KHL Playoff Game Day: 4-7-13

Submitted by pete on April 7, 2013 - 20:59

KHL Playoffs (Russia):

Gagarin Cup Finals
Dynamo Moscow 2 vs. Chelyabinsk 1
Dynamo Moscow Leads the Series 1-0
Nikita Nesterov, Chelyabinsk, 0-0-0, -1, 0 PIM, 1 SOG
Playoff totals: 14 GP, 0-3-3, -2, 6 PIM
Regular season totals (KHL): 35 GP, 0-1-1, +6, 14 PIM
Regular season totals (MHL): 2 GP, 0-0-0, E, 0 PIM

Nikita Nesterov was on the ice for Sergei Soin's game winning goal in Chelyabinsk's 2-1 Game One loss to Dynamo Moscow in the opener of the Gagarin Cup Finals. The defenseman played 14:26 in the match. Caps first rounder Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the only goal of the contest for Traktor. Game Two is Monday.

ECHL Playoff Game Night: 4-6-13

Submitted by mike on April 7, 2013 - 07:30

(4)Florida Everblades 2 vs. (5)Elmira Jackals 8
Quarterfinals: The best-of-seven series is tied 1-1

D Charles Landry, FLA: 0-0-0, -1, 1 SOG, 0 PIM
Playoff totals: 2 GP, 0-0-0, E, 2 PIM
Season totals: 51 GP, 4-12-16, +7, 33 PIM

Florida took the first two leads converting power play chances but Elmira countered with a penalty shot conversion and then a short-handed tally followed by five other goals in the third period to stun the home squad and supporting crowd in Estero. After posting consecutive fourteen-shot periods, the Everblades only managed to muster five in the last twenty minutes of action while the Jackals turned the match into a blowout. It was another penalty-filled clash, particularly in the opening period when both teams were tagged with ten infractions. Both clubs finished two-for-six with the man advantage. Jesse Deckert, who has been stellar in his brief tenure with the Everblades, played through the disastrous collapse in the final frame and finished with 23 saves on 31 shots attempts. Landry yet again was the lone Tampa Bay Lightning prospect in the lineup. Florida and Elmira will resume the series Wednesday night in New York.

Official Recap | Box Score

NA Juniors Playoff Game Night: 4-6-13

Submitted by chad on April 6, 2013 - 21:32

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

(8)Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 2 @ (5)Quebec Remparts 4
Best-of-7 second round series tied, 1-1

W Nikita Kucherov, R-N: 0-0-0, -1, 2 PIM, 2 SOG, 0 Hits
Playoff totals: 7 GP, 4-7-11, +6, 6 PIM
Season totals: 33 GP, 29-34-63, +17, 14 PIM
With R-N: 27 GP, 26-27-53, +18, 12 PIM
With Quebec: 6 GP, 3-7-10, -1, 2 PIM

Quebec evened the series with the Huskies by winning 4-2 on Saturday. Good friends and stars, Kucherov and Mikhail Grigorenko (Sabres/Remparts) were both scoreless in the match. Game 3 is Tuesday in the Huskies’ barn.

(10)Val-d’Or Foreurs 4 @ (3)Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 5
Blainville-Boisbriand leads best-of-7 second round series, 2-0

D Artem Sergeev, VDO: 1-1-2, +1, 0 PIM, 2 SOG, 0 Hits
Playoff totals: 7 GP, 3-3-6, +3, 6 PIM
Season totals: 55 GP, 6-33-39, +20, 65 PIM

C Cedric Paquette, BLB: 2-0-2, +2, 0 PIM, 7 SOG, 1 Hit, *First Star*
Playoff totals: 7 GP, 6-5-11, +4, 4 PIM
Season totals: 63 GP, 27-56-83, +29, 103 PIM

Lightning prospects Artem Sergeev and Cedric Paquette combined for three goals and an assist as Paquette’s Armada defeated Sergeev’s Foreurs, 5-4, on Saturday. Paquette (pictured), who won 17 of 24 faceoffs, tied the game at four with just over 14 minutes left in regulation. The series moves to Val-d’Or on Tuesday for Game 3. The Armada is outscoring the Foreurs, 15-5, after two games.

NHL Game Night: 4-6-13 Lightning at Islanders

Submitted by pete on April 6, 2013 - 21:06

This is a tough one to take.

