Saturday's Morning Skate 4/25

Brian Dumoulin (pictured above) should be on his way back to the WBS Penguins along with forward Scott Wilson and defensemen Taylor Chorney and Derrick Pouliot.

The opening weekend of the AHL's postseason brought playoff fever to the top minor league affiliates to the NHL, with several teams playing their respective Game One's last night.

Last night, I was at Mohegan Sun Arena as the W-B/Scranton Penguins took care of business in a 5-1 win over the Syracuse Crunch to take a 1-0 series lead in the best-of-five Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Series. The two teams do battle again tonight in Wilkes-Barre and I'll be live to take you every step of the way.

Follow the latest in-game updates of tonight's Game Two on Twitter -> @H_P_Hockey

Stay tuned after the game for a full recap of the action with views from the other side - quotes from the Syracuse Crunch.

A playoff edition of Saturday's Morning Skate after the jump.


Syracuse -1 at W-B/Scranton - 5 (WBS leads series 1-0)

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins started off the postseason with a bang, scoring three goals in a span of 1:40 early in the second period to break open the first game of the best-of-five series with the Syracuse Crunch en route to a 5-1 win and a 1-0 series lead.

Kasperi Kapanen had a big night for the Penguins, tallying two of those three 2nd period goals and really looking confident with the puck on his stick - something he wasn't showing in his final three regular season games (pointless, -2).

The Pens' third line of Dominik Uher, Carter Rowney and Tom Kuhnhackl continued to be a strong line for the home team, opening the scoring late in the first period and combining for two goals and four assists on the night.

For the Crunch, it was an evenly played game through much of the first period but the general consensus from the visiting team's locker room was that the Penguins played just the kind of game they expected and as a team they need to be much better in their own zone in Game Two Saturday night.

Worcester -1 at Hershey -4 (HER leads 1-0)

In Worcester, the Sharks and Bears played to a 1-1 score until a boarding major with 2:43 left in regulation allowed Hershey to score two late power play goals and an empty net tally to take Game One 4-1.

Micheal Haley gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead on a power play goal in the waning seconds of the open period, before Connor Carrick evened things up for the Bears with an even strength goal late in the middle frame.

The real turning point came late in the third period as Jeremy Langlois was assessed a major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct. The Bears tallied three goals on the 5-minute power play to end the game, the third of which was an empty net tally.

Pheonix Copley was stellar in his AHL playoff debut, stopping 41 of 42 shots to earn the win. Aaron Dell stopped 20 of the 23 shots that came his way in a game where the Sharks vastly out-shot and out-chanced the Bears.

Other Playoff Scores

Utica -1 at Chicago - 2 (Series tied 1-1)
Rockford - 4 at Texas -2 (RFD leads series 1-0)

Saturday's Playoff Schedule

Grand Rapids at Toronto, 3:00 p.m. ET - Series even at 0-0
Portland at Manchester, 7:00 p.m. ET - MCH leads series 1-0  
Hershey at Worcester, 7:00 p.m. ET - HER leads series 1-0
Providence at Hartford, 7:00 p.m. ET - HFD leads series 1-0
Syracuse at W-B/Scranton, 7:05 p.m. ET - WBS leads series 1-0 
San Antonio at Oklahoma City, 8:00 p.m. ET - OKC leads series 1-0
Rockford at Texas, 8:00 p.m. ET - RFD leads series 1-0