AHL PROSPECT WATCH: Stars, Moose leaning on net newcomers
Monday is when AHL teams catch up after another hectic weekend on the ice and on highways across Canada and the United States.
With two and sometimes three games – plus travel – crunched into a weekend, those teams have earned that rest and step away from the rink. But Monday here is a day to catch up on and assess some of the weekend’s best performances and news from top prospects across the 31-team AHL.
YOUTH IN NET IS CENTRAL
AHL teams chasing down a ticket to the Calder Cup Playoffs are not hesitating to rely on rookie goaltending amid the season’s biggest games.
Trying to fight through a five-team traffic jam for two Central Division playoff spots, the Texas Stars have turned to 20-year-old rookie Jake Oettinger in net. Landon Bow, the Texas number-one for much of the season, remains with the parent Dallas Stars, who begin play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this week.
Dallas picked Oettinger 26th in the 2017 NHL Draft, and he opted to turn pro last month after three strong NCAA seasons at Boston University. Dallas signed him to a three-year entry-level deal and assigned him to Texas for the AHL stretch drive.
A Calder Cup finalist last season, Texas went through extensive offseason roster shuffling and has run through a hot-and-cold regular season. Texas started this past weekend sixth in the Central Division, two points below the playoff line and facing a pair of home showdowns with the Rockford IceHogs, who were one point behind them.
Texas head coach Derek Laxdal elected to start Oettinger in the opening game of the series this past Friday night, and Oettinger repaid that faith with a 23-save night in a 2-1 victory. Laxdal went back to Oettinger the following night; that time, Rockford dented Oettinger for three goals on 21 shots in regulation. But Oettinger shut down Rockford on five overtime shots to give Texas a chance to win the game in the shootout. However, the IceHogs put away Texas in the fifth round for a 4-3 win.
The weekend tilts produced three more points for Texas and has the AHL Stars (80 points) within one point of the playoff line. They finish their regular season with three meetings in four nights against Central Division basement occupier San Antonio Rampage, a team that they have manhandled this season. Rockford is at 78 points.
Before his work against Rockford, Oettinger made his AHL debut on March 30th with a 23-save 4-1 win at the Iowa Wild, one of the teams that Texas is battling for playoff positioning. Through his three games, Oettinger is 2-0-1 | 1.62 | .928.
He played 36 games for the Terriers this season, going 16-16-4 | 2.45 | .926 and adding four shutouts. Last season he was a part of the Hockey East tournament champion Terriers. He also won a gold medal at the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2017 and followed it with a bronze medal the following year.
To the north of Texas, both literally and figuratively, are the fourth-place Manitoba Moose at 81 points. They are tied with Iowa but ahead on a tie-breaker at present. That Manitoba is even in contention this late into the season is a major feat. The Moose fell to last in the AHL on December 29th before going on a second-half tear. Since that low point, they are 26-13-3-2.
But they have spent much of the past five-plus weeks without number-one netminder Eric Comrie, who has been on recall to the Winnipeg Jets with Laurent Brossoit injured. That has limited Comrie to five games with the Moose since February 27th.
In Comrie’s stead, the Moose have turned over the number-one job to rookie Mikhail Berdin, the latest late-round potential bargain in the Winnipeg system. The Jets selected him in the sixth round of the 2016 NHL Draft. This season, he has made the long jump from the USHL to the AHL, a transition that stymies the few netminders who do take that path.
Before turning pro, Berdin had made the transition from Russia and spent two USHL seasons with the Sioux Falls Stampede. Last season he posted a 24-13-5 | 2.65 | .921 line for Sioux Falls, his save percentage ranking fourth in the USHL. That earned Berdin a two-way deal with the Jets.
Berdin, 21, next divided his time between the ECHL and Manitoba before taking over for the Moose with Comrie’s recall.
He has made 12 appearances, 11 of them starts, since March 1 and has delivered a .928 performance along with a 7-3-2 record. Included that run was a 40-save effort last week against the Bakersfield Condors, who are tied for the AHL lead at 3.52 goals per game. He repeated that strong performance the next night to help the Moose to a two-game home sweep of the Pacific Division-leading Condors. Then he shut out the visiting Stockton Heat this past Saturday afternoon on 26 shots, the seventh time in those 11 starts in which he has allowed two or fewer goals.
His run finally ended this past Sunday afternoon in a 6-2 home loss to the Heat to finish out the two-game series. Plagued in part by defensive-zone breakdowns, Moose head coach Pascal Vincent pulled Berdin after he allowed five goals on 18 shots.
Still, Berdin has a 12-7-3 | 2.31 | .929 performance in 22 games for the Moose.
With Winnipeg starting Stanley Cup Playoff action this week and Brossoit’s status still unclear, the Moose could remain without Comrie as they try to wrestle down a playoff spot this coming weekend. They have a 3-in-3 road weekend and play their final two contests against the Western Conference-leading Chicago Wolves, a potential first-round opponent.
