CHICAGO, Ill – There were five games on Saturday night’s plate where Lake Erie and Manitoba finally got their first round series started. Also in the Western Conference, Hamilton took a 2-0 lead in their series against Oklahoma City, whereas Texas evened their series against Milwaukee at one game apiece. Over in the Eastern Conference, Norfork shutout Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to take a surprising 2-0 game lead in their series and Portland needed overtime to do the same in their series.
Here is a quick roundup of each series going into Sunday’s 2011 Calder Cup Playoffs FIRST ROUND Atlantic Division Semifinals PORTLAND vs. CONNECTICUT Portland leads series 2 – 0
The Portland Pirates needed overtime to defeat the Connecticut Whale for their second 3-2 victory in a row. The series now shifts for a Sunday night game in Connecticut.
Portland center Matt Ellis started the scoring at the 5:02 mark to put the Pirates first on the board, but late in the period the Whale scored two goals in 76 second late in the period with tallied from forwards Francis Lemieux and John Mitchell. That lead held all the way to the third where left wing Derek Whitmore tied up the game with 7:40 left and that is where it ended in regulation. Whitmore was the hero of the game first by scoring the tying goal and then at almost the same time in the period he scored the game-winner on an odd man break.
The Whale mustered up 16 shots on the first period but were only able to get nine shots combine for the whole rest of the game against David Leggio. Dov Grumet-Morris suffered the loss as he saved 33 of the 36 shots he faced.
Game 1 – Thu Apr 14 7:00 PM PORTLAND 3, Connecticut 2 Game 2 – Sat Apr 16 7:00 PM PORTLAND 3, Connecticut 2 OT Game 3 – Sun Apr 17 6:00 PM Portland at Connecticut Game 4 – Tue Apr 19 7:00 PM Portland at Connecticut Game 5 – Thu Apr 21 7:00 PM * Connecticut at Portland Game 6 – Sat Apr 23 7:00 PM * Portland at Connecticut Game 7 – Mon Apr 25 7:00 PM * Connecticut at Portland Atlantic Division Semifinals MANCHESTER vs. BINGHAMTON Series tied 1 – 1
The series now moves to Binghamton on Sunday as the series is tied at one. The numbers in the regular as for these two teams are so identical that it is difficult to predict a winner at any time. They even split the regular season matchups at one game apiece.
Game 1 – Thu Apr 14 7:00 PM MANCHESTER 2, Binghamton 1 Game 2 – Fri Apr 15 7:00 PM Binghamton 4, MANCHESTER 3 OT Game 3 – Sun Apr 17 5:05 PM Manchester at Binghamton Game 4 – Tue Apr 19 7:05 PM Manchester at Binghamton Game 5 – Wed Apr 20 7:05 PM Manchester at Binghamton Game 6 – Fri Apr 22 7:00 PM * Binghamton at Manchester Game 7 – Sat Apr 23 7:00 PM * Binghamton at Manchester East Division Semifinals W-B/SCRANTON vs. NORFOLK Norfolk leads series 2 – 0
The Norfolk Admirals as the number four seed in the east shutout the first seed Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday night to take a two game to none lead in the series. The game was tight until Norfolk center Paul Szczechura scored the first goal of the game with only 7.6 seconds left in the second period. Center Marc-Antoine Pouliot put it away by scoring the empty netter against his old team with four second left in the game.
Both Teams fired off 27 shots in the game as Dustin Tokarski earned the shutout win while Brad Thiessen suffered the lost.
The series will resume on Tuesday as the team now travel to Norfolk.
Game 1 – Fri Apr 15 7:05 PM Norfolk 2, W-B/SCRANTON 1 Game 2 – Sat Apr 16 7:05 PM Norfolk 2, W-B/SCRANTON 0 Game 3 – Tue Apr 19 7:15 PM W-B/Scranton at Norfolk Game 4 – Wed Apr 20 7:15 PM W-B/Scranton at Norfolk Game 5 – Fri Apr 22 7:30 PM * W-B/Scranton at Norfolk Game 6 – Sat Apr 23 7:05 PM * Norfolk at W-B/Scranton Game 7 – Mon Apr 25 7:05 PM * Norfolk at W-B/Scranton East Division Semifinals HERSHEY vs. CHARLOTTE Charlotte leads series 1 – 0
The newcomers to the American Hockey League Charlotte Checkers have a 1-0 series lead against the defending Calder Cup Champions of the last two years in the Hershey Bears. Game Two is tonight in Hershey. Watch for another high scoring adventure as Brian Willsie and Kyle Greentree continue to score as both were 30-goal scorers for the Bears in the regular season.
Game 1 – Thu Apr 14 7:00 PM Charlotte 5, HERSHEY 4 Game 2 – Sun Apr 17 5:00 PM Charlotte at Hershey Game 3 – Tue Apr 19 7:00 PM Hershey at Charlotte Game 4 – Wed Apr 20 7:00 PM Hershey at Charlotte Game 5 – Fri Apr 22 7:00 PM * Hershey at Charlotte Game 6 – Sun Apr 24 5:00 PM * Charlotte at Hershey Game 7 – Mon Apr 25 7:00 PM * Charlotte at Hershey North Division Semifinals HAMILTON vs. OKLAHOMA CITY Hamilton leads series 2 – 0
The Hamilton Bulldogs took it to the Oklahoma City Barons again Saturday by the score of 2-0 to give them a 2 game lead in the series. Both teams scored late in the first period as center Brad Moran fired the first tally of the game at the 17:18 mark for the Barons. But with just under three seconds left, Bulldogs center Andreas Engqvist scored the morale beater. Hamilton carried that rush into the second and scored quickly as Nigel Dawes got one home on the power play at the 1:03 mark.
