📝 With files from Patrick Williams
Here is a look at Sunday night around the AHL:
CLEVELAND 6, HERSHEY 5 (OT)
Josh Dunne scored twice in regulation and netted the decisive goal in the shootout as the Monsters (11-8-1-2) rallied past the Bears for the 500th win in franchise history. Hershey (17-5-2-1) had built a 5-1 lead before Cleveland scored four times in the second period to pull even. Connor McMichael scored twice for the Bears, and Mike Vecchione added a goal and an assist. David Jiricek, Brett Gallant and Brendan Gaunce also scored for Cleveland. The Monsters’ league-leading power play converted twice on four chances and improved to 27-for-84 on the season (32.1 percent).
CALGARY 5, SAN DIEGO 2
Brett Sutter and Emilio Pettersen each had a goal and an assist as the Wranglers (15-6-1-0) won their sixth consecutive game and their fourth in 10 days over the Gulls. With a 13-1-1-0 mark in its last 15 games, Calgary is one point behind Colorado for first place in the Pacific Division. Dennis Gilbert picked up his first goal of the season for the Wranglers, while Walker Duehr and Connor Zary also tallied. Nick DeSimone added two assists, and Oskar Dansk made 16 saves in his first start since Nov. 25. Bryce Kindopp and Bo Groulx scored for San Diego (6-18-0-0), which has lost a franchise-record eight in a row.
BRIDGEPORT 5, PROVIDENCE 2
Andy Andreoff scored twice, Aatu Raty notched a goal and two assists and Cory Schneider made a season-high 40 saves as the Islanders (14-6-4-0) gained a split of their home-and-home with the Bruins. Down 2-1, Otto Koivula and William Dufour scored power-play goals late in the first period to put Bridgeport ahead for good. Oskar Steen and Georgii Merkulov scored for the Bruins, who are 3-2-2-0 against the Islanders this season and 12-2-1-2 against the rest of the AHL.
SAN JOSE 3, BAKERSFIELD 1
Aaron Dell had a bounce-back effort with a season-high 39 saves in the Barracuda’s win. Dell, who allowed five goals in one period of work in his previous start on Friday, spotted the Condors a 1-0 lead before stopping all 24 shots he faced over the final two periods. Tristan Robins, Scott Reedy and William Eklund scored for San Jose (13-10-0-1), and Danil Gushchin recorded two assists. Darien Kielb had the only goal for the Condors (9-13-1-0), who have lost six of their past seven.
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.
