Devils recall Quennville, assign Hayes and Santini to Binghamton

The New Jersey Devils have assigned D Steven Santini to Binghamton (AHL), and recalled F John Quenneville from Binghamton, he has been assigned number 47.

Santini last played nearly a month ago, Jan. 7 against the Islanders. Has skated in 36 of the Devils 50 games this season.

Quenneville has 10 goals and 11 assists in 31 games for Binghamton this season.

In addition, the club has assigned F Jimmy Hayes to Binghamton on a conditioning stint.

Hayes has played in just 3 of the Devils' last 18 games.

Blue Jackets Recall Left Wing Markus Hannikainen From Monsters

The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled left wing Markus Hannikainen from the AHL's Cleveland Monsters.

In 27 appearances for Columbus this season, Hannikainen posted 2-2-4 with six penalty minutes and a -1 rating and added 0-3-3 with an even rating in seven appearances for Cleveland. In 41 career NHL appearances for the Blue Jackets spanning three seasons from 2015-18, Hannikainen, 24, supplied 3-3-6 with 12 penalty minutes and a -3 rating.

In 114 career AHL appearances, all for the Monsters, spanning three seasons from 2015-18, Hannikainen, a 6’1”, 200 lb., left-handed native of Helsinki, Finland, logged 26-34-60 with 42 penalty minutes and a +12 rating and notched 3-7-10 with two penalty minutes and a +12 rating in 16 appearances in the 2016 AHL Playoffs, helping the Monsters claim the 2016 Calder Cup Championship. In 117 career Liiga appearances for Jokerit, HPK, and JYP spanning parts of four seasons from 2011-15, Hannikainen tallied 22-31-53 with 67 penalty minutes and a +26 rating and represented Finland in the 2012 and 2013 IIHF U20 World Junior Championships, and the 2017 IIHF World Championships.

Penguins activate Murray from injured reserve

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray was activated off injured reserve on Tuesday.

Murray missed five games with a lower-body injury sustained during the Penguins' 5-4 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 27. The two-time Stanley Cup champion is 11-7-1 with a 2.95 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in 21 games (20 starts). 

Goaltender Casey DeSmith was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

The Penguins face the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, SN360, ATTSN-RM, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV), when Murray could oppose goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, his teammate on Pittsburgh's back-to-back Cup-winning teams in 2016 and '17. Fleury was selected by the Golden Knights in the NHL Expansion Draft on June 21 and was activated off injured reserve Sunday after missing 25 games with a concussion.

Preds recall Juuse Saros, assign Anders Lindback

Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced Monday that the club has recalled goaltender Juuse Saros from the American Hockey League's Milwaukee Admirals. Additionally, the club has reassigned goaltender Anders Lindback to Milwaukee.

Saros is 2-3-1 for the Predators this season and made a career-high 43 saves in Tuesday's win at Dallas. He's 2-0-1 in his last three starts with a .933 save percentage, allowing only eight goals on 120 shots against. Saros made two appearances for the Admirals over the weekend, picking up the victory in overtime on Saturday in a 23-save performance against Manitoba.

Originally a fourth-round (99th overall) draft pick by the Preds in 2013, Saros holds an 12-12-4 career record in the NHL with a .914 save percentage. The Forssa, Finland native recorded his first NHL shutout on Dec. 30, 2016 at St. Louis and appeared in two games for Nashville in last season's Stanley Cup Final. Saros is 43-14-1 in 59 career games at the AHL level with a 2.31 goals-against average and .918 save percentage and was named to the AHL All-Star Classic in 2016-17.

Pens recall goaltender DeSmith from AHL, could be due to Murray's injury

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled goaltender Casey DeSmith from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

This obviously means that Pens starting goalteder Matt Murray may miss some time between the pipes. Murray was hurt in Pittsburgh's game last night against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Murray exited with 4:21 left in the second period after Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek crashed into him during a breakaway. The 23-year-old two-time Cup winner managed to skate off under his own power before limping down the runway clearly favoring his right leg. Murray will be re-evaluated on Tuesday.

