AHL Quick Hits

April 16, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release

Hamilton entered the Calder Cup 2002 Playoffs with an all-time record of 2-9-1 at Le Colisee Pepsi, including 0-5-1 in its last six visits. It took the Bulldogs three days to match their previous win total, and now they sit on the verge of a sweep of Quebec as the teams head to the Steel City for Game 3. Michael Henrich and Jason Chimera scored in the first period on Monday and Ty Conklin finished with 27 saves as the 'Dogs took their commanding 2-0 series lead with a 3-1 victory over the Citadelles. Steve Maltais netted a natural hat trick and J.P. Vigier scored twice in his first AHL game since Mar. 10 as Chicago evened its best-of-five series with a convincing 5-1 win over Grand Rapids on Monday. Vigier, who finished the regular season with four goals and an assist in 15 NHL games with Atlanta, opened the scoring 58 seconds into the contest. "Baz" Bastien Award winner Martin Prusek allowed four goals on 15 shots before being relieved at the start of the third period. The scene shifts to Salt Lake City as Utah and Houston square off in Game 3 tonight (7:00 MT, 8:00 CT). The teams split their six regular-season meetings at the "E" Center (3-3-0), and the Aeros owned the league's second-best road record at 20-16-4. Former Grizz goalie Jamie McLennan, who played parts of two seasons (93-94, 95-96) in Utah, has stopped 59 of 62 shots (1.41, .952) in the series for Houston. Lowell looks to maintain home-ice advantage tonight (7:00 ET, 8:30 NT) in Game 2 against St. John's at Tsongas Arena. The Lock Monsters were 5-1-1-1 in their last eight regular-season games on home ice, while the Maple Leafs went 6-13-7 on the road against playoff-bound teams. Paul Healey, a 1998 Calder Cup champion with Philadelphia, returned from Toronto and tallied a goal and an assist for St. John's on Sunday. The Moose try to avoid falling into an 0-2 hole as they take on the Sound Tigers at the Arena at Harbor Yard tonight (7:05 ET, 6:05 CT). After Sunday's 5-0 victory, Bridgeport is 27-10-4 at home this season, while Manitoba will be playing its 12th road game in the last 21 days. The Hunter-Krog-Kolnik trio combined for 11 points in Game 1 for the Sound Tigers, and Rick DiPietro earned the shutout to improve to 7-1-1 (0.88, .961) in his last nine starts. The Moose have been outscored 11-1 by their playoff opponents over the first 40 minutes of games, but own a 7-2 advantage in the third period and overtime.

American Hockey League Stories from April 16, 2002

• AHL Quick Hits - AHL
• Moose Advance - Manitoba Moose
• Game Five Tickets on Sale Today - Houston Aeros
• Admirals, Predators Ink New Deal - AHL
• Jason Spezza Joins AHL's Griffins - AHL
• Crunch Weekly - Syracuse Crunch
• NHL's Second Overall Draft Pick Joins Griffins - Grand Rapids Griffins
• 50/50 Donations Surpass $890,000 - Saint John Flames
• Answering the Bell - Rockford IceHogs
• A Taxing Night for the Griffins - Grand Rapids Griffins

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