Western Conference notebook

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Chicago has allowed a league-low average of 1.40 goals per game, having surrendered seven in five contests thus far… Second-year goaltender Ondrej Pavelec has been in net for that entire time and shows a 3-2-0 record, a .953 save percentage, and one shutout to this point… Colin Stuart is pacing the Wolves with four points (1-3-4) and has found the scoresheet in four of the first five games… Joey Crabb and Jordan LaVallee each have a team-high two goals, including a shorthanded marker apiece in Tuesday’s 3-1 win over San Antonio… Chicago travels north to square off with Milwaukee on Friday before hosting in-state rival Rockford on Saturday.
 
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The Griffins will become the final AHL team to play their home opener on Saturday when Hamilton visits Van Andel Arena… That game begins a stretch in which the Griffins play seven of their next nine contests at home… Saturday afternoon’s 4-3 shootout win at Lake Erie was coach Curt Fraser’s first victory behind the Griffins’ bench and his first in the AHL as a head coach… Darren Haydar (2-2-4), Ville Leino (2-2-4), and Mattias Ritola (1-3-4) are all tied for the team scoring lead with four points apiece… The Griffins, who did not play an Eastern Conference foe last season, will square off with Norfolk on Sunday afternoon.
 
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Hamilton’s four-game winning streak to open the season ended on Wednesday with a 4-3 shootout loss at Toronto… Prior to that game, the Bulldogs had been either ahead of or tied with their opponent for all but 3:49 worth of play over their first four contests… Rookie Ben Maxwell’s four-game scoring streak (3-1-4) and three-game goal run came to an end in the defeat… Matt D’Agostini assisted on all three Bulldog goals to register his second straight three-point effort… D’Agostini leads the Bulldogs overall with eight points (2-6-8) in five games… Hamilton travels on Saturday to face Grand Rapids, against whom it went 5-1-0-2 last season.
 
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Houston brings its perfect 4-0-0-0 record to Manitoba for two games and Toronto for one this weekend… It will mark the Aeros’ only visits of the season to the two locales… Houston has captured seven straight meetings with the Moose since a 4-1 loss at home on Dec. 14, 2006, and outscored them 13-5 in taking all four match-ups last season… Conversely, the Aeros are just 1-4-1-0 against the Marlies since Toronto began play in the 2005-06 campaign… Corey Locke has a point in three straight games (3-4-7) after being held scoreless in Houston’s season opener… Ryan Hamilton enters the weekend on a three-game goal-scoring streak (3-2-5).
 
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Joakim Lindstrom has tallied the game-winning goal in each of Iowa’s last two victories, including a 4-1 win over Quad City on Saturday in the teams’ first meeting of the season… Bobby Ryan had an assist in that game and is pacing the Chops thus far with seven points overall (2-5-7)… Josh Green, a veteran of 322 NHL games, netted a pair of goals in last Friday’s 6-3 loss to Rockford, and his three goals for the season (3-2-5) are tied with Andrew Ebbett (3-3-6) for the team lead… Iowa has been outscored 7-2 in the first period this season but holds an 8-2 edge in the third period.
 
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After going 3-1-0-1 on a five-game homestand to open the season, Lake Erie commences a six-game road swing on Friday in Iowa… The Monsters will then play in Peoria on Saturday and Sunday… All three of Lake Erie’s wins thus far have been by 4-3 scores, and all five games have been decided by either one or two goals… Brian Willsie has scored a goal in each game and shows team-high totals of five goals and seven points… Second-year pro T.J. Hensick has a point in four of his first five tilts (2-4-6) to rank second behind Willsie on the Lake Erie scoring list… Chris Durno netted his first goal in a Monsters uniform in Wednesday’s 4-3 win over Milwaukee.
 
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The Moose picked up their first two victories of the season last weekend when they swept a pair of games from Rochester by a combined score of 7-2… Second-year goaltender Cory Schneider was between the pipes for both games and upped his season record to 2-1-0 (1.34, .939)… Matt Pettinger netted three goals over the two games, which were his first contests in a Manitoba uniform and his first AHL action since the 2002-03 campaign with Portland… Jason Krog was recalled by parent-club Vancouver this week after registering a point in each of his first four games for the Moose (1-4-5)… Manitoba wraps up a six-game homestand by hosting Houston twice this weekend.
 