Since returning to WBS earlier this month, the 6-foot-1, 181-pound DeSmith had assumed the top goaltending chores, compiling a 9-2-1 record, 2.29 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in 12 AHL appearances. He helped backstop the WBS Penguins to the top record in the AHL at the time of his recall.

DeSmith, 26, logged his first NHL action with the Penguins earlier this season. He made his NHL debut on October 29 in Winnipeg against the Jets.

- Joey Gucciardo

Oilers send Yamamoto to WHL, recall Malone from AHL Bakersfield

The Edmonton Oilers have assigned 19-year-old forward Kailer Yamamoto to the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL.

Yamamoto, the 22nd overall pick in tge 2017 NHL Draft, recorded three assists in nine games this season.

The Oilers have also recalled forward Brad Malone from the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL.

Penguins recall Tristan Jarry

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled goaltender Tristan Jarry from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

Goalie Casey DeSmith has been re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Jarry, 22, has won three-straight games for WBS prior to his recall, including 18 saves on 20 shots in a 5-2 win at Bridgeport last Saturday night. Overall, Jarry has started five games this year, going 3-2 with a 3.18 goals-against average and an .897 save percentage.

Last season, the 6-foot-2, 194-pound Jarry backstopped WBS to the top regular-season record in the AHL, compiling a 28-15-2 record, three shutouts, a 2.15 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage in 45 appearances. He and DeSmith combined to win the Harry “Hap” Holmes Award after allowing the fewest goals in the AHL.

Jarry, who hails from Surrey, British Columbia, made his NHL debut for Pittsburgh in last year’s season-finale at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. He has dressed as the backup goalie in the opening round of the NHL playoffs for the Penguins each of the last two seasons, and was also a member of the “Black Aces” practice squad both years as well.

Pittsburgh’s second-round (44th overall) draft pick in 2013, Jarry has played in 83 career AHL regular-season games with WBS, going 48-30-5 with a 2.42 goals-against average, a .916 save percentage and eight shutouts.

Strome named CCM/AHL Player of the Week

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The American Hockey League announced today that Tucson Roadrunners forward Dylan Strome has been selected as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 29, 2017.

Strome notched seven points and a plus-8 rating in three games last week, helping Tucson to three consecutive victories.

On Wednesday night in Grand Rapids, Strome figured on all of the Roadrunners’ scoring, netting his first career professional goal and adding two assists in a 3-1 victory over the Griffins. Back home on Friday, Strome picked up an assist as Tucson defeated Iowa, 4-1. And on Saturday, his three-assist game sparked the Roadrunners to a come-from-behind 5-4 overtime win over the Wild.

The third overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Strome has totaled 10 points in six games with Tucson in 2017-18, one off the league lead in assists (9) and ranking tied for second in plus/minus (+10). The 20-year-old rookie from Mississauga, Ont., has also appeared in two NHL games with the parent Arizona Coyotes this season. Strome played four seasons of junior hockey with Erie (OHL), winning a league scoring title in 2014-15 and earning MVP honors at the 2017 Memorial Cup tournament.

In recognition of his achievement, Strome will be presented with an etched crystal award prior to an upcoming Roadrunners home game.

Condors goaltender Ellis named CCM/AHL Player of the Week

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The American Hockey League announced today that Bakersfield Condors goaltender Nick Ellis has been selected as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 22, 2017.

Ellis made two starts last week and stopped 67 of 68 shots to lead the Condors to back-to-back road victories against one of their Pacific Division rivals.

With the Condors heading to Ontario for a two-game set, Ellis helped spoil the Reign’s home opener on Friday with a 32-save performance, backstopping Bakersfield to a 2-0 victory. Then on Saturday, Ellis turned aside 35 of 36 Ontario shots, allowing only an extra-attacker goal with 1:55 remaining in regulation as the Condors finished the weekend sweep with a 3-1 win.