NET LOSSES IN IOWA
The playoff stretch drive has been less rosy for Iowa’s Kaapo Kähkönen. In contention for the Central Division lead a month ago, Iowa has fallen below the division playoff line and into fifth place after eight consecutive losses (0-7-1-0).
Kähkönen took a 5-1 road loss this past Saturday night to the Milwaukee Admirals, allowing five goals in 31 shots. That defeat pushed Milwaukee two points past Iowa in the Central Division playoff race.
The 22-year-old Finnish product has been in net for three of those eight defeats, posting an .857 save percentage. The Minnesota Wild took him in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL Draft and he played three Liiga seasons before crossing over to the AHL. Last season with Lukko Rauma, he went 20-23-12 | 2.20 | .920. Kähkönen started strong in North America, represented Iowa at the AHL All-Star Classic, and also had a 207:55 shutout streak earlier in the season. But he has allowed four or more goals in six of his past seven appearances, which has taken his season line down to 17-14-8 | 2.78 | .908 through 39 games.
Iowa’s problems have hardly been limited to Kähkönen, however. Veteran Andrew Hammond has an .867 save percentage in his past six outings, all of them losses.
ELSEWHERE
Toronto Marlies forward Jeremy Bracco (21-56-77) remains in a tie for the AHL scoring lead with Syracuse Crunch forward Carter Verhaeghe (31-46-77). Each player has a maximum of three games remaining.
Syracuse rookie sniper Alex Barré-Boulet remains tied with Toronto veteran Chris Mueller with an AHL-leading 33 goals. Barré-Boulet, an undrafted Tampa Bay Lightning prospect, also is up to a fifth-place tie in AHL scoring (33-31-64) and also holds the rookie scoring lead. Barré-Boulet stopped a four-game goal drought with a tally this past Saturday night in a 5-2 home loss to the Rochester Americans.
Bakersfield rookie Tyler Benson (14-49-63) is one point behind Barré-Boulet in a sixth-place tie in AHL scoring and second among rookies. His Condors teammate, fellow rookie Cooper Marody, is tied for ninth in AHL scoring (19-41-60) and third in the rookie chase.
Joel L’Esperance of Texas is the only AHL rookie other Barré-Boulet to have reached 30 goals. L’Esperance, also undrafted, rejoined Texas this past weekend, struck in his first game back, and has hit 30 goals in 51 contests.
In the latest biggest game of the season for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, starting goaltender Tristan Jarry’s afternoon ended after the first period. Jarry has been a dominant force for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and kept the team in playoff contention, but the Lehigh Valley Phantoms chased him with four goals in a 13:23 span. The Penguins went on to lose a 10-6 decision to the Phantoms that has put their 16-season playoff streak on the brink of ending. They begin play this week five points out of a playoff spot with three games to play and would lose the first tie-breaker (regulation and overtime wins) to the Providence Bruins. The Pens are back in action on Friday to open a 3-in-3 weekend.
The Colorado Eagles wasted no time pushing top Colorado Avalanche prospect Shane Bowers into the heat of their AHL playoff chase. The Eagles hold a one-point lead on a playoff spot after splitting a two-game road set against the Wolves. Bowers, who does not turn 20 until July, signed with the Avalanche after one season at Boston University and dressed for both games against the Wolves. The Avs acquired him from the Ottawa Senators in the Matt Duchene trade in November 2017; Ottawa had chosen him as the 28th pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. In his lone NCAA season, he went 11-10-21 for the Terriers.
New York Islanders top prospect Oliver Wahlstrom struck for his first pro goal this past weekend in a 4-3 win against Providence. Taken 11th in the NHL Draft last June, Wahlstrom signed an entry-level deal with the Islanders after one season at Boston College and was assigned to Bridgeport. Still only 18 years old, he was 8-11-19 in 36 contests for Boston College while also competing for the silver-medalist United States at the IIHF World Junior Championship (2-2-4 in seven games)
Belleville Senators rookie netminder Marcus Högberg rebounded from a rough start in his previous game to deliver a critical win this past Saturday night against the Cleveland Monsters. After Högberg allowed three goals on 13 shots to the visiting Hershey Bears in a 3-1 loss this past Friday, Belleville head coach Troy Mann stuck with him the next night on home ice. Högberg stopped 33 Cleveland shots to pull out a 3-1 win in what was nearly a must-have game for Belleville. Cleveland holds a one-point lead and one game in hand on Belleville for the final North Division playoff spot. It was the fifth time in his past seven games that Högberg has held an opponent to one goal. Högberg’s play has pushed top Ottawa prospect Filip Gustavsson firmly into the Belleville back-up role. Gustavsson, a key piece of the trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins that sent Derrick Brassard out of Ottawa last season, has only played three times since February 3rd.
