Saturday's Morning Skate (2/14)

Phantoms in Wilkes-Barre tonight for a meeting with the Penguins.

Happy Valentines Day puck heads! It was another busy Friday night in the American Hockey League (AHL) as all five teams in the East Division were in action.

Last night I was in Allentown at the beautiful PPL Center, where the Lehigh Valley Phantoms came up short against the Binghamton Senators.


Tonight, I'm live from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre as the Penguins host rival Phantoms at 7:05 p.m. EST. I'll have full coverage of tonight's game with a post-game recap here and live in-game updates on Twitter -> @H_P_Hockey starting around 6:00 ET.

East Division Standings (through 2/13's games)

1. Hershey: 48GP, 28-13-5-2, 63 points
2. W-B/Scranton: 51GP, 28-18-2-3, 61 points
3. Lehigh Valley: 48GP, 22-21-4-1, 49 points
4. Norfolk: 49GP: 20-24-3-2, 45 points
5. Binghamton: 48GP, 19-23-5-1, 44 points

 Portland - 0 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - 3

In Wilkes-Barre, Scott Wilson broke a scoreless tie late in the second period before tallying another early in the 3rd to lift the Penguins to a 3-0 win over the Pirates. Andrew Ebbett also tallied a goal for the Pens, who also got three assists from Brian Dumoulin.

The big storyline from the game is that it was Matt Murray's league-leading 6th shutout this season. Murray made 23 saves last night, has allowed just one goal in the month of February and has shutout his opponents in three of his last five starts.

The Penguins remain home to host Lehigh Valley Saturday, while Portland will be in Hershey to take on the Bears at Giant Center tonight at 7:00 p.m. EST.


Binghamton - 3 at Lehigh Valley - 2

In Allentown, the Phantoms dropped their fourth straight game at home - and their 8th overall in their last 11 games - in a 3-2 loss to the lowly BSens last night.

The BSens took an early 2-0 lead in the first period and never really looked back, as goals by Nick Cousins late in the first and Brandon Manning midway through the third closed the gap to a one goal game but that's as close as the Phantoms would get.

The Phantoms travel to Wilkes-Barre for a Saturday night match up with the Penguins, while the Binghamton Senators enjoy a rare Saturday night off before a game against the Toronto Marlies on Sunday.


Hershey - 1 at Albany - 0

In Albany, a late 2nd period goal by Stanislav Galiev was all the Bears needed behind Philipp Grubauer's 5th shutout of the season - a 35-save performance. Scott Wedgewood stopped 26 of 27 in the loss for the Devils.

Hershey returns home to host Portland, while Albany takes things on the road with a 7:30 p.m. EST face-off against Hartford.


Syracuse - 0 at Norfolk - 2

In Norfolk, the Admirals blanked the Crunch on a pair of power play goals. The Ads took a 1-0 lead just 1:13 into the contest after a too many men penalty on Syracuse in the opening minute of play.

Jason LaBarbera wasn't tested often, but was sharp when he needed to be - picking up his 2nd shutout of the season with 18 saves.

These two teams rematch tonight at The Scope at 7:15 p.m. EST


Other Eastern Conference Scores

Springfield - 2 at Manchester - 4
Bridgeport - 3 at Providence - 6

Saturday's Eastern Conference Schedule

Bridgeport @ Manchester, 3:00 p.m. EST
Worcester @ St. John's. 6:00 p.m. EST
Portland @ Hershey, 7:00 p.m. EST
Providence @ Springfield, 7:00 p.m. EST
Lehigh Valley @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 7:05 p.m. EST
Syracuse @ Norfolk, 7:15 p.m. EST
Albany @ Hartford, 7:30 p.m EST