A phenomenal finish to a great series between, perhaps, the two best teams in the AHL. It goes to Toronto, 4-3 and 4-3, in Game 7 at Ricoh Coliseum. The teams combined for five goals in the third, Albany taking a 2-1 lead on Nick Lappin’s rebound, Toronto grabbing a 3-2 lead on goals by Kasperi Kapanen and Connor Carrick, and then came a tying goal from Paul Thompson with 4:41 left. But Rich Clune won it with 2:30 left: Nikita Soshnikov’s shot from the point went wide right, but the veteran Clune, camped out in front, read it perfectly and knocked it home at the right post. Lappin had one more chance off a late faceoff, but Antoine Bibeau stopped it to finish it off.
Because of building availability issues, the Eastern Conference final begins in Hershey on Friday/Saturday; the next up-to-three, as required, will be at Toronto, with Game 6 in Hershey and Game 7 back in Toronto.
Zach Werenski scored at 12:32 of overtime, skating down a clear and circling to find his own rebound, to give Lake Erie the series win over Grand Rapids in six games, so it’ll be Ontario-Lake Erie for the Western Conference title.
This is the Monsters’ first best-of-7 playoff win in the AHL; the franchise’s last was in 1996, when they were the Utah Grizzlies. That leaves just two franchises with longer best-of-7 playoff droughts than Bridgeport (2002): San Antonio (as the Adirondack Red Wings, 1994) and Springfield/Tucson (1997).
New coach in Rochester, though as Kevin Oklobzija reports, it’s not completely unexpected:
| TEAM | Old | New |
| BIN | Luke Richardson (4/18) | — |
| MTB | Keith McCambridge (4/22) | — |
| SA | Dean Chynoweth (4/26) | — |
| CHA | Mark Morris (5/3, St. Lawrence) | — |
| SYR | Rob Zettler (5/10) | Benoit Groulx (5/10) |
| ROC | Randy Cunneyworth (5/16) | Dan Lambert (5/16) |
At the Worlds, simple situation for the United States: Earn a point Tuesday (super-early in the morning Eastern time), make the quarterfinals (as the fourth seed in the pool); lose to Slovakia in regulation, and it’s over.
And RIP, Dick McAuliffe and Columbia legend Jim McMillian.