📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at Friday night around the AHL:
COACHELLA VALLEY 8, SAN JOSE 3
The Firebirds (12-4-2-0) erupted for a season-high eight goals behind Kole Lind’s second hat trick of the year and rolled to their fifth consecutive win. Coachella Valley built a 5-1 lead in the opening 13:45 of the game and went 4-for-5 on the power play for the night. Max McCormick had two goals and an assist, Andrew Poturalski added a goal and two assists and Ryker Evans notched three assists for the Firebirds, who are 10-2-2-0 (.786) on the road, second-best in the AHL. Jeffrey Viel and Montana Onyebuchi each tallied a goal and an assist for the Barracuda (12-10-0-1).
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 8, CLEVELAND 1
The Penguins (12-6-1-2) scored five goals in the second period for the second consecutive game and raced past the Monsters. Drew O’Connor had a career-high five points (2g, 3a) for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which has totaled 15 goals in its last two games. Drake Caggiula and Alex Nylander each provided a goal and two assists, and Nathan Légaré, Corey Andonovski and Jonathan Gruden each scored as well. Filip Lindberg finished with 36 saves. Justin Richards had the only goal for Cleveland (10-7-1-2).
ABBOTSFORD 7, MANITOBA 0
Will Lockwood and Lane Pederson each scored twice and Arturs Silovs made 19 saves for his first shutout of the season as the Canucks (12-7-1-1) routed visiting Manitoba (10-6-2-1). Pederson now has seven goals in his past five games and 14 goals in 16 games since joining Abbotsford after an Oct. 28 trade. The Canucks have won five straight at home, outscoring their opponents 30-14.
CALGARY 3, SAN DIEGO 0
Dustin Wolf made 22 saves for his second consecutive shutout and league-leading third of the season to help the Wranglers (14-6-1-0) over the Gulls. Cole Schwindt scored 38 seconds into the game, and Mitch McLain and Nicolas Meloche added insurance goals. Calgary has won five in a row and is 12-1-1-0 in its last 14 outings. Lukas Dostal made 26 saves for San Diego (6-17-0-0), which has lost seven straight.
HERSHEY 4, BRIDGEPORT 2
Linemates Mike Vecchione (2g, 2a), Ethen Frank (1g, 3a) and Mike Sgarbossa (1g, 1a) combined for 10 points as the Bears (16-5-2-0) won their fifth road game in a row and took back control of first place in the AHL from idle Providence. Zach Fucale posted 20 saves for Hershey. Ruslan Iskhakov and Cole Bardreau scored and Cory Schneider stopped 37 shots for the Islanders (13-5-4-0).
MILWAUKEE 2, HARTFORD 0
Yaroslav Askarov (22 saves) recorded his first AHL shutout to lead the Admirals (15-6-0-1) to victory in their first meeting with the Wolf Pack since Feb. 14, 2003. Markus Nurmi and Tommy Novak provided Milwaukee’s scoring, and Marc Del Gaizo recorded two assists. Louis Domingue finished with 20 saves for the Wolf Pack (6-10-1-4).
BELLEVILLE 2, LAVAL 1 (SO)
Returning from injury in his first game since Nov. 11, Mads Sogaard made 32 saves for the Senators (11-11-1-0), who have now won five of six meetings with the Rocket this season. Belleville’s Rourke Chartier and Laval’s Tory Dello exchanged second-period goals before Egor Sokolov decided the game in the shootout for the B-Sens. Kevin Poulin made 30 saves for Laval (7-13-3-1).
TORONTO 5, SYRACUSE 2
Alex Steeves (2g, 1a) had a three-point night and Joseph Blandisi scored twice as the Marlies (14-8-1-0) captured their third straight road victory. Keith Petruzzelli stopped 34 of 36 shots for Toronto, and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev added a goal and an assist in his return from the parent Maple Leafs. Newly appointed Marlies captain Logan Shaw pushed his point streak to seven games with a first-period assist. Darren Raddysh tallied two assists for the Crunch (9-9-2-2), moving into a tie for the league scoring lead.
ELSEWHERE
Alex Chiasson tied the game with 3:05 left in regulation and Jared McIsaac won it 56 seconds into overtime as Grand Rapids pulled out a 2-1 victory in their first-ever visit to Springfield… Simon Nemec scored a shorthanded goal and added two assists and Graeme Clarke scored the go-ahead goal with 7:58 remaining as Utica knocked off Rochester, 5-2… Ontario erased three one-goal deficits in regulation before Quinton Byfield scored 2:29 into overtime to give the Reign a 4-3 win in Tucson… Gage Quinney scored with 1:58 left in regulation and rookie Lukas Cormier netted the winner at 3:33 of OT to give Henderson a 3-2 win in Colorado… Artem Anisimov and Kieffer Bellows scored and Samuel Ersson stopped 29 of 30 shots as Lehigh Valley edged visiting Charlotte, 2-1… Curtis McKenzie tallied twice while Riley Tufte, Riley Barber and Fredrik Olofsson added single goals for Texas in a 5-2 win over Chicago… Steven Fogarty scored the tying goal in the third period and the decisive goal in the shootout and Jesper Wallstedt made 37 saves as Iowa got past Rockford, 3-2.
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.