NYI-4
TB-2

Ben Bishop allowed 3 goals on 27 shots for the loss. It's a tough way to lose on a strange goal that will no doubt stick in Bishop's craw for a little while.

First Period
13:45 NYI Grabner (12), (Tavares)

Second Period
04:44 TB Panik (2), (Lecavalier, Carle)

Third Period
04:00 TB Carle (4), (Stamkos, Pouliot)
13:34 NYI Martin (3), (Lee, Streit)
19:46 NYI MacDonald (3), (Bailey)(EN)

It's the first regulation loss of Jon Cooper's tenure in Tampa Bay. Matt Carle was named the game's third star.

Alex Killorn was -2 with 4 shots and 1 blocked shot in 22:02.

Matt Taormina had 4 hits and 1 blocked shot in 16:25. He's no Victor Hedman, but I thought he had a decent effort in his callup.

Tyler Johnson was -1 with 2 hits in 11:28.

Richard Panik hooked up with Vincent Lecavalier for a beautiful goal and was +1 with 1 shot and 10:08. The good was the quick release he showed on an amazing behind the back feed from Lecavalier. The bad came in the form of some questionable decisions Panik made with the puck in the neutral zone.

Radko Gudas was -1 with 2 penalty minutes, 1 shot, 2 hits, and 2 blocked shots in 13:20. Tonight was one of the rare nights Radko looked to me to have heavy legs. I was surprised.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

AHL Game Night: 4-6-13 Crunch at Bears

Submitted by pete on April 6, 2013 - 20:53

Rob Zettler's first win allows Syracuse to keep pace in the East.

SYR-2
HER-1

Riku Helenius allowed just 1 goal on 20 shots for the big win. Once again, he's eased his season save percentage up to .900.

First Period
SYR Cote, (3) (Devos, Hutchings), 10:07

Second Period
HER Crabb, (2) (Taffe, Schmidt), 19:05

Third Period
SYR Palat, (12) (Richard, Sexton), 3:50

Ondrej Palat and J.P. Cote were the game's first and second stars.

Congratulations to Tanner Richard on his first professional point. Naturally, it was an assist. Luke Witkowski made his professional debut in the game.

This is how Syracuse has to scratch out wins with their finishers called up to Tampa Bay. It's got to be low scoring games and finding a way to get key goals at key times. Providence and Springfield won tonight, and Binghamton is going down late to Norfolk. If that holds, that will leave Syracuse 2 points behind Providence for tops in the East and 2 points clear of Binghamton for the East Division lead. Syracuse's last road game of the regular season is Tuesday against Lake Erie. They'll end with 5 straight at home, which might be edge they need to take the top spot in the East.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

ECHL Playoff Game Night: 4-5-13

Submitted by mike on April 6, 2013 - 05:34

(4)Florida Everblades 5 vs. (5)Elmira Jackals 1
Quarterfinals: Florida leads the best-of-seven series 1-0

D Charles Landry, FLA: 0-0-0, +1, 0 SOG, 2 PIM (roughing)
Playoff totals: 1 GP, 0-0-0, +1, 2 PIM
Season totals: 51 GP, 4-12-16, +7, 33 PIM

Florida had an early 2-0 cut in half late in the first period but never looked back, striking twice on the power play and adding a fifth tally over the course of the final two frames to close out Elmira in a penalty-filled first match of the opening round of playoff action. With plenty of support in the goal-scoring department, Everblades netminder Jesse Deckert was able to turn aside all but one of 30 Jackals shot attempts for what amounted to an impressive playoff debut following a stellar late-season run between the pipes. Though both teams racked up a total of 62 penalty minutes, many were off-setting, so only power plays were awarded between the two clubs. Elmira went 0-for-4 with the man-advantage while Florida went 2-for-5. Charles Landry, who won the ECHL's Kelly Cup with the Everblades last season, was the only Tampa Bay Lightning prospect in the lineup. Florida and Elmira will renew hostilities in Estero Saturday night.

Official Recap | Box Score

Crunch Lose, But Clinch Playoff Berth

Submitted by jghoughtaling on April 5, 2013 - 22:44

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Rob Zettler kept his attention on the task at hand.