A second-year pro out of Providence College, Ellis is 2-1-0 in three appearances so far in 2017-18, posting a 1.35 goals-against average and a .956 save percentage. The 23-year-old native of Millersville, Md., played 34 games for the Condors as a rookie last season, going 16-12-2 with a 2.69 GAA and a .918 save percentage with one shutout. Ellis signed as a free agent with the Edmonton Oilers on Apr. 7, 2016.

In recognition of his achievement, Ellis will be presented with an etched crystal award prior to an upcoming Condors home game.

AHL suspends Syracuse forward Tye McGinn for one game

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The American Hockey League today announced that Syracuse Crunch forward Tye McGinn has been suspended for one (1) game as a consequence of an illegal check to the head of an opponent in a game vs. Belleville on Oct. 13.

McGinn was suspended under the provisions of AHL Rule 28.1 (supplementary discipline). He will miss Syracuse’s game today (Oct. 15) at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

AHL suspends Syracuse defenseman Jake Dotchin

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The American Hockey League today announced that Syracuse Crunch defenseman Jake Dotchin has been suspended for three (3) games as a consequence of an interference incident in a playoff game vs. Toronto on May 6.

Dotchin was suspended under the provisions of AHL Rule 28.1 (supplementary discipline).

With Syracuse leading two games to none, Dotchin will miss Games 3 and 4 of the teams’ North Division Finals playoff series tonight (May 9) and Wednesday (May 10), as well as either Game 5 of the series on Saturday (May 13) or Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Carey scores four goals in Bears' 6-4 win over Pack

Paul Carey scored four goals Saturday night at Giant Center, to lead the Hershey Bears to a 6-4 win over the Wolf Pack, in the second of back-to-back games between the two teams in Hershey.

The Bears had defeated the Wolf Pack 4-3 in overtime Friday night in the opener of the two-game set.

Taylor Beck paced the Wolf Pack Saturday with a goal and two assists, and Ryan Graves had a goal and an assist.  Riley Barber added a goal and an assist for Hershey, and Chris Bourque and Travis Boyd had three assists apiece.

The Wolf Pack fell behind 4-0 in Saturday’s game, before battling back to get to as close as 5-4.

“We’ve got to realize soon that we can’t let these games get away from us early,” Beck said. “When we’re playing at our best, we’re a hard team to play against, we’re getting pucks deep and we’re getting lots of chances. If we can just start like that, and continue that throughout the full sixty (minutes), that’s really what you’ve got to do.”

Hershey jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first period, on goals by Carey and Christian Thomas.

Carey started his big night by opening the scoring at 7:50 with his 20th goal of the season.  After the Bears won an offensive zone draw, Carey found a quiet spot in Hartford’s coverage and ripped a shot from the right side of the slot past Wolf Pack starting goaltender Mackenzie Skapski on the short side.

Then, on Hershey’s first power play of the evening, Thomas, a former Wolf Pack, made it a 2-0 game with his 24th of the year.  Boyd carried down the left side in the Hartford zone and moved toward the back of the net, before passing back to Thomas at the left side of the shot.  Thomas’ hard shot found the top corner over Skapski’s catching glove.

The two clubs split four goals in the second period, with the Bears strongly dominating the early action of the session.

Carey would get his second of the game at 7:13, increasing Hershey’s lead to 3-0.  Boyd again set up the play, feeding to Carey at the right side of the goal mouth for close-in finish past Skapski.

Barber ended Skapski’s night with a fourth Hershey goal at 14:06.  After the Bears completed a penalty kill, Bourque moved the puck into the Wolf Pack zone on right wing and handed off to Barber, whose snap shot found its way past Skapski’s stick side.

Jeff Malcolm replaced Skapski, who made 19 saves, at that point, and the goaltending change seemed to spark the Wolf Pack, who would come up with a pair of power-play goals in a span of 39 seconds starting at 16:57.

Graves got the Wolf Pack onto the board at 16:57 on a two-man advantage, with an unassisted goal.  Graves gunned a slap shot from near the top of the right circle, and it whistled high into the net past Bear netminder Vitek Vanecek (15 saves).