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Milwaukee is winless in four straight games (0-3-0-1) since posting a 3-1 win at San Antonio in its season opener on Oct. 11… Cal O’Reilly, who led the Admirals with 63 assists and 79 points last season, has registered a point in four of his first four games this year (2-3-5), including a goal in each of the last two… Antti Pihlstrom is pacing the team with four goals, and his five points are tied with O’Reilly for the top spot… The Admirals will play seven of their next nine games on home ice, beginning with Friday’s match-up with Peoria.
 
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Peoria’s three-game points streak (2-0-1-0) came to an end last Saturday with a 3-2 loss at Chicago… Chris Conner scored for the Rivermen and now has a goal in each of his last two contests… Steve Regier picked up an assist to run his scoring streak to three games (3-2-5)… Second-year forward Julian Talbot netted Peoria’s other goal against Chicago and now has a team-high four markers on the campaign (4-1-5)… Rookie goaltender Ben Bishop is 2-2-0 with a 2.44 GAA to begin the season… After visiting Milwaukee on Friday, the Rivermen open a six-game homestand – tied for their season high – on Saturday against Lake Erie.
 
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Kris Chucko has scored a goal in both of Quad City’s first two road games… He can tie a franchise record for most consecutive road games with a goal if he scores on Friday at Rochester… Goaltender Leland Irving made his professional debut for the Flames in Saturday’s 4-1 loss at Iowa… He became the third netminder to make his pro debut with Quad City, joining Matt Keetley and Kevin Lalande from the 2007-08 campaign… The Flames are 0-2-1-0 in their last three games as they embark on a three-game swing through the North Division this weekend, which will take them to Rochester, Toronto, and Hamilton… Quad City was 2-0-0-0 against the Americans last season.
 
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At 0-5-0-0, Rochester is the last remaining AHL team without a standings point this season… The Americans have scored just one goal in each of their last four games and have a total of seven on the campaign… Rookie defenseman Jason Garrison leads the Amerks with three points (1-2-3) through the first five contests, while second-year forward Tanner Glass sports a team-high two goals… Rochester plays three games this weekend, as it hosts Quad City on Friday before traveling to Syracuse on Saturday and Hershey on Sunday.
 
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Rockford is currently riding a three-game winning streak and its overall record of 4-1-0-0 is good for an early first-place tie with Houston in the West Division… Defenseman Cam Barker, drafted third overall by the Blackhawks in 2004, has netted a goal in all three games of the winning streak for Rockford… Troy Brouwer was recalled by the Blackhawks after posting a team-high eight points (2-6-8) through the IceHogs’ first five contests… Rob Klinkhammer chipped in his second career three-point game (1-2-3) in Friday’s 6-3 win at Iowa… The IceHogs have tallied at least one power play goal in each of their first five games (10-for-37; 27.0%).
 
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San Antonio has allowed a total of 15 goals in losing its last three games (outscored 15-10)… Rookie forward Brett MacLean boasts a three-game scoring streak (2-2-4), and his four points rank second on the Rampage behind Alex Bourret’s five (2-3-5)… Greg Classen has registered a goal in two of his last three outings (2-1-3), including the only San Antonio marker in a 3-1 loss at Chicago on Tuesday… A year after allowing a league-low four shorthanded goals over 80 games, the Rampage have already surrendered four through the first five games of this season.
 
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Syracuse’s 7-1 loss at Hershey on Saturday was its first regulation defeat since Feb. 18, 2008, snapping a 23-0-0-3 run that included an AHL-record 18-game regular-season winning streak… Forward Craig MacDonald registered his first two points (1-1-2) of the season last weekend for the Crunch… Andrey Plekhanov has posted an assist in three of his first four outings this season (0-3-3)… Mike York sits atop the Crunch’s leaderboard with five points thus far (2-3-5)… Syracuse hosts in-state rivals Binghamton and Rochester this weekend before embarking on a four-game road swing.
 
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Toronto is 2-1-0-0 on its five-game homestand after rallying for a 4-3 overtime win over Hamilton on Wednesday… Jeremy Williams tallied the game-tying and game-winning goals in that tilt for his first points of the season… Kris Newbury picked up a trio of assists, his second three-point effort of the young season… Goaltender Adam Munro made his Marlies debut on Sunday in a relief effort, making 16 saves in an eventual 7-3 loss to Grand Rapids… Toronto’s coaching staff of Greg Gilbert, Joe Paterson, and Doug Gilmour played a combined 2,602 games in the NHL.