PHILADELPHIA, Pa – The AHL season is in full swing with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers off to a terrific start to there season. Bridgeport currently has the leagues best record with 24 points. The Hershey Bears and Portland Pirates are also off to great starts to their seasons with 19 points.
Here is a look at the Eastern Conference. All stats are as of November 13, 2008.
Albany River Rats
Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to Syracuse dropped the River Rats to 1-6-2-1 since a 5-4 win over Worcester on Oct. 17… Albany had killed off 28 straight shorthanded situations prior to allowing a power play goal at 15:44 of the third period on Saturday against Providence… Rookie Stefan Chaput tallied his first professional goal in that contest and added an assist for a multiple-point night… The Bruins put 59 shots on Rats goaltender Justin Peters on Saturday, the most shots faced by a goaltender in the AHL this season… Jakub Petruzalek (4-4-8) and Mark Flood (2-6-8) are tied for the team scoring lead with eight points apiece
Binghamton Senators
The Senators saw their season-high three game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday, a 6-2 loss to Bridgeport in St. John’s. Binghamton is currently in a stretch in which it plays five games in six days. Defenseman Brendan Bell skated in his 300th career AHL game on Tuesday against Bridgeport and marked the occasion with two points in regulation and scored the game winning goal in the shootout for a 4-3 victory. Bell is now riding a 10-game scoring streak (5-7-12). Rookie Zack Smith is on a six game scoring streak scoring 4 goals and 3 assists.
Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Bridgeport’s 6-2 victory over Binghamton on Wednesday moved the Sound Tigers to 4-0-0-1 in their last five games and gave them a league-high 24 points overall (11-3-0-2). It marked the second time in the teams’ last three meetings that Bridgeport scored six goals against the Senators. Kurtis McLean has points in seven of his last eight games (4 goals 8 assists). Mike Iggulden is riding a five-game scoring streak, and defenseman Chris Lee has a point in his last three contests. Bridgeport is outscoring opponents by a combined margin of 43-23 in the first two periods. The Sound Tigers travel to Texas for a pair of games this week.
Hartford Wolf Pack
Hartford finished it’s seven game homestand, the longest in franchise history, with a 5-2-0-0 record. The Wolf Pack will begin playing a stretch of nine of their next 12 games on the road. Greg Moore contributed a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 4-3 win over Springfield and has goals in two of his last three games after going the first nine games of the season without a goal. Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau has a point in four straight games and in seven of his last eight outings.
Hershey Bears
Hershey was in first place in the East Division for 32 consecutive days prior to Sunday’s 4-1 loss at Bridgeport, which dropped the Bears into second. The Bears have scored a league high 60 goals, but none have come shorthanded. Hershey has allowed three shorthanded goals. Goaltender Simeon Varlamov , a first-round draft pick by Washington in 2006, earned his first career AHL shutout when he made 19 saves in a 3-0 win at Albany. Hershey plays eight of its next 10 games at the Giant Center.
Lowell Devils
Lowell is currently on a 0-5-1-0 slump since starting the season 4-2-0-1. The Devils have lost five straight home games in regulation since a 6-4 victory over Worcester in their opener on Oct. 11. Tyler Eckford ’s eight points (1 goal 7 assists) is currently ranked in the top 10 in AHL rookie scoring by a defensemen. Jon DiSalvatore has registered four points in his last two games after failing to get a point in his previous seven games. Lowell has been outscored 17-8 in the first period this season.
Manchester Monarchs
Manchester is currently on a five game losing streak, three of those games ended in a shootout. The Monarchs are 0-3 in shootouts this season and have allowed seven goals on 14 opposition attempts. Manchester has scored the game’s first goal five times this season and has earned at least one point in all five games. Gabe Gauthier continues to lead the Monarchs with nine points (2 goals 7 assists), but has recorded just two points in his last five games. Vladimir Dravecky ’s three-game assist streak came to an end in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Chicago.
Norfolk Admirals
Norfolk has followed up a seven-game losing streak with a three-game winning streak, it’s longest such streak since winning four in a row from Feb. 1-8, 2008. The Admirals’ 45 shots on goal against Rockford on Friday were their most since firing 50 shots against Bridgeport on Mar. 17, 2007, a 6-3 victory. Steve Downie , acquired by the Tampa Bay Lightning last Friday, posted two assists for his first points as an Admiral in Tuesday’s 4-3 win at Lowell. Paul Szczechura is currently riding a four game scoring streak (1 goal 4 assists) and has a point in six of his last seven games (3 goals 6 assists).
Philadelphia Phantoms
Phantoms goaltender Scott Munroe went 2-0-0 last week and posted a 1.00 GAA and .976 save percentage, including a 46 save shutout, 2-0 win over Providence. Philadelphia has won six of it’s last seven games after dropping five of it’s first six of the season. Defenseman Danny Syvret has 15 points (3 goals 12 assists) on the season, just five short of his career high of 20 points for an entire season. The 2-0 win in Providence snapped a streak of six consecutive games in which the Phantoms had scored at power play goal.
Portland Pirates
Portland has won five straight games and is 7-0-1-0 in its last nine games. The Pirates have not trailed in a game in exactly 305 minutes of play, dating back to a 3-2 overtime loss at Hartford on Oct. 29. The team’s 9-1-1-0 start in 11 games is the best in franchise history through 11 games since the 1994-95 season when that team began that year 8-0-3. Reebok/AHL player of the week Mark Mancari leads all AHL scorers with 22 points (9 goals 13 assists) in 11 games and is a league high plus-14 rating. Tim Kennedy (4 goals 13 assists) and Nathan Gerbe (10 goals 5 assists) are the AHL’s top two rookie scorers.
Providence Bruins
Providence is in a 2-4-0-0 slide since starting the season 5-0-1-0. The Bruins suffered their fourth regulation loss in their 12th game of the season Sunday, a 2-0 loss to Philadelphia. Last season, Providence did not drop their fourth game in regulation until Dec. 8. The Bruins are 30 for their last 32 on the penalty kill (93.8 percent) and are tied for fourth overall at 89.7 percent. Vladimir Sobotka has scored a goal in three of the five games he has played for Providence this season.
Springfield Falcons
Goaltender Devan Dubnyk picked up his first career AHL shutout with 46 saves in Springfield’s 2-0 win at Worcester on Tuesday. It marked the Falcons’ first shutout as a team since Dec. 9, 2006. Dubnyk has started in all 12 of Springfield’s games this season and is out to a 6-5-1 start (2.53 goals against, .918 save percentage). Derek Bekar scored his third goal of the season, a game-winner in a victory over the Sharks on Tuesday. Rob Schremp ’s was on a four-game assist streak came to an end against that Sharks. Gilbert Brule has scored three goals in his last two games.
Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins
Chris Minard will carry a season-opening 11-game scoring streak (13-7-20) into this week’s action. The longest Penguins scoring streak last season was 10 games set by Tim Brent from Dec. 15-Jan 4. Minard’s 13 goals are tops in the AHL, and his 20 points ranks second. Goaltender Adam Berkhoel finished 2-0-0 against Lowell this season and stopped all 72 shots that he has faced. Jeff Taffe has registered multiple points in seven of his last eight games. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s power play is clicking at a 25.8 percent rate (8-for-31) at home, but only 5.9 percent (2-for-34) on the road.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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