Week 21 Primer

Devils Quick Hits:

-Albany begins the week with a 23-22-4-5 record and 55 points.  They stand in 4th place in the Northeast Division and 12th in the Eastern Conference.  Looking at the first Playoff Primer of the season, released last night, the boys have some work to do to catch up.

-With Scott Clemmensen staying up top with the parent Devils to backup Cory Schneider this weekend, Maxime Clermont was summoned back from Orlando yesterday.  With another 3 in 3 weekend looming, I would not be surprised to see him get at least one start.

2/27, Game #55 at Syracuse

Where: Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter, Syracuse, NY.

When: 7:00 PM.

Season Series: Syracuse leads 5-0.

Standings:

Syracuse: 32-14-8-0, 72 points, 1st place in Northeast Division, 1st place in Eastern Conference

Crunch Leading Scorers/Goaltending:

Jonathan Marchessault, 43 points (13 G, 30 A); Yanni Gourde, 40 points (19 G, 21 A); 2 tied with 32 points

Kristers Gudlevskis, 17-8-2, 2.70 GAA; Allen York, 1-0-1, 4.23 GAA

Notes:

-After a disastrous Valentines week, the Crunch rebounded nicely with a 3 game sweep of last weekend’s games, catapulting them to the top of the league standings.  A one goal loss to Rochester has them tied with Oklahoma City for the league’s best going into this weekend.

-Tonight marks the start of a 3 game homestand for the Crunch, who host Utica on Saturday and Portland next Friday.

-Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made a one game appearance on Wednesday after coming down from Tampa, only to lose 4-3 to Rochester before being recalled.

Listen: AHL Live, ESPN Radio Syracuse

Watch: TWC Sports is carrying the game (Albany channel 50/323).

Twitter: @trace_1114, @AlbanyDevils, @SyracuseCrunch, @syrhockey, @CrunchSyracuse, @Allovimo

2/28, Game #56 at Hershey

Where: Giant Center, Hershey, PA.

When: 7:00 PM.

Season Series: Hershey leads 3-0.

Standings:

Hershey: 32-14-5-2, 71 points, 1st place in East Division, 3rd in Eastern Conference

Bears Leading Scorers/Goaltending:

Tim Kennedy, 44 points (5 G, 39 A); 2 tied with 37 points

Philipp Grubauer, 21-10-4, 2.11 GAA; Pheonix Copley, 9-3-3, 2.15 GAA

Notes:

-Hershey is riding a modest 2 game winning streak heading into a 3 in 3 weekend of their own, traveling to Binghamton on Friday and hosting Lehigh Valley on Sunday afternoon.

-Things got a little heated on Saturday night against Bridgeport…as a result, forward Liam O’Brien was suspended for 3 games, the last one coming on Saturday.

-At the start of the weekend, the Bears sit just one point behind Syracuse for 1st in the conference (and first overall in the league).

Listen: AHL Live, The Ticket 1460 AM

Twitter: @trace_1114, @AlbanyDevils, @TheHersheyBears, @ChocHockey, @timleone

3/1, Game #57 vs. Binghamton

Where: Times Union Center, Albany, NY.

When: 3:00 PM.

Season Series: Binghamton leads 1-0.

Standings:

Binghamton: 22-25-5-1, 50 points, 4th place in East Division, 13th in Eastern Conference

Senators Leading Scorers/Goaltending:

2 tied with 42 points

Peter Mannino, 3-7-2, 3.78 GAA; Scott Greenham, 10-6-2, 2.51 GAA

Notes:

-After hosting Hershey on Friday evening, the B-Sens embark on a 4 game road trip, starting in Lehigh Valley on Saturday before coming to the Capital Region on Sunday.  They finish the trip in Norfolk the following weekend.

-2015 has not been kind to Binghamton, as they have had two separate 5 game winless streaks since the start of the calendar year and have fallen to the bottom of the East Division standings, tied with Norfolk for last place.

-Albany returns to home ice for the first time since February 15th.  After only having two home games for all of February, the Devils will have 7 of their next 11 games at the Times Union Center.

Listen: AHL Live, US 96.9 FM

Twitter: @trace_1114, @AlbanyDevils, @BSens_Hockey