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Albany Holds Back Penguins 5-3

January 17, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


ALBANY, NY - Joe Jensen scored the deciding goal early in the third period as they Albany River Rats earned a hard-fought 5-3 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Saturday night in front of 6,003 fans at the Times Union Center.

Albany scored the lone goal of the first period on the power play just 1:52 into the game when assistant captain Pat Dwyer slapped a puck over the shoulder of Penguins goalie Adam Berkhoel for his ninth goal of the year. Bryan Rodney and Jerome Samson assisted on the goal, which was the River Rats fastest goal to open a game this season. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton out-shot the Rats 9-6 in the first frame, but strong goaltending by Albany's Daniel Manzato kept it 1-0 heading into the second.

The River Rats doubled their lead early in the second when rookie Nick Dodge sent Jakub Petruzalek free on a partial breakaway. The speedy winger raced in on Berkhoel and snapped a wrist shot to the short side over the glove for his 12th of the season at 3:41. Defenseman Casey Borer made it 3-0 on Albany's next shot when he took off a clean face-off win from center Harrison Reed and blasted the puck into the top left corner at 6:05. Albany almost added to its lead with a pair of posts, but Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored twice in 33 seconds to close the gap to one. Mark Letestu scored the Penguins first goal at 15:42 and Jeff Taffe made it 3-2 on a funny rebound from a Tim Wallace shot. With one tick left in the period the River Rats hit their third post of the frame and left the ice with the goal lead.

Early in the third period Joe Jensen gave Albany some breathing space with a 4-2 lead at 2:03 when he shoved a rebound over the goal line at the tail end of a 2-on-1 rush; Mike Angelidis and Nicolas Blanchard assisted on the goal. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton again made it a one goal game when a Jon D'Aversa shot hit Penguins forward Nick Johnson and fell to his feet for an open put-away at 5:27. The baby Penguins pulled their goalie and put pressure on the Rats goal in the closing minutes of the period, but Albany captain Tim Conboy iced the game when his clearing attempt from behind his own goal line bounced off of the boards and traveled almost 200 feet into the empty goal to make it 5-3.

Albany goaltender Daniel Manzato stopped 34-of-37 shots and earned the win as the River Rats won their fifth straight game in the East Division and improved to 17-19-3-2 on the season. Penguins' goalie Adam Berkhoel allowed four goals on 26 shots and took the loss as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fell to 24-15-1-2. The Penguins out-shot Albany 37-27 and went 0-for-3 on the power play; the River Rats went 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

The River Rats will head to Philadelphia for a Sunday night game at Wachovia Spectrum against the Phantoms at 7:05 pm. Albany will begin a three-game home stand on Wednesday, January 21st as they face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:00 pm at the Times Union Center.

River Rats flex ticket packages and individual game tickets are on sale now at the River Rats office and the Times Union Center Box Office. For more information please contact the Albany River Rats at (518) 487-2244 or online at www.albanyriverrats.com.

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