📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at Saturday’s action around the AHL:
TUCSON 6, ABBOTSFORD 3
Jean-Sebastien Dea recorded the first hat trick of his AHL career and Michael Carcone extended his lead atop the AHL scoring page with four more points as the Roadrunners raced to their third straight win. Dea, who has 148 goals in 492 career AHL games over nine pro seasons, opened the scoring 7:13 into the game before tacking on a pair of insurance goals early in the third period. Carcone tallied his 22nd goal of the season and added three assists to move to 58 points in just 35 games on the year. Adam Cracknell and Cameron Hebig also scored for Tucson, which hosts the Canucks again on Sunday.
COLORADO 5, TEXAS 1
Alex Galchenyuk scored two of the Eagles’ four power-play goals in a 5-1 win over the Stars in Cedar Park. It was Texas’s first regulation loss on home ice since Nov. 13, ending a 9-0-1-1 run. Charles Hudon added a goal and three assists for the Eagles, Cedric Pare and Jean-Luc Foudy recorded a goal and an assist apiece, and Jonas Johansson turned aside 37 shots in net.
SPRINGFIELD 6, BELLEVILLE 1
Hugh McGing scored a goal and assisted on three others as the Thunderbirds rolled to their second straight win over the Senators. Springfield has won five in a row, including outscoring Belleville 11-2 in a pair of weekend victories. Matthew Kessel and Will Bitten each posted a goal and two assists and the T’birds went 4-for-10 on the power play for the night. Vadim Zherenko stopped 25 of 26 shots.
IOWA 5, COACHELLA VALLEY 2
Sammy Walker scored twice and fellow AHL All-Star Jesper Wallstedt made 21 saves as the Wild defeated the league-leading Firebirds at Wells Fargo Arena. Iowa has points in eight straight games (8-0-1-1), while Coachella Valley had its 14-game point streak (13-0-0-1) come to an end. Defensemen Joe Hicketts and Andrej Sustr each posted a goal and two assists and Nic Petan recorded three helpers for the Wild. Alexander True (1g, 1a), Tye Kartye (1g, 1a) and Kole Lind (2a) had two points each for the Firebirds.
ONTARIO 7, SAN DIEGO 2
Lias Andersson (2g, 2a) and T.J. Tynan (4a) had four points each as the Reign defeated the Gulls in San Diego. Andersson has 10 goals and five assists in his last nine games, while Tynan has two goals and 14 assists in his last six. Tyler Madden added two goals and an assist and Cal Petersen finished with 31 saves for Ontario.
LAVAL 7, CLEVELAND 4
Lucas Condotta recorded a hat trick, All-Star Anthony Richard scored twice and Joël Teasdale posted a goal and two assists as the Rocket extended its point streak to seven games (4-0-2-1). Laval went 3-for-7 on the power play, and scored its seven goals on just 22 shots. Cayden Primeau made 29 saves for his fifth win of the season.
ELSEWHERE
Mitch McLain recorded two goals and an assist, Walker Duehr scored twice and Calgary knocked off Henderson, 6-2, to run its point streak to six games (5-0-1-0)… Devin Shore and Max Gildon had a goal and an assist each as Bakersfield edged San Jose, 5-4… All-Star defenseman Max Lajoie scored at 4:08 of overtime to lift Chicago to a 3-2 win over visiting Rockford… All-Star Ethen Frank netted two goals and dished out two assists as visiting Hershey defeated Lehigh Valley, 7-3, to extend its point streak to eight games (6-0-2-0)… All-Stars Brandon Bussi (26 saves) and Vinni Lettieri (three assists) led Providence to a 5-1 win in Utica… Devin Cooley stopped 28 shots to lead Milwaukee to a 4-2 win over Grand Rapids… Gabriel Fortier recorded a goal and two assists to lead Syracuse to a 7-3 win at Hartford… Valtteri Puustinen scored twice and Taylor Gauthier made 28 saves as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton beat Bridgeport, 3-1… Zac Dalpe, Justin Sourdif and Calle Sjalin scored third-period goals to lift Charlotte to a come-from-behind 5-3 win at Rochester.
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 is currently 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.