Game Results

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

(8)Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 4 @ (1)Halifax Mooseheads 6
Halifax leads Best-of-7 Semifinals, 1-0

W Nikita Kucherov, R-N: 2-0-2, +1, 0 PIM, 5 SOG, 0 Hits
Playoff totals: 11 GP, 9-11-20, +11, 10 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

Bolt prospect Nikita Kucherov scored twice, but it wasn’t enough for the upstart Huskies to upset heavily favored Halifax in Game 1 of their semifinal series. Nathan MacKinnon, who will go top-3 in this summer’s draft, scored three times and added an assist. His teammate, Jonathan Druin, who is also expected to go top-3, had two goals and five points. Kucherov has five goals and eight points in his last two games. Game 2 is Sunday in Nova Scotia.

Ontario Hockey League

(E2)Barrie Colts 5 @ (E1)Belleville Bulls 0
Best-of-7 Eastern Conference Finals tied, 1-1

D Jake Dotchin, BAR: 0-0-0, +1, 0 PIM
Playoff totals: 10 GP, 0-3-3, +5, 19 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 got to Bulls goalie Malcolm Subban early and often beating him five times en route to a 5-0 Game 2 win. Colts goalie Mathias Niederberger (undrafted) stopped 32 shots for the shutout. Game 3 is on Monday in Barrie.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

(3)Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 1 @ (2)Baie-Comeau Drakkar 2
Drakkar lead best-of-7 semifinals, 1-0

C Cedric Paquette, BLB: 0-0-0, E, 4 PIM, 2 SOG, 4 Hits
Playoff totals: 10 GP, 7-5-12, +5, 17 PIM
Season totals: 63 GP, 27-56-83, +29, 103 PIM

The Drakkar struck first in their semifinal series with the Armada, scoring a 2-1 win. The winning goal was scored on the power play near the mid-point of the final period.

Ontario Hockey League

(E2)Barrie Colts 2 @ (E1)Belleville Bulls 3
Bulls lead best-of-7 Eastern Conference Finals, 1-0

D Jake Dotchin, BAR: 0-0-0, -1, 7 PIM
Playoff totals: 9 GP, 0-3-3, +4, 19 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

Belleville scored the game’s final two goals and Bruins first rounder Malcolm Subban stopped 26 shots to lead the Bulls to a Game 1 win over Barrie. Dotchin fought Garrett Hooey of Belleville in the second period.

(4)Florida Everblades 4 vs. (1)Reading Royals 3
Quarterfinals: Florida leads the best-of-seven series 1-0

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

Florida, which never trailed in the opening match of the series, took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission but had to retake the lead after a lackluster start to the second period saw the game tied and fend off the Eastern Conference's top club during the course of the regular season for the better part of the final half of the contest. The host Royals doubled up the Everblades in shots, 37-16, hammering the visitors particularly hard with a 14-shot, 2-goal second period that Florida only salvaged by scoring on one of the mere 3 shots it managed to muster. Florida's special teams play, which was so critical to its first round success, shined again as the Everblades went 1-for-4 with the man-advantage while the penalty-killers negated 6 of 7 Royals opportunities. Jesse Deckert did an admirable job holding the fort, thwarting 34 of 37 shots against. Both teams square off again Saturday night in Reading.

Official Recap | Box Score

By Jeremy Houghtaling

Tyler Johnson isn't one for grand acceptance speeches.

After winning the award as the American Hockey League's Most Valuable Player, the Syracuse Crunch forward gave most of the credit to his teammates, the coaching staff and the organization.

Johnson preferred to show how he earned it. He registered his second hat trick of the season, leading the Crunch to a 6-1 rout of the Norfolk Admirals at the Onondaga County War Memorial Friday.

"I though tonight we played a good solid team game, a full 60," Johnson said. "I thought we played pretty well. If we keep doing that, I think we'll be alright."

Syracuse, which has points in five straight games, has a three-point lead over Binghamton in the East Division, and can clinch with a win or a Senators loss Saturday.

Wow. I feel like we need to issue a formal apology to all our friends in Norfolk for that savage beat down tonight.

NOR-1
SYR-6

Cedrick Desjardins allowed 1 goal on 27 shots for the victory. For those wondering, Pat Nagle has been backing up Desjardins because Riku Helenius had some family issues back in Finland that required attention. Hopefully Riku will be back for the playoffs.

First Period
SYR Angelidis, (11) (Wyman, Brown), 14:20
SYR Johnson, (34) (Sexton, Wyman), 14:58
SYR Wyman, (13) (Palat, Johnson), 19:02

Second Period
SYR Namestnikov, (7) (Devos, Connolly), 11:56
NOR Maroon, (25) (Guenin), 13:32
SYR Johnson, (35) (Palat, Sexton), 19:11

Third Period
SYR Johnson, (36) , 7:48

Tyler Johnson, J.T. Wyman, and Mike Angelidis were the game's three stars. The freshly minted AHL MVP, Johnson, celebrated with an incredible 3 goal, 4 point effort to start off a 3 game weekend set that will be so critical for playoff position.

Brian Lee was +4 in the contest. Several members of the Bolt Prospects message board's heads just exploded after reading that. Mind you, he also took a major for slashing and got kicked out of the game. I would suspect a suspension may follow.

Two games remain in the regular season. Providence toppled Springfield tonight 5-3, which clinches the top seed in the East for Providence. However, with Springfield going down and Syracuse winning, the Crunch now move to within 2 points of the Falcons with a game in hand. The Crunch also expanded their division lead over Binghamton to 3 points after Bingo lost to Manchester tonight. Each team has 2 games left on their schedules, including the head-to-head matchup Sunday. The loss for Norfolk was a particularly bad one with the Admirals, at this moment, in a 4-way tie at 79 points for one of the last 2 playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. How deeply ironic would it be if Syracuse had to face Norfolk in the first round? That prospect looks much more remote after tonight, but it's still at least on the edge of the table right now.

So here's the schedule for Saturday: Springfield draws Adirondack (eliminated from playoff contention), Binghamton gets Hershey (one of the clubs in that 4-way tie), and Syracuse gets Worcester (eliminated from playoff contention). Syracuse can make the division elementary with a win, thereby clinching not less than the 3 seed for the playoffs. Jumping Springfield may be a harder task for the Crunch with the Falcons likely holding the tiebreak at the finish line with a 2 game lead in the regulation win column right now.

Some other accounting issues heading into the end of the regular season:
- Syracuse still leads the AHL in goals scored by 10.
- Tyler Johnson is 8th in the AHL in scoring and Brett Connolly is currently tied for 10th.
- Mark Barberio is in 6th amongst AHL defensemen in scoring.
- Johnson also leads the league in goals by 3 with Connolly tied for 4th.
- Johnson is also 6th in power play goals.
- Connolly is tied for tops in game winning goals.
- Ondrej Palat is tied for 8th in the league in helpers.
- Despite being in Tampa for about a month, Radko Gudas is still 6th in the AHL in penalty minutes.
- Gudas is also still leading the league in +/- with teammates Johnson, Palat, and J.P. Cote all tied for 3rd. Dmitry Korobov is tied for 8th.
- Barberio is 9th in the league in shots on goal.

Box score from TheAHL.com.