Micheal Haley had an assist and an empty-net goal to keep Worcester alive, in the playoffs and as an AHL franchise. The Bears have another shot to close out the series at home Friday and, if necessary, Sunday. (Almost 9,000 at Giant Center on a Wednesday night. Respect.)
A couple of Conor Sheary goals (20 minutes apart) led the Penguins to a sweep-capping 5-2 win in Syracuse. The Pens are on to the second round for the fifth year in a row and have won a playoff round for the 12th time in the past 13 years (beginning in 2003 with a two-game qualifying round win, then for real in 2004 with the Andy Chiodo comeback against Bridgeport. The lone exception was 2010, when Albany swept them).
Manchester-Portland Game 4 is Thursday. Hartford-Providence Game 5 is Friday.
Out West, three overtime games. In the only Western series that was 1-1, Darren Archibald scored at 10:58 of overtime to give Utica a 2-1 win and a 2-1 series lead. Both Comets wins have come in overtime. The other two OT games finished off sweeps: Phillip Danault’s second goal tied it, and Stephen Johns scored 23 seconds into overtime to give Rockford a three-game sweep of the defending champion Texas Stars. Defenseman Dylan Olsen kept San Antonio alive with a tying goal with a minute to go, but Jujhar Khaira’s goal at 5:01 of OT to finish an Oklahoma City sweep. In the only western regulation game, Grand Rapids’ big names did big-name things to keep the Griffins alive against Toronto.
The Daily Gazette reports that the Albany Devils are likely to re-up for one more season. That’d put both their lease and Hartford’s both expiring in 2016.
Nino Niederreiter’s got a home in Minnesota.
The Penguins’ eulogy on Puck Daddy was written by the folks from ThePensBlog. Brilliant idea, as usual brilliantly executed. (I used to love those guys and lost them somewhere along the way. Got to go back.)
And RIP, Calvin Peete.