Game Results

USA 5 vs. Austria 3
Ben Bishop, USA, Win, 18/21, 3.00 GAA, .857 sv%
Tournament totals: 1 GP, 1-0-0, 0 SO, 3.00 GAA, .857 sv%

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

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

Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson had a pair of goals to help USA put away pesky Austria 5-3. Ben Bishop turned away 18 shots for the victory. Matt Carle and Nate Thompson, both serving as assistant captains for Team USA, were scoreless in the match.

Russia 6 vs. Latvia 0
Vasily Koshechkin, Russia, DNP
Tournament totals: 0 GP, 0-0-0, 0 SO, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 sv%

Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzlagov turned away 15 shots in Russia 6-0 shutout of Latvia. Ex-Lightning first rounder Alex Svitov had a helper in the win.

Canada 3 vs. Denmark 1
Steven Stamkos, Canada, 1-0-1, E, 0 PIM, 2 SOG
Tournament totals: 1 GP, 1-0-1, E, 0 PIM

Steven Stamkos had a power play goal as Canada struggled past a surprising upset bid by Denmark 3-1. Colorado forward Matt Duchene scored Canada's other 2 goals.

Finland 2 vs. Slovakia 0
Jaroslav Janus, Slovakia, DNP
Tournament totals: 0 GP, 0-0-0, 0 SO, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 sv%

Jaroslav Janus again sat backup to Rastislav Stana as Slovakia fell 2-0 to Finland. Antti Raanta stopped 36 shots for the shutout.

France 2 vs. Slovakia 6
Jaroslav Janus, Slovakia, DNP
Tournament totals: 0 GP, 0-0-0, 0.00 GAA, 0 SO, 1.000 sv%

Jaroslav Janus sat backup to Rastislav Stana in Slovakia's 6-2 win over France. Ex-NHLer Miroslav Satan had a goal in the match for the Slovaks. Ex-Lightning prospect Michal Sersen is also on Slovakia's roster and was scoreless in the match.

Ontario Hockey League

(E2)Barrie Colts 4 @ (W1)London Knights 2
Barrie leads best-of-7 OHL Finals, 1-0

D Jake Dotchin, BAR: Did not play
Playoff totals: 14 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

Barrie stole home ice advantage in the OHL Finals by winning Game 1 in London, 4-2. Lightning prospect Jake Dotchin did not play. He was suspended five games following a check-from-behind penalty in Game 6 against Belleville. He is eligible to return in Game 5 of the Finals, if necessary. Game 2 is Sunday night in London.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

(2)Baie-Comeau Drakkar 0 @ (1)Halifax Mooseheads 4
Halifax leads best-of-7 QMJHL Finals, 1-0

C Nathan MacKinnon, HAL: 0-0-0, E, 4 SOG, 2 PIM, 0 Hits
Playoff totals: 13 GP, 9-19-28, +15, 8 PIM
Season totals: 44 GP, 32-43-75, +40, 45 PIM

W Jonathan Drouin, HAL: 0-1-1, E, 5 SOG, 6 PIM, 1 Hit
Playoff totals: 13 GP, 10-20-30, +18, 10 PIM
Season totals: 49 GP, 41-64-105, +48, 32 PIM

Potential 2013 first rounder Zachary Fucale stopped all 28 shots he faced to lead the Mooseheads to a 4-0 victory over the Drakkar in Game 1 of the QMJHL Finals. Baie-Comeau succeeded in holding the duo of Nate MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin to one assist, but still came up four goals short. With his assist, Drouin tied Sven Andrighetto (2013) of Rouyn-Noranda for the playoff scoring lead. This was MacKinnon’s first scoreless game since Game 2 of Halifax’s first round series against Saint John. Game 2 of the Finals is Saturday night in Halifax.

Note: With the Lightning picking No. 3 in this summer’s draft, it is widely expected they will choose either MacKinnon or Drouin with their first round pick. 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.

Palat on the spot.

SYR-4
POR-3 (OT)

Syracuse Wins the Best-of-Five Series 3-0

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 3 goals on just 18 shots for the victory. Once again, he allowed another wraparound goal that was on the soft side and once again the team bailed him out. Mind you, he made some incredible saves in Overtime to make up for it, but as the competition level rises in the next round Desjardins has got to get better.