Then, at 17:36, after Carey had been called for delay-of-game at 17:15, Beck cut Hershey’s lead to 4-2.  Beck took a pass from Marek Hrivik and let go a shot from high in the slot, and, with Matt Carey (no relation to Paul) screening Vanecek, the try flew by the Bear goaltender and in.

Paul Carey got his hat trick goal on a Bear power play at 11:15 of the third period, with Chris Brown off for high-sticking.  Carey tried to pass the puck from below the goal line to Malcolm’s left, and the feed was blocked, but the puck came right back to Carey.  He sent it back into the goal mouth and it deflected past Malcolm (13 saves) for a 5-2 Hershey lead.

That appeared to be an insurance goal at that point, but it turned out to be the game-winner, as the Wolf Pack responded shortly thereafter with a pair of scores only 42 seconds apart.

Matt Carey tallied his 18th of the year to make it 5-3 at 14:51, setting up in front of the Bear net and re-directing a Beck shot past Vanecek.

Then, at 15:33, Boo Nieves, in his first game back in the Wolf Pack lineup after missing 19 games due to injury, cut Hershey’s lead to 5-4.  Beck and Dan Catenacci combined to send Nieves in alone up the middle in the Bear end, and he snapped a shot that beat Vanecek low to the stick side.

That would be as close as the Wolf Pack could get, though, and Paul Carey completed the scoring with his fourth of the night into an empty net with 1:11 remaining.  His four goals on Saturday gave Carey nine goals and three assists for 12 points in seven games against the Wolf Pack on the year.

Monsters best Texas 6-3

CLEVELAND – After erasing a three-goal deficit, it was a bad bounce off the boards that gave the Cleveland Monsters their go-ahead goal en route to a 6-3 win over the Texas Stars on Saturday night in front of 14,317 in attendance at Quicken Loans Arena.

TJ Tynan's dump into the corner kicked the puck back in front and left Texas goaltender Justin Peters trapped behind the net as Ryan Craig tapped in an open net goal with 4:53 to play after the Monsters rallied back from a 3-0 deficit.

Sonny Milano finished with a three-point game for Cleveland (2-1=3). Peters saw his career-high shutout streak come to an end at 161:17, while the Monsters snapped their scoreless drought of 149:16 in the win.

Texas (28-30-1-4) returns home on Wednesday to host the Tucson Roadrunners at 7:30 p.m. CST.

After weathering an early storm from the Monsters (28-27-3-4) in the opening minutes, the Stars took control of the game with three goals in a 12-minutes span of period one. Matej Stransky slapped a bouncing puck in the slot past Cleveland starter Anton Forsberg at 4:59 for his 20th of the season. Brandon DeFazio forced a turnover in the Monsters zone and buried a power-play goal with eight minutes to play, and Caleb Herbert snuck a wraparound attempt in the net with 2:17 left in the frame to score in his second straight game.

The Monsters responded in period two beginning with Marc-Andre Bergeron's power-play goal at 7:24. With six minutes to play in the second, Sonny Milano made it a 3-2 score during a delayed penalty call against Texas after banking a puck off the back of Peters.

In the third, Cleveland forced the game back to even on a breakaway goal by Jordan Maletta at 7:28. After Craig's tally, Milano and Zac Dalpe added empty-net goals for the Monsters to seal the win.

Peters finished 34 of 38 in net for the Stars. Forsberg stopped 19 of 22.

Texas was 1-for-3 on the power play while Cleveland was 1-for-2.

Amerks come up empty handed in rematch with IceCaps

ST. JOHN'S, NL – The Rochester Americans could not find their way back from a two-goal deficit in the first period and were unable to generate any offense in what became a 2-0 loss to the St. John’s IceCaps in the second game of a weekend set Saturday at Mile One Centre.  

In the final game of the season series between the two clubs, netminder Linus Ullmark recorded 27 saves, and forward Kyle Bonis notched a team-high five shots on goal as Rochester saw its winless streak reach four games.

