place and secured a playoff berth for the eighth time in nine seasons with a 4-2 victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg had a goal and three assists for the Phantoms, who won their third in a row.
Riley Cote, R.J. Umberger and Tony Voce also scored for Philadelphia.
Elsewhere on Sunday:
Jason Pominville had a hat trick and Thomas Vanek scored twice as Rochester captured the North Division regular-season championship with a 6-4 win over St. John’s before 15,326 fans in Buffalo… Josh Harding made 33 saves to lead Houston to a 4-1 win at San Antonio… Joffrey Lupul scored a goal for the seventh game in a row, helping Cincinnati over Utah, 4-2… Stephen Weiss ran his scoring streak to 12 games with a goal and an assist in Chicago’s 4-2 win over Edmonton… Jed Ortmeyer had a goal and two assists to pace Hartford to a 5-1 win at Lowell… Andy Hilbert’s goal with 5:41 left in regulation was the difference as Providence beat Manchester, 3-2… Chris Campoli scored twice, Bruno Gervais had a goal and two assists and Dieter Kochan made 40 saves as Bridgeport beat Binghamton, 5-2, ending the Senators’ 10-game points streak (7-0-0-3)… Ryan Murphy had three goals and an assist for Albany and Ari Ahonen made 40 saves in a 6-2 win over Worcester… Andreas Holmqvist had a goal and an assist as Springfield ended a 16-game road losing streak with a 5-3 win at Portland, the Pirates’ sixth straight loss overall.
