Saturday's Morning Skate 5/10

With John Gibson called up to Anaheim (NHL), Brad Thiessen appears to be getting the start for Norfolk in Game Three tonight.

The Conference Semifinals series' are all underway following last night's action between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence in the East and the battle out West between Chicago and Toronto. I'm going to break up the format of the usual weekly Saturday feature to also incorporate a full look at the remaining action across the board, with just eight teams left in the American Hockey League's (AHL) 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Friday Night's Action

Providence - 4, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - 0 (PRO leads series 1-0)

The PBruins put up four goals in the first 8:03 of the first period on the Penguins, including three goals on consecutive shots in 60 seconds, to coast to a 4-0 victory in the first game of the best-of-seven series.

The Penguins couldn't get anything going offensively and Niklas Svedberg's 20-save shutout couldn't have come much easier. Alexander Khokhlachev tallied two goals and added an assist, Matt Lindblad added two primary assists on both of Khokhlachev's goals and the PBruins used a strong offensive effort in the first period and a tight defensive effort in the final 20 minutes - WBS held to just four shots in the third period - to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

The Penguins and Bruins are back at it in Game Two Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Toronto - 5, Chicago - 2 (TOR leads series 1-0)

The Marlies jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a pair of first period goals by Trevor Smith and Peter Holland and an early second period goal from Greg McKegg to win Game One in Chicago, despite a comeback from the Wolves that made it a 3-2 game heading into the 3rd.

Christian Hanson and Michael Davies tallied goals in the second half of the second period to make it a one-goal game, but the Marlies responded with two more in the third courtesy Carter Ashton and Sam Carrick to give the Marlies a 1-0 series lead.

Peter Holland finished with a game-high three points (1G-2A) and Drew MacIntyre stopped 37 of 39 for the Marlies, who look to head back to Toronto with a 2-0 series lead after tonight's Game Two.

Other Conference Semifinals Matchups 

4 - St. John's at 5 - Norfolk (Series tied 1-1)

The IceCaps and Admirals split the two games in Newfoundland, Canada and play a pivotal Game a Three tonight in southern Virginia. The Admirals took Game One, but came up short in Game Two despite two fantastic games in net by John Gibson (42/43 in G1 and 39/41 in G2).

Gibson was recalled by Anaheim due to an injury to Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen, so ex-WBS goaltender Brad Thiessen look to get the start in net for Norfolk in Game Three tonight at The Scope at 8:00 p.m. ET.

4 - Grand Rapids at 1 - Texas (TEX leads series 1-0)

After a 5-2 win in Game One, the high-powered Texas Stars offense gets back to work against the defending champion Grand Rapids Griffins tonight in Cedar Park.

Ex-Penguin Dustin Jeffrey tallied two goals in Game One Thursday night and rookie Brendan Ranford continues to impress in the postseason, opening the scoring 3:19 in for his third of the playoffs before Jeffrey tallied his first two on the night just 13 seconds later.

Saturday's Schedule
 
Providence @ Penguins at 7:05 p.m. ET (PRO leads series 1-0)
St. John's @ Norfolk at 8:00 p.m. ET (Series tied 1-1)
Grand Rapids @ Texas at 8:00 p.m. ET (TEX leads series 1-0)
Toronto @ Chicago at 8:00 p.m. ET (TOR leads series 1-0)