Charles Hudon and Chris Terry scored just over six minutes apart in the first period to provide all the offense St. John’s needed while rookie goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopped all 25 shots he faced to help the IceCaps sweep the weekend. The shutout was Lindgren’s fourth of the season and second in as many weeks against the Amerks dating back to a 3-0 win in Rochester on March 3.

Hudon opened scoring four minutes into the first period, beating Ullmark on a shot from a tough angle that stood as the eventual game-winner. His 23rd goal of the season tied him for first in team scoring, but the title was soon regained by Terry, who blasted home his team-leading 24th goal of the year off a one-timer from the right circle that would seal the 2-0 win.

Both teams held each other scoreless over the final two period despite combining for 37 shots on goal.

B-Sens stun Marlies in 8-4 comeback win

TORONTO, ONT.  – Trailing 4-1 in the third period, the Binghamton Senators scored seven goals for an 8-4 victory over the Toronto Marlies in front of 13,958 at Air Canada Centre on Saturday afternoon.

Kerby Rychel put the Marlies on the board in the first period during a five-on-three man advantage. Cal O’Reilly played a pass from the right side down to Rychel at the side of the crease and he jammed the puck under the pads of Chris Driedger for the 1-0 lead. The goal was Rychel’s 17th of the year with helpers from O’Reilly and Seth Griffith.

Toronto took a two-goal lead later in the opening frame. Driedger made the original save but the rebound went out to the slot where Travis Dermott fired in his fifth of the year on the secondary chance. Mike Sislo and Andreas Johnsson picked up the assists on Dermott’s goal at 12:30. Toronto held a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission and outshot the B-Sens 15-6.

Griffith converted in the second period to put the Marlies up 3-0. Jack Rodewald’s stick broke in the defensive zone and Griffith took advantage of that and fired the puck by Driedger from inside the left wing circle. The goal was Griffith’s fifth of the season from Brett Findlay and Andrew Nielsen at 9:07 of the middle frame.

Binghamton answered back after a faceoff win by Nick Paul. In the left wing circle, Paul pulled the puck back to defenseman Chris Carlisle who played a shot through traffic and beat goaltender Antoine Bibeau for his third of the year. Paul picked up the only assist on the goal at 10:01 of the second.  

Sislo took advantage of another power play to get Toronto’s three-goal lead back later in the period. Sisle teed up a one timer from the left wing circle and beat Driedger on his right side for the 4-1 lead with 3:13 left in the second. Griffith and O’Reilly had the assists and Binghamton trailed 4-1 after two periods. Toronto held the shot advantage 24-16.

Trailing 4-1, Binghamton erupted for seven goals in the third period for the comeback. While on a two-man advantage, Phil Varone found Jason Akeson in the slot who blasted a shot over the glove of Bibeau and just under the cross bar. The goal was Akeson’s 15th of the year just 2:40 into the final period with Varone and Francis Perron taking the assists.

Just 17 seconds later, defenseman Ben Harpur skated across the blue line and wristed the puck towards the net that caught a body in front of the crease and rolled by Bibeau and over the goal line to pull the B-Sens back to a 4-3 deficit. Harpur’s tally was his second of the year with assists from McCormick and Paul at 2:57.

The flood gates opened when Akeson went top shelf again for his 16th of the year and second of the game to tie the game 4-4. Akeson’s goal came at 12:15 of the final period, unassisted.

McCormick helped put the B-Sens out front for the first and final time of the night. After an interception, McCormick’s bid was stopped but Paul slammed in the rebound for his 11th of the year and a 5-4 lead at 13:50 with assists from McCormick and Mike Blunden.

Chad Nehring made it a two-goal lead just 11 seconds later as he scored his fourth of the season to give the B-Sens a 6-4 advantage. Brandon Gormley recorded the lone assist on the goal at 14:01.

The Senators tacked on two more goals late in the game for a seven-goal third period and 8-4 win. Jack Rodewald scored his 17th of the year at 16:07 and Nehring potted his second of the game and fifth of the year at 18:26.

Driedger stopped 23 of 27 in the victory while Bibeau took the loss, stopping 26 of 33.

