AHL Morning Skate: 5.4.19

Take a game-day spin around the AHL ice with latest news and notes from the 2019 Calder Cup Playoffs in today’s AHL Morning Skate.

Playoff Brackets | Today’s Scoreboard | League Stats | Series Infographics

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Game 2 – Tonight, 6:00 ET,
(CHA leads series, 1-0)
Follow @CheckersHockey Follow @TheHersheyBears Tweet #CHAvsHER

Game 2 of the Atlantic Division Finals is tonight with Charlotte holding the series lead after last night’s 4-1 victory over Hershey… The Checkers scored four times in the first 11:32 of the contest en route to their third win in a row… Julien Gauthier (2-0-2) opened the scoring at 1:42, Derek Sheppard (1-0-1) netted his first career AHL goal at 3:56, and Aleksi Saarela (1-4-5) and Stelio Mattheos (1-0-1) scored 65 seconds apart to put the game out of reach… Dustin Tokarski, getting his first start of this postseason with Alex Nedeljkovic on NHL recall to Carolina, finished with 20 saves… Tokarski is 8-0-0 with nine goals allowed in eight starts since joining the Checkers on Feb. 28… Andrew Poturalski (5-5-10) and Morgan Geekie (4-2-6) both extended their scoring streaks to five playoff games with an assist apiece… Chris McCarthy (2-0-2) scored the only goal for Hershey in Game 1, getting the Bears on the board late in the first period… Vitek Vanecek (1-2, 2.32, .940) finished with 34 saves in the loss… Charlotte has outscored its opponents 16-2 in its last four games at Bojangles’ Coliseum.

Atlantic Division Finals – Series “I” (best-of-7)
A1-Charlotte Checkers vs. A3-Hershey Bears
Game 1 – Fri., May 3 – CHARLOTTE 4, Hershey 1 | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 4 – Hershey at Charlotte, 6:00
Game 3 – Tue., May 7 – Charlotte at Hershey, 7:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 8 – Charlotte at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Charlotte at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 6 – Sun., May 12 – Hershey at Charlotte, 5:00
*Game 7 – Tue., May 14 – Hershey at Charlotte, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 3 – Sunday, 3:00 ET, 
(TOR leads series, 2-0)
Follow @TorontoMarlies Follow @monstershockey Tweet #TORvsCLE

North Division Finals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
N3-Toronto Marlies vs. N4-Cleveland Monsters
Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – TORONTO 5, Cleveland 2 | Recap
Game 2 – Fri., May 3 – TORONTO 4, Cleveland 3 (OT) | Recap
Game 3 – Sun., May 5 – Toronto at Cleveland, 3:00
Game 4 – Tue., May 7 – Toronto at Cleveland, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 11 – Cleveland at Toronto, 4:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 13 – Toronto at Cleveland, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 15 – Cleveland at Toronto, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 3 – Sunday, 4:00 ET,
(CHI leads series, 2-0)
Follow @Chicago_Wolves Follow @IAWild Tweet #CHIvsIA

Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
C1-Chicago Wolves vs. C3-Iowa Wild
Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – CHICAGO 3, Iowa 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Thu., May 2 – CHICAGO 4, Iowa 3 | Recap
Game 3 – Sun., May 5 – Chicago at Iowa, 4:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 8 – Chicago at Iowa, 8:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Chicago at Iowa, 8:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 13 – Iowa at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 15 – Iowa at Chicago, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

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Game 2 – Tonight, 10:00 ET,
(SD leads series, 1-0)
Follow @Condors Follow @SDGullsAHL Tweet #BAKvsSD

Bakersfield and San Diego made a little history last night (and this morning), opening the Pacific Division Finals by playing the fifth-longest AHL game ever… Max Comtois, in his first game back with the Gulls after finishing his junior season with Drummondville (QMJHL), scored the winning goal at 4:20 of the fourth overtime period to give San Diego a 3-2 win and the 1-0 series lead… The game lasted five hours and 10 minutes, finally ending at 12:20 a.m. PDT — leaving less than 19 hours before the puck drops for Game 2 tonight… Comtois’s goal ended nearly 80 full minutes of scoreless hockey between the AHL’s top two offenses, and came on the Gulls’ 56th shot of the game… Jeff Glass (4-1, 1.85, .932) turned aside 51 shots for San Diego, while Shane Starrett (3-2, 1.99, .919) made 53 saves for Bakersfield… Brad Malone (3-4-7) scored a shorthanded goal and added an assist for the Condors, and Patrick Russell (2-4-6) recorded two assists… Joe Gambardella (2-1-3) gave Bakersfield a 2-1 lead early in the third period, but the Gulls needed just 11 seconds to tie it back up… Justin Kloos (2-3-5) and Sam Carrick (3-4-7) scored for San Diego in regulation… San Diego has allowed the game’s first goal in all five of their playoff matches, but are now 4-1… The Gulls improved to 4-1-0-1 at Rabobank Arena this season.

Pacific Division Finals – Series “L” (best-of-7)
P1-Bakersfield Condors vs. P3-San Diego Gulls
Game 1 – Fri., May 3 – San Diego 3, BAKERSFIELD 2 (4OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., May 4 – San Diego at Bakersfield, 10:00
Game 3 – Wed., May 8 – Bakersfield at San Diego, 10:00
Game 4 – Fri., May 10 – Bakersfield at San Diego, 10:00
*Game 5 – Sat., May 11 – San Diego at Bakersfield, 10:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 13 – Bakersfield at San Diego, 10:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 15 – San Diego at Bakersfield, 10:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern

Alumni Watch
In last night’s Stanley Cup Playoff action, two-time AHL All-Star Curtis McElhinney made 26 saves and Carolina advanced to the Eastern Conference Final with a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders in Game 4… 2012 AHL All-Star Ben Bishop stopped 38 shots and Esa Lindell‘s first playoff goal proved to be game-winner as Dallas defeated St. Louis, 2-1, in Game 5 of their series.

Watch the Calder Cup Playoffs on AHLTV
Don’t miss a second on the road to the 2019 Calder Cup championship. AHLTV features live streaming of every AHL game in high definition on desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices, as well as OTT platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. A subscription is just $24.99 for the entire postseason, or just $7.99 for a day pass. Visit theahl.com/AHLTV for details.