Hartford moves on; saving the last dance: Friday notes

The Wolf Pack are off to Round 2 after coming from behind to beat Providence on defenseman Tommy Hughes’ goal early in overtime. Their opponent remains TBA because of Manchester-Portland affecting the rankings, whether from the top or the bottom, but Hartford is in.

The teams combined for five minors in the last 13:30. Providence scored on the first of them, a goal for Simsbury’s Tommy Cross. Chris Mueller took the fourth, came out of the penalty box and scored on a one-timer on the fifth with 46 seconds left and Yann Danis (38 saves) off for an extra attacker.

Worcester’s time in the AHL ended with a 10-4 loss in Hershey, finishing the home team’s first playoff-series win since it won the Calder Cup in 2010. The Bears (who got Steve Oleksy back from injury but scrached Jon Landry) already had a 5-2 lead late in the second when Evan Trupp took a major, slashing Stanislav Galiev (day-to-day). The Bears scored three on the major, then another moments later, to make it a laugher.

We’ll miss the Sharks. We’ll miss Worcester. (We’ll miss Bill Ballou even more.)

Fun Philipp Grubauer fact from the league, with Part II straight from Jason Chaimovitch. (Well, maybe not so fun if you’re an Islanders fan.) Grubauer sat out the third period injured.

There’ll be another Game 5 on Saturday in Utica. The Comets were called for too many men 62 seconds into overtime, and Joel Edmundson scored at 2:19 to give Chicago a 4-3 win and tie the series. It was the third overtime game of the series; Utica won the first two.

Portland at Manchester in Game 5 on Saturday, too, and Toronto will have another chance to close out Grand Rapids in Game 4. (Game 5 there would be Sunday.)

Another coaching change: Rochester added Chadd Cassidy’s name to the list.

TEAM Old New
SD-a Jarrod Skalde (4/21)  — 
CHA Jeff Daniels (4/30) — 
ROC Chadd Cassidy (5/1) — 


a-Former Norfolk Admirals, new San Diego Gulls.

Team USA got going in the World Championship with a solid 5-1 win over Finland. A couple of assists for Brock Nelson, fresh off the plane with Anders Lee; one of them on a goal by Farmington’s Nick Bonino. The U.S. plays Norway on Saturday afternoon; NBCSN will show it on tape delay at 7 p.m. Canada handled Latvia, Russia took care of Norway, and Sweden survived the Czechs in a shootout, blowing leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2, falling behind 5-4 and needing a last-minute goal to tie it. Anders Nilsson backed up Jhonas Enroth.

Former AHLer Chris Collins, following up on Daniel Carcillo’s and Hayley Wickenheiser’s pieces on anxiety, injury and life after hockey, talking about life after North American hockey before life after hockey.

And RIP, Ben E. King. (Turn it up. If you don’t have it, this is worth your while.)

Michael Fornabaio