Pens Sneak Past Rats 3-2
December 27, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release
ALBANY, NY - Penguins forward Mark Letestu scored two goals and added an assist to end the River Rats' seven game home-winning streak Sunday evening with a 3-2 final at the Times Union Center.
Letestu's second goal of the game broke a 1-1 deadlock at 4:07 of the third period and two minutes later, the third year center threaded a perfect 2-on-1 feed to Nick Johnson for a 3-1 Penguins lead. The River Rats made it 3-2 with 7:19 left in regulation, when Drayson Bowman's wrap-around attempt slid to Christ Terry for a top-shelf finish, but Albany could not find the equalizer in the closing minutes of play and the River Rats dropped their second straight game.
Albany trailed by one goal heading into the second period and managed just one shot through the first 15 minutes of action, but an impressive individual play from rookie Zach Boychuk provided all of the firepower that the River Rats needed to knot the game. The forechecking first round draft pick closed on defenseman Ben Lovejoy and pinned him to the boards for the steal, and then slid a pass to assistant captain Mike Angelidis for a one-time blast.
Letestu scored the game's first goal at 11:44 of the opening period, one-touching a nifty behind-the-back feed from Nick Johnson past River Rats goalie Justin Peters.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goalie Adam Berkhoel stopped 24-of-26 shots faced to earn the win as the Penguins improved to 16-14-1-1 this season. Peters turned-aside 34-of-27 shots faced, but took the loss as Albany fell to 18-13-1-2 this year. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton out-shot the River Rats 37-26 in the contest and went 0-for-5 on the power play, while Albany was 0-for-2 on the man-advantage.
Albany plays Game's Five and Six of the Time Warner Cable Cup Series this week in a home-and-home affair against the Adirondack Phantoms, beginning on Wednesday, December 30th with a 7:00 p.m. start at the Times Union Center. The teams then travel to the Glens Falls Civic Center the following afternoon for a 3:00 p.m. clash in the River Rats' final game of 2009. River Rats 2009-10 pro-rated season and flexible 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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