Devils Roll Phantoms in Key Divisional Game

Published on January 16, 2012 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany Devils News Release


ALBANY, N.Y. -- In a 60 minute game, the Albany Devils only needed 28 minutes to build a large enough lead to hold on for a 5-3 win against the Adirondack Phantoms Monday afternoon at the Times Union Center. The victory evens the Time Warner Cable Cup series, 2-2, and moves Albany within two points of the top spot in the Northeast Division.

"We really haven't had consistency and that's our game," said head coach Rick Kowalsky. "I thought we did a good job through two periods where we put pressure on them and sensed the momentum."

The Devils (17-13-5-2) extended their point streak to six games with the help of five different goal scorers: Nathan Perkovich, Matt Anderson, Jacob Josefson, Tim Sestito and Brad Mills. Between the pipes, Jeff Frazee made 32 saves for his third-consecutive victory and seventh of the season.

"We battled hard and buried our chances," Frazee said. "They had some chances in front and some chances to get rebounds and the defenseman cleared out guys. We played well as a team, but we have to watch those little lapses."

"He was aggressive," Kowalsky said of Frazee. "When he is out challenging and out top of the crease and really challenging the shooter is when he is at his best. He certainly did that tonight."

The Phantoms (20-16-1-1) goals came off the stick of Jason Akeson, Garrett Roe and Eric Wellwood after the Devils have secured a commanding 5-0 lead during the first half of play.

Albany's special teams set the tone early as Perkovich extended his scoring streak to two games with a power-play tally 4:09 into the game. Perkovich, who also added an assist, now has three goals and an assist in the last two games.

"The power play is huge and that is where you win games," Perkovich said. "We grabbed the momentum with a goal. Our power play has been clicking lately and that's a big part of our game recently."

Albany is now 11-3-0-1 when scoring at least one power-play goal

Matt Anderson followed with a shorthanded tally at 16:06. The goal was the Devils fourth of its kind this season.

"It's nice when you get shorthanded goals," Perkovich said. "Those are always a plus and you build on it. Those two goals helped lead to the third goal, the fourth goal and the fifth goal. That shorthanded goal was huge for us."

In the second, Josefson scored on a rebound at 5:02 and Sestito followed with a diving goal at 5:56. Brad Mills concluded Albany's five-goal run at 7:11.

On Wednesday, the Devils host the Norfolk Admirals for a 7 p.m. contest. Fans can follow the action on ahllive.com.

Notes: Albany has scored five or more goal in a single game four times this season. The other three were: against Adirondack (W, 5-2) on Oct. 22, at Hershey (W, 6-5 SO) on Nov. 19 and at Norfolk (W, 5-4 OT) on Jan. 6 ... The Devils are 10-6-0-1 when scoring the first goal of the game and 6-0-0-0 when leading after the first period ... Albany is now 11-3-0-1 when scoring at least one power play goal ... Nick Palmieri returned to Albany's lineup after being returned on loan by New Jersey earlier in the day. Entering the contest, Palmieri had three goal and an assist in 15 AHL outings ... Jacob Josefson, who was loaned to Albany by New Jersey Tuesday, netted his first AHL goal since scoring a pair at Bridgeport on Jan. 25, 2011 ... In his 14th AHL game of the season, Tim Sestito scored his third goal and 40th of his AHL career ... Brad Mills registered his first goal since scoring on Dec. 2. Since then he has played in 16 games ... Three Stars: 1. Jeff Frazee (ALB), 2. Nathan Perkovich (ALB), 3. Garrett Roe (ADK).

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