CHICAGO, Ill. – Today’s theme for the two games played tonight was the story of comebacks with the team that is behind in the series winning. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were able to shutout the Charlotte Checkers 3-0 in a physical penalty-filled game. The win ties up the East Division Finals as one game apiece. The Portland Pirates returned a favor and won on the road to bring them within one game in the Atlantic Division Finals. Tim Conboy scored the winner for his first goal in almost two years for the 3-2 win.
These two teams now turn it over to the Western Conference as the other two Division Finals will take place on Sunday as Hamilton takes their one game lead against the Manitoba Moose in and afternoon game at home. Also the Houston Aeros will try to rebound in Game 2 of their series in Milwaukee. SECOND ROUND Atlantic Division Finals PORTLAND vs. BINGHAMTON Binghamton leads series 2 – 1
The Portland Pirates took one away from the Binghamton Senators as an unlikely hero emerged from the game. With 13 seconds left in the game and the score tied at two, defenseman Tim Conboy scored the game-winner to bring his Pirates within one game in the series. This was Conboy’s first goal in almost two years and 171 AHL and NHL games.
The Pirates started the scoring with a goal in the first from defenseman Brian O’Hanley at the 5:29 mark. One period later Binghamton knotted up the score as team captain Ryan Keller scored his fifth of the playoffs. Left wing Kaspars Daugavins also tallied his fifth on the power play to give the Senators the lead in the game.
Derek Whitmore set up the win by tying the score with a shot in front of the net that got past Robin Lehner with 5:09 left in the game. Lehner stopped 30 of 34 while David Leggio did one better for the win.
Game 1 – Wed Apr 27 7:00 PM Binghamton 3, PORTLAND 2 Game 2 – Thu Apr 28 7:00 PM Binghamton 5, PORTLAND 3 Game 3 – Sat Apr 30 7:05 PM Portland 3, BINGHAMTON 2 Game 4 – Mon May 2 7:05 PM Portland at Binghamton Game 5 – Tue May 3 7:05 PM Portland at Binghamton Game 6 – Fri May 6 7:00 PM * Binghamton at Portland Game 7 – Sat May 7 7:00 PM * Binghamton at Portland East Division Finals W-B/SCRANTON vs. CHARLOTTE series tied 1 – 1
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins turned up the heat as the evened up the East Division Finals by winning Game 2 by shutting out the Charlotte Checkers. Brad Thiessen, the league’s goaltender of the year, lived up to his billing in stopping all 34 shots he faced. The game had a physical edge to it as 14 roughing penalties out of a total of 22 were called.
The game was tight until late in the second as Penguins left wing Brett Sterling scored with assists from Corey Potter and Paul Thompson with 4:33 left in the period. Chris Collins got his first goal of the playoffs 2:22 into the second and then captain Ryan Craig capped off the scoring at 19:17 of the game on the empty-netter.
Mike Murphy suffered his first loss in five games stopping 28 shots. The series now travels to Charlotte with a game on Monday night.
Game 1 – Thu Apr 28 7:05 PM Charlotte 3, W-B/SCRANTON 2 Game 2 – Sat Apr 30 7:05 PM W-B/SCRANTON 3, Charlotte 0 Game 3 – Mon May 2 7:00 PM W-B/Scranton at Charlotte Game 4 – Wed May 4 7:00 PM W-B/Scranton at Charlotte Game 5 – Fri May 6 7:00 PM W-B/Scranton at Charlotte Game 6 – Sat May 7 7:05 PM * Charlotte at W-B/Scranton Game 7 – Mon May 9 7:05 PM * Charlotte at W-B/Scranton North Division Finals HAMILTON vs. MANITOBA Hamilton leads series 1 – 0
The Manitoba Moose will need to solve the high scoring offense of the Hamilton Bulldogs while also trying to figure out how to get the puck past Drew MacIntyre to tie the series.
Game 1 – Thu Apr 28 7:30 PM HAMILTON 4, Manitoba 1 Game 2 – Sun May 1 4:00 PM Manitoba at Hamilton Game 3 – Tue May 3 7:30 PM Hamilton at Manitoba Game 4 – Wed May 4 7:30 PM Hamilton at Manitoba Game 5 – Fri May 6 7:30 PM * Hamilton at Manitoba Game 6 – Sun May 8 7:30 PM * Manitoba at Hamilton Game 7 – Mon May 9 7:30 PM * Manitoba at Hamilton West Division Finals MILWAUKEE vs. HOUSTON Milwaukee leads series 1 – 0
Hopefully, with the late goal in the Game 1, the Houston Aeros are back on track as they looked rusty after a long layoff to start theior series against the Milwaukee Admirals.
Game 1 – Fri Apr 29 7:00 PM MILWAUKEE 3, Houston 1 Game 2 – Sun May 1 5:00 PM Houston at Milwaukee Game 3 – Tue May 3 7:05 PM Milwaukee at Houston Game 4 – Thu May 5 7:05 PM Milwaukee at Houston Game 5 – Fri May 6 7:35 PM * Milwaukee at Houston Game 6 – Sun May 8 5:00 PM * Houston at Milwaukee Game 7 – Tue May 10 7:00 PM * Houston at Milwaukee FIRST ROUND Atlantic Division Semifinals PORTLAND vs. CONNECTICUT Portland wins series 4 – 2 Atlantic Division Semifinals MANCHESTER vs. BINGHAMTON Binghamton wins series 4 – 3
East Division Semifinals W-B/SCRANTON vs. NORFOLK W-B/Scranton wins series 4 – 2 East Division Semifinals HERSHEY vs. CHARLOTTE Charlotte wins series 4 – 2 North Division Semifinals HAMILTON vs. OKLAHOMA CITY Hamilton wins series 4 – 2 North Division Semifinals LAKE ERIE vs. MANITOBA Manitoba wins series 4 – 3 West Division Semifinals MILWAUKEE vs. TEXAS Milwaukee wins series 4 – 2 West Division Semifinals HOUSTON vs. PEORIA Houston wins series 4 – 0 (* if necessary)
Contact the writer at matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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