SPRINGFIELD, MA - The Falcons scored the first five goals of the game and goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves to lead Springfield to a 6-2 win over the Albany River Rats Sunday afternoon at the MassMutual Center.Falcons forward Bryan Lerg scored his first two goals of the season, and Viacheslav Trukhno and Chad Wiseman each tallied a goal and an assist, as Albany fell to 1-4-0-0 on the road.
Albany's first goal of the game didn't come until 6:56 into the third period, but defenseman Brett Carson made the tally a memorable one. The assistant captain fired a short-handed clearing attempt from deep in his own zone to the other end of the ice, where Dubnyk mishandled the bouncing puck to see his shutout bid come to an end.
Trukhno's second of the afternoon reinstated his club's five-goal lead less than two minutes later, and made the Falcons a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play. Albany captain Pat Dwyer finished the scoring with 5:11 remaining, one-timing a Chris Terry pass behind Dubnyk on the River Rats' seventh power play opportunity of the game.
Dubnyk withstood several Albany scoring opportunities early in the contest and Wiseman buried a rebound for the game's first goal at 11:32 of the first period. Lerg doubled the Falcons lead at 19:08, driving to the front of the net with River Rat Mike Angelidis draped all over him, and somehow still managing to snap a low shot to the far side.
The Falcons scored their second power play goal of the afternoon at 7:45 of the middle period, when Charles Linglet chipped a back-door rebound over Albany goaltender Justin Peters' out-stretched leg to make it 3-0. Springfield's lead reached 4-0 on a delayed penalty call at 17:55 of the stanza, as Colin McDonald one-touched a perfect pass to Geoff Paukovich for a close-range finish.
The home team didn't let up in the third period, adding a fifth tally at 3:14 when Bill Thomas left a drop-pass for Lerg, who blasted-home his second of the night before Carson finally put Albany on the board.
Springfield goalie Devan Dubnyk stopped 34-of-36 shots faced and earned the win as the Falcons improved to 9-5-3-1 this season. River Rats goaltender Justin Peters turned-aside 20-of-26 and took the loss as Albany fell to 8-8-0-2 this year. The River Rats out-shot Springfield 34-26 in the game and went 1-for-7 on the power play.
Albany hosts the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday, November 18th at 7:00 p.m. River Rats 2009-10 season and flex ticket packages are now on sale at the River Rats executive offices at the Times Union Center, by calling (518) 487-2244 or by logging onto www.albanyriverrats.com.
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