First Period
POR Miele, (1) (Bolduc, Brown), 15:57 (PP)

Second Period
SYR Gudas, (1) (Taormina, Sexton), 6:57 (PP)

Third Period
POR Bolduc, (1) (Miele, Lessio), 0:19
POR Johnson, (2) (Stone, Conner), 10:47 (PP)
SYR Angelidis, (1) (Wyman, Barberio), 13:59
SYR Palat, (2) (Connolly, Sustr), 18:48

Overtime
SYR Palat, (3) (Taormina, Johnson), 19:43

Ondrej Palat was the game's first star. Oddly enough, I thought his first two games of the series were better than tonight, but he was in the right places at the right times for the two biggest goals of the series.

Let me tell you a little something about Brett Connolly, who turned 21 today and celebrated by knifing Portland in the heart late in regulation. Hopping on the ice as the sixth attacker to try to tie the game late in the Third Period, the puck came to Connolly who circled through the neutral zone and cut down the left wing boards into the offensive zone. For the life of me, I thought Portland's defenseman had the angle on Connolly at the blueline and would squeeze him off, or at least get enough of him to separate the puck. Nope. Connolly has deceptive speed a la Alex Killorn and he squirted by without being touched, went to circle behind the net, and just before he went behind dished a beautiful little backhand pass to Palat for the stuff. Tie game. What an individual play by Connolly. Truly cold blooded.

Let me also tell you a little something about faceoffs. Gudas' power play goal came directly from a bang-bang play off a faceoff win by Dan Sexton. And then, with just 17 seconds left in Overtime, Palat's second goal came off a faceoff win by Tyler Johnson that led to a Taormina shot that gave Palat the rebound he needed to send the Crunch to the first round pay window. Those quick plays off clean faceoff wins in the offensive zone are instant scoring chances, and almost as valuable as forcing turnovers out of your opponent.

It's not all good news, though. Although Syracuse outshot Portland 45-18, I suspect the scoring chances don't reflect the disparity. There was a distinct lack of GMT in this game for the Crunch. GMT = goal mouth thrills. Syracuse got a lot of traffic and a lot of greasy chances in the first two games of the series and they were absent tonight, with the exception of a few shifts by the Angelidis line. As the level of competition goes up in the next round, more GMT is required. If you don't muck it up in the high traffic areas, you invite a night like tonight where Portland's goaltender gobbled up a lot of clean, unscreened, undeflected shots.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference tonight, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton finished off their own sweep of Binghamton and Manchester won their first game of their series. Springfield still holds a 2-1 edge, but the series continues on. Top seed Providence is down 2-0 to Hershey. If either Providence or Springfield get upset (and Providence going down looks distinctly possible right now) Syracuse will get home ice for a second round series against the Penguins. Tough opponent. It'll be a great series.

Box score from TheAHL.com.

(4)Florida Everblades 1 @ (1)Reading Royals 4
Quarterfinals: Reading wins the best-of-seven series 4-3

D Charles Landry, FLA: 0-0-0, E, 1 SOG, 0 PIM
Playoff totals: 13 GP, 0-1-1, -2, 11 PIM
Season totals: 51 GP, 4-12-16, +7, 33 PIM

There will be no repeat Kelly Cup championship. Down 2-0 just past the midpoint of the second period, Florida saw its playoff hopes slowly fading away before Reading dashed them entirely by tacking on a couple goals in the waning minutes of regulation play. Brandon MacLean managed to strike for the Everblades in order to prevent the goose-egg. Shots ended up looking balanced at 26-25 in favor of Reading for the match but Reading carried the balance of play in what proved to be a critical second period. Jesse Deckert, the late-season free agent pickup who was impressive in Florida's final stretch of regular season games, stopped 22 of 26 shots in the contest. Deckert finished the playoffs 7-4-1 having played in all but one of the Everblades postseason matches, posting a 3.17 GAA and .896 SV% in that span. Charles Landry, the Lightning's sole prospect to see action in the playoffs so far, went pointless through the Florida's last nine playoff games.

Official Recap | Box Score