The Syracuse Crunch coach, despite hearing his team had clinched a playoff spot with a pair of Eastern Conference teams losing, focused on his team's comeback attempt late in the third period. But the 3-1 deficit turned to 4-1 with an empty-netter, and the Hershey Bears provided the rain for the Crunch clinching party at the Onondaga County War Memorial Friday night.

"We're in, but it didn't feel very good," Zettler said.

NA Juniors Playoff Game Night: 4-5-13

Submitted by chad on April 5, 2013 - 22:29

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

(8)Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 6 @ (5)Quebec Remparts 1
Rouyn-Noranda leads best-of-7 second round series, 1-0

W Nikita Kucherov, R-N: 1-1-2, E, 0 PIM, 4 SOG, 0 Hits, *Second Star*
Playoff totals: 6 GP, 4-7-11, +7, 4 PIM
Season totals: 33 GP, 29-34-63, +17, 14 PIM
With R-N: 27 GP, 26-27-53, +18, 12 PIM
With Quebec: 6 GP, 3-7-10, -1, 2 PIM

Rouyn-Noranda was the only road team to win Game 1 in Round 2, defeating the Remparts in Quebec City, 6-1. The Huskies scored twice in each period. Kucherov was second star for the second game in a row. He had two goals and an assist in the Huskies’ clinching win in Round 1. Game 2 against Quebec is Saturday.

First round totals: 5 GP, 3-6-9, +7, 4 PIM

(10)Val-d’Or Foreurs 1 @ (3)Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 10
Blainville-Boisbriand leads best-of-7 second round series, 1-0

D Artem Sergeev, VDO: 0-0-0, -2, 6 PIM, 0 SOG, 2 Hits
Playoff totals: 6 GP, 2-2-4, +3, 0 PIM
Season totals: 55 GP, 6-33-39, +20, 65 PIM

C Cedric Paquette, BLB: 2-2-4, +2, 0 PIM, 7 SOG, 0 Hit
Playoff totals: 6 GP, 4-5-9, +3, 4 PIM
Season totals: 63 GP, 27-56-83, +29, 103 PIM

Host Armada outshot the Foreurs, 42-17, en route to a 10-1 shellacking of the league’s 10-seed. Cedric Paquette (pictured) had two goals and four points for the Armada, who look to go up 2-0 in the series at home on Saturday.

Ontario Hockey League

(E3)Oshawa Generals 1 @ (E2)Barrie Colts 4
Barrie leads best-of-7 Eastern Conference Semifinals, 2-0

D Jake Dotchin, BAR: 0-0-0, +1, 0 PIM
Playoff totals: 6 GP, 0-2-2, +3, 10 PIM
Season totals: 66 GP, 4-18-22, E, 81 PIM
With Barrie: 28 GP, 2-6-8, -1, 42 PIM
With Owen Sound: 38 GP, 2-12-14, +1, 39 PIM

Barrie had 22 shots in a second period as they outscored Oshawa, 3-1, in the middle frame and ended up beating the Gens, 4-1, in Game 2 of their second round series. Game 3 is Sunday in Oshawa. Mitchell Theriot (Islanders) had a hat trick for the Colts.

AHL Game Night: 4-5-13 Bears at Crunch

Submitted by pete on April 5, 2013 - 21:53

Still seeking win one under Zettler.

HER-4
SYR-1

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 3 goals on 26 shots for the loss.

First Period
HER Kane, (14) (Orlov, Wellman), 9:18
SYR Jacques, (6) (Angelidis), 17:08

Second Period
HER Kundratek, (14) (Potulny, Kane), 19:21

Third Period
HER LeBlanc, (10) , 10:06
HER Kundratek, (15) , 19:51 (EN)

Time is slipping away for the Crunch to regain their footing. They will end the night 2 points out of the top spot in the Eastern Conference and tied inside their division. They have a rematch with Hershey in Hershey tomorrow night, which starts a 2 game road trip that will be the final roadie of the regular season.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Zettler Anxious for First Win

Submitted by chad on April 5, 2013 - 08:00

By Jeremy Houghtaling

As he waits for his first win behind the Syracuse Crunch bench, Rob Zettler has gone through a range of emotions.

He’s excited and energetic, and comfortable yet anxious. Although his tenure has started with three straight losses, he knows it hasn’t stemmed from a lack of trying.

“These guys all want to win as much as I do,” Zettler said of his team. “I'm not worried about their effort. I'm not worried about how they played. We just have to find a way to get the W."