Hamilton Goaltender Drew MacIntyre was magnificent in net stopping 38 of the 39 shots he faced. Martin Gerber got his first start in the series after coming into relief of Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers in the first game of the series.
The series will resume on Tuesday as both teams travel to Oklahoma City
Game 1 – Thu Apr 14 7:30 PM HAMILTON 5, Oklahoma City 2 Game 2 – Sat Apr 16 4:00 PM HAMILTON 2, Oklahoma City 1 Game 3 – Tue Apr 19 7:05 PM Hamilton at Oklahoma City Game 4 – Wed Apr 20 7:05 PM Hamilton at Oklahoma City Game 5 – Fri Apr 22 7:05 PM * Hamilton at Oklahoma City Game 6 – Sun Apr 24 4:00 PM * Oklahoma City at Hamilton Game 7 – Mon Apr 25 7:30 PM * Oklahoma City at Hamilton North Division Semifinals LAKE ERIE vs. MANITOBA Lake Erie leads series 1 – 0
The Lake Erie Monsters and the Manitoba Moose are the last two teams to finally start their first round series. In their matinee on Saturday, both teams were engaged in a high scoring shooting match.
Matthew Ford started the scoring with the first of his two for the Monsters at the 3:27 mark, but not to be overshadowed, three minutes and 20 seconds later, Moose center Marco Rosa did the same thing in scoring the first of his two scores. Manitoba’s Sergei Shirokov finished the scoring in the first to give the Moose a one goal lead.
The Moose came back strong with three goals in the third as the goals were scored every with way. Left wing Justin Mercier scored short-handed early at the 1:41 mark. Then 9:20 in, Luke Walker scored on the power play on a Rick Rypien penalty. Center Ryan Stoa finished the scoring for the period with 3:27 left in the second.
Rosa and Ford both got their second goals of the game the start the third period. The two teams then exchanged two more goals with Manitoba’s Kevin Connauton then scored a shorthanded goal late in the period to bring the Moose within one but center Mark Olver took care of that by scoring the empty net goal with 18 seconds left.
The 6-4 victory was given to goaltender Jason Bacashihua who saved 21 of his 25 shots. As for the Moose, Eddie Lack was 19 for 24 before begin replaced by Tyler Weiman who was perfect in his 5:35 minutes of relief.
The series resumes with another matinee in Lake Erie.
Game 1 – Sat Apr 16 12:00 PM LAKE ERIE 6, Manitoba 4 Game 2 – Sun Apr 17 3:00 PM Manitoba at Lake Erie Game 3 – Tue Apr 19 7:30 PM Lake Erie at Manitoba Game 4 – Thu Apr 21 7:30 PM Lake Erie at Manitoba Game 5 – Fri Apr 22 7:30 PM * Lake Erie at Manitoba Game 6 – Sun Apr 24 4:00 PM * Manitoba at Lake Erie Game 7 – Tue Apr 26 7:00 PM * Manitoba at Lake Erie West Division Semifinals MILWAUKEE vs. TEXAS series tied 1 – 1
The Texas Stars made one mistake in the first period by allowing Milwaukee defenseman Teemu Laakso the power play goal 11:17 into the game. But goaltender Richard Bachman shut down the Admirals for the rest of the game facing 30 shots on net. The Stars scored three more goals with two of those on the power play. Defenseman Philip Larsen got the first of those two in the second and center Aaron Gagnon scored at full strength for the Stars two goals in the second frame. Center Travis Morin put the Admirals to rest on the final tally of the game on the man advantage.
The Admirals Jeremy Smith suffered the loss saving 26 of 29 shots.
The series now travels to Texas for a three game set.
Game 1 – Thu Apr 14 7:00 PM MILWAUKEE 5, Texas 2 Game 2 – Sat Apr 16 7:00 PM Texas 3, MILWAUKEE 1 Game 3 – Tue Apr 19 7:30 PM Milwaukee at Texas Game 4 – Wed Apr 20 7:30 PM Milwaukee at Texas Game 5 – Fri Apr 22 7:30 PM Milwaukee at Texas Game 6 – Mon Apr 25 7:00 PM * Texas at Milwaukee Game 7 – Tue Apr 26 7:00 PM * Texas at Milwaukee West Division Semifinals HOUSTON vs. PEORIA Houston leads series 2 – 0
The series now shifts to Peoria on Monday where the Rivermen will hope to dig themsleves out of a two game deficit.
Game 1 – Wed Apr 13 7:05 PM HOUSTON 4, Peoria 1 Game 2 – Fri Apr 15 7:35 PM HOUSTON 3, Peoria 2 OT Game 3 – Mon Apr 18 7:05 PM Houston at Peoria Game 4 – Tue Apr 19 7:05 PM Houston at Peoria Game 5 – Wed Apr 20 7:05 PM * Houston at Peoria Game 6 – Fri Apr 22 7:35 PM * Peoria at Houston Game 7 – Sun Apr 24 4:05 PM * Peoria at Houston
* if necessary Contact the author @ matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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