Game Results

The PTP'ers put on a special teams clinic.

SYR-5
SPR-3

Syracuse Leads the Series 2-0

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 3 goals on 31 shots for the win. Luv that goal support.

First Period
SYR Panik, (3) (Palat, Johnson), 1:02 (PP)
SYR Angelidis, (2) (Brown), 1:15
SPR Russell, (1) (Audy-Marchessault, Prout), 14:40

Second Period
SYR Johnson, (4) (Connolly, Palat), 8:31 (PP)
SYR Johnson, (5) , 14:05 (SH)
SPR Vogelhuber, (2) (Goloubef, Joudrey), 14:29

Third Period
SYR Johnson, (6) (Panik, Palat), 6:47 (PP)
SPR Jenner, (2) (Holden, Audy-Marchessault), 8:04

Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat were the game's first and second stars. Johnson gets the hat trick and the PTP'er line ends up +4 in goal differential on special teams with 3 PP goals and a SH goal. No chance. Springfield's got no chance if they keep letting the Johnson line scorch them like this.

Syracuse now heads home with the 2-0 series lead and Springfield has no answers so far defensively, plus McElhinney's gotten torched through 2 games. Game Three is Wednesday night. Meanwhile, in the East's other series, Providence held serve at home and has a 2-0 series lead of the Penguins, making it look like a Syracuse/Providence matchup is on the horizon.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

USA 4 vs. France 2
Ben Bishop, USA, Win, 15/17, 2.00 GAA, .882 sv%
Tournament totals: 4 GP, 3-1-0, 0 SO, 2.78 GAA, .875 sv%

Matt Carle, USA, 0-1-1, +1, 0 PIM, 0 SOG
Tournament totals: 0-1-1, E, 0 PIM

Nate Thompson, USA, 0-0-0, +1, 0 PIM, 1 SOG
Tournament totals: 0-1-1, E, 2 PIM

Colorado's Paul Stastny had a goal in USA's 4-2 win over France. Team USA controls its own fate pursuing the top spot in Group H, 2 points behind Finland with 1 game in hand in the round robin phase. They have Germany and Slovakia left on their schedule in this round.

Ontario Hockey League

(E2)Barrie Colts 4 @ (W1)London Knights 6
Barrie leads best-of-7 OHL Finals, 3-2

D Jake Dotchin, BAR: 0-0-0, E, 0 PIM
Playoff totals: 15 GP, 1-4-5, +6, 25 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

London staved off elimination with a 6-4 win at home in Game 5 vs Barrie. Lightning prospect Jake Dotchin was back in the Colt lineup after missing five games due to suspension. He did not register a point on Friday. London had a 4-1 lead entering the third period, and though the Colts twice cut the lead to two goals, they could never complete the comeback. Barrie will have another chance to clinch the league championship Saturday night at home.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

(2)Baie-Comeau Drakkar 1 @ (1)Halifax Mooseheads 5
Halifax wins best-of-7 QMJHL Finals, 4-1

C Nathan MacKinnon, HAL: 1-1-2, +2, 4 SOG, 2 PIM, 2 Hits
Playoff totals: 17 GP, 11-22-33, +17, 12 PIM
Season totals: 44 GP, 32-43-75, +40, 45 PIM

W Jonathan Drouin, HAL: 1-0-1, +2, 4 SOG, 0 PIM, 1 Hit
Playoff totals: 17 GP, 12-23-35, +22, 14 PIM
Season totals: 49 GP, 41-64-105, +48, 32 PIM

Halifax won their first President Cup as QMJHL champs with a 5-1 win on Friday night. Jonathan Drouin, the league’s regular season MVP, won playoff MVP with 35 points in 17 games. Halifax will travel to Saskatoon to participate in the 2013 Memorial Cup next week.

Note: With the Lightning picking No. 3 in this summer’s draft, it is expected they will choose either MacKinnon or Drouin with their first round pick. While that could change, we will follow both prospects for the duration of their playoff run as we did with Steven Stamkos after the Lightning won the 2008 draft lottery.

Syracuse draws first blood, and nearly hits an artery.

SYR-5
SPR-2

Syracuse Leads the Series 1-0

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 2 goals on 24 shots for the victory. Goal support is a beautiful thing.

First Periodd
SYR Barberio, (2) (Panik, Johnson), 8:40 (PP)
SYR Panik, (2) (Johnson, Palat), 9:00
SPR Drazenovic, (2) (Holden, Craig), 10:06 (PP)
SYR Brown, (2) (Wyman, Korobov), 11:26
SYR Connolly, (2) (Sexton, Taormina), 18:13

Second Period
SYR Johnson, (3) (Palat), 10:10

Third Period
SPR Craig, (1) (Holden, Johansen), 19:58 (PP)

Tyler Johnson, Richard Panik, and Ondrej Palat were the game's three stars. In the marquee matchup between the AHL's best line over the past 1-1/2 years and a very good goaltender, Curtis McElhinney, round one goes to the PTP'ers. Interestingly, all three of Syracuse's lines clicked in the First Period clock cleaning that ended Game One early on, but make no mistake, this series comes down to whether McElhinney can make enough saves to keep games close and allow Springfield to leverage the goaltending advantage they have on paper. And, to do that, he has to stop Palat/Johnson/Panik.

Game Two is tomorrow night, and with home ice advantage already stolen away, Syracuse is playing with house money. A Game Two victory possibly means a short series, and in the war of attrition that is playoff hockey, that can pay big dividends in future rounds.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

Slovakia 1 vs. Austria 2 (SO)
Jaroslav Janus, Slovakia, DNP
Tournament totals: 1 GP, 0-1-0, 0 SO, 3.00 GAA, .882 sv%

Jaroslav Janus sat backup to Rastislav Stana as Slovakia went down to another minor upset, this time at the hands of Austria 2-1. Buffalo's Thomas Vanek scored the winner for the Austrians in the shootout.

Russia 2 vs. Finland 3
Vasily Koshechkin, Russia, DNP
Tournament totals; 1 GP, 0-1-0, 0 SO, 2.03 GAA, .895 sv%

Vasily Kosheschkin did not dress as Team Russia fell to co-host Finland 3-2. Ex-Blackhawks pick and current Traktor Chelyabinsk star Petri Kontiola had a pair of goals in the match to help pace the Finns.

Belarus 1 vs. Canada 4
Steven Stamkos, Canada, 1-1-2, E, 0 PIM, 2 SOG
Tournament totals: 5 GP, 4-5-9, +3, 0 PIM

Steven Stamkos had a power play goal and assist as Canada cruised past overmatched Belarus 4-1. Stamkos' linemate, Claude Giroux, paced all scorers with 1 goal and 3 points in the match.