Rampage defeat Stars 2-1

CEDAR PARK, Texas -- Rocco Grimaldi tied things up in the dying minutes of the third, and Brendan Ranford added the finishing touch against his former team with the shootout-winner, as the San Antonio Rampage topped the Texas Stars on Monday night in front of 4,786 at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park by a 2-1 final.

Justin Peters 26-save performance kept Texas (27-29-1-3) in the lead until 3:57 remained in the game when Grimaldi struck on a power-play goal to force overtime. Ranford, who was traded from the Stars back in mid-February, scored the only shootout goal to lock up the win for the in-state rivals.

"When it comes to the shootout, you never know whats going to happen," said Peters. "Unfortunately, we didn't come out on the right end."

After a scoreless first period, Mark McNeill put Texas on the board with a power-play goal at 10:22 of the second by deflecting Julius Honka's point shot for his eighth of the season and his second in a Stars sweater.

The Stars would cling to their one-goal lead until a holding penalty against Andrew Bodnarchuk put the Rampage (23-32-4-1) on the power play, and Grimaldi snapped his 25th of the season past Peters from the left circle to knot the score.

"We let a good goaltending performance go way-side, and we didn’t take advantage of it," said Texas Stars Head Coach Derek Laxdal. "It’s not sad, but it’s part of the game. It’s a long year, and guys are getting tired right now. Every team plays a lot. Some teams play 68, we play 76 games. We’ve just got to pick ourselves up and get ready for Wednesday.”

Spencer Martin stopped all three Texas shooters he faced in the shootout and finished with 19 saves in his first win since Jan. 6.

Thompson named CCM/AHL Player of the Week

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The American Hockey League announced today that Springfield Thunderbirds forward Paul Thompson has been selected as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Mar. 12, 2017.

In three games with the Thunderbirds last week, Thompson recorded four goals and an assist to help the team to three consecutive victories.

On Friday night in Syracuse, Thompson scored a goal and assisted on the game-winner with 1:45 left in regulation as the Thunderbirds rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Crunch. On Saturday, Thompson helped Springfield erase a two-goal deficit by scoring twice – including the go-ahead goal in the third period – en route to a 5-2 win over Hartford. And on Sunday, Thompson netted the 100th goal of his AHL career to help secure a 2-0 Thunderbirds win over Rochester.

A sixth-year pro out of the University of New Hampshire, Thompson leads the Thunderbirds with 15 goals and has added 14 assists for 29 points in 36 AHL games this season. He also has three assists in 21 National Hockey League contests with the Florida Panthers in 2016-17. The native of Methuen, Mass., has registered 100 goals and 91 assists for 191 points in 365 career AHL outings, and participated in the AHL All-Star Classic in 2015. Thompson made his NHL debut with New Jersey last season, appearing in three games with the Devils.

In recognition of his achievement, Thompson will be presented with an etched crystal award prior to an upcoming Thunderbirds home game.

Amerks shut out in Springfield

The Rochester Americans (24-34-0-2) were unable to get anything past goaltender Adam Wilcox, who stopped all 26 shots he faced to pick up his second shutout of the season while leading the Springfield Thunderbird (25-26-8-2) to a 2-0 win Sunday afternoon at the MassMutual Center. The two clubs are now tied at 1-1-0-0 in the season series, with two more games left to play later this month.

Goaltender Linus Ullmark, who has started 18 of the last 20 games for Rochester, stopped 24 of 26 in the losing effort. The second-year netminder owns a record of 22-23-2 on the season. Defensemen Tyson Strachan and Brady Austin tied for the team lead with three shots on goal each.

The scoring was provided by Anthony Greco and Thunderbirds goal-scoring leader Paul Thompson, both of whom notched four goals in three games while helping Springfield complete the weekend sweep. Wilcox, acquired by the parent Florida Panthers at the NHL trade deadline, was perfect in stopping all 26 shots to record his first shutout as a Thunderbird and first since a 25-save effort as a member of the Syracuse Crunch back on Dec. 3, which was also against Rochester.

