AHL Weekend Recap

(Photo: Melissa Kania)

Thirty-four games topped off a busy weekend in the American Hockey League, with 14 games each on Friday and Saturday and another six games on Sunday.

In total, 217 goals were scored during this weekend’s games, several of which were back-to-back competitions for teams.

Friday’s games included a 7-4 win for the Portland Pirates in Lewiston over the Worcester Sharks and a 4-3 comeback win for the Rochester Americans over the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Jordan Caron had a hat trick in Providence’s 4-3 win over Manchester, while Chris Conner also had a pair of goals for Portland. Other multi-goal scorers included Louis Leblanc with a pair for Hamilton and Corey Elkins with a trio of goals for Norfolk. Brandon Segal and Matt Gilroy each had a pair of goals for Connecticut. Finally, Justin Schultz had a pair of goals for Oklahoma City in the team’s 5-2 victory over San Antonio.

Saturday’s games were a bit more high-scoring. The highlight of the night was a 6-5 overtime win for the Syracuse Crunch after the team was down 5-0 earlier in the game. A 5-0 Toronto Marlies win – Jussi Rynnas’ first of the season – and a wild 8-7 Rochester Americans win were other highlights of the day.

It was much of the same on Saturday, as seven different players in four games had a pair of goals each: Marcus Foligno (ROC), T.J. Brennan (ROC), Ryan Stoa (HER), Chris Conner (POR), Tanner Pearson (MAN), Jacob Josefson (ALB), Nick Palmieri (HOU).

Sunday only had six games, but it would include another win for the Crunch, as they took a 3-1 victory over the WBS Penguins. Lake Erie shutout Texas by a score of 4-0, and Rockford and Milwaukee defeated Charlotte and Houston, respectively, by scores of 5-4. Binghamton also defeated Hershey 2-1, and Toronto lost in a shootout to Grand Rapids.

A seventh game originally scheduled for Sunday, between the Rochester Americans and Hamilton Bulldogs, was rescheduled and relocated and will now take place in Buffalo at the First Niagara Center on Tuesday. The move relieves both teams from having to play three games in as many days and gives them two days off before returning to action on Tuesday.

The league now has a bit lighter schedule for the next couple of days, with no games scheduled for Monday. Three games on Tuesday, three on Wednesday and just one on Thursday will segue into yet another busy weekend.