Just over halfway through the first stanza, Taylor Fedun was sent to the penalty box for hooking and Springfield would capitalize with the man-advantage. Greco received a pass from Kyle Rau off the right wing boards and one-timed the offering past Ullmark to put the Thunderbirds up 1-0 at the 11:15 mark. Greco’s 11th goal of the season was the lone tally until three minutes into the final period.

The teams traded power-play opportunities during a scoreless second period as both netminders combined for 17 saves, including 10 from Ullmark.

Springfield added some insurance early in the third period when Thompson and Dryden Hunt streaked down the ice on a two-on-one fast break. Hunt fired the initial shot, which was stopped by Ullmark, but the rebound sat in the crease, where Thompson tapped it home for his 15th goal on the season to seal the 2-0 win.

Wilcox stood tall for the duration of the contest as Rochester was shutout for the second time in its last five games.

Comets beat Senators 5-0

The Utica Comets battered the Binghamton Senators by a score of 5-0 on Sunday afternoon at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

Darren Archibald opened the scoring with his 19th of the year at 8:31 of the first period on the power play. Curtis Valk setup Archibald for a one-timer goal on a play that began with a pass from Borna Rendulic. With another power play later in the period, Rendulic extended the Comets lead. His 11th of the year was scored on a wrist shot from the slot. The goal was assisted by Archibald and Valk at 17:32 to give the Comets a 2-0 lead through the first frame.

8:55 into the second period, Mike Zalewski scored in front of the net for his third of the year. Marco Roy and Archibald assisted on the only goal in the period. Thatcher Demko continued his solid play by stopping all 14 shots through 40 minutes.

Evan McEneny extended the lead to a 4-0 score with a shot from the point that slowly crossed over the goal line after an initial save from Chris Driedger. His seventh of the year was assisted by Pascal Pelletier and Rendulic. Pelletier concluded the scoring at 6:19 of the third period with his eight of the year from Colby Robak and Michael Carcone.

Demko remained perfect and won his seventh straight game and collected his second shutout of the year with 21 saves to improve his record to 16-11-4. Driedger stopped 31 shots to fall to a record of 10-16-2

The Comets scored twice on six power plays while the team killed both penalties.

Marlies beat Moose

The Manitoba Moose (23-31-4-4) turned back the clock on Retro Jersey Day against the Toronto Marlies (31-25-4-1) on Sunday afternoon.  The Moose opened the scoring in their 1996-97 throwback jerseys as Nelson Nogier’s point shot found its way through a crowd in front for the 1996-born player’s second goal of the season.  Toronto tied the game just 1:14 later when Mike Sislo dug the puck off the side of the Moose net and forced it over the line.  Manitoba regained the advantage on the powerplay courtesy of Brandon Tanev sneaking a shot past Antoine Bibeau at 15:38.  Toronto had a quick reply again as Brett Findlay tallied on a two-on-one to put the score at 2-2 after one period.

The Marlies took their first lead of the game 2:57 into the second.  Kerby Rychel called his own number on an odd-man rush and snapped a shot to the back of the net.  Manitoba had a quick answer of its own at the 5:32 mark.  With the Moose on the powerplay, Kevin Czuczman wired a shot off Bibeau’s pad and Patrice Cormier flicked the rebound into the goal on his backhand to tie the game 3-3.  Eric Comrie made sure the score stayed that way with a jaw-dropping pair of saves late in the frame.  The Moose held a 22-18 edge in shots as the teams went to the third tied.

Toronto pulled back in front seven minutes into the third off the stick of defenceman William Wrenn.  Continuing the trend of fast responses, the Moose tied it up 3:08 later.  Jimmy Lodge sent Ryan Olsen a step ahead of the defence and Olsen cut across the crease on a nice backhand finish to tie the game 4-4.  The back-and-forth continued when Kerby Rychel was able to strike for the Marlies on the powerplay with 7:35 left in the third.  The Moose came within inches of tying the contest late, but Brenden Kichton’s shot went bar down and out with 1:15 remaining.  The hosts couldn’t find a way to tie the game as Toronto came away with the 5-4 win.