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Bears Out-Gun River Rats 5-3

December 28, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


HERSHEY, PA - Former Albany captain Keith Aucoin had a goal and two assists as the Hershey Bears held off a late comeback attempt by the Albany River Rats to earn a 5-3 win in front of an announced crowd of 10,347 Sunday afternoon at Giant Center.

Having lost all three games to Hershey at the Times Union Center this season, the River Rats were hoping that a change in venues might change their fortunes against the first place Bears. Albany put the pressure on their hosts early in the game and out-chanced Hershey in the first ten minutes of play. But Hershey put together two strong shifts where they dominated possession in the offensive zone and a familiar face caught the River Rats. Former captain Keith Aucoin sent a clever pass from behind the net right onto the tape of rookie Oskar Osala on top of the crease and Osala buried his shot at 12:28 for his 17th goal of the year. But the Rats struck back 1:36 later with a power play goal from Michael Ryan to tie the game at 1-1. Ryan picked up a rebound off a Brett Carson shot from the blue line and slapped it by goaltender Michal Neuvirth at 14:04 for his team-leading tenth goal of the year, assisted by Carson and Bryan Rodney. The game got physical after the equalizer as Nicolas Blanchard dropped the gloves with Greg Amadio, followed by a tilt between call-up Brad Herauf and Darren Reid just three seconds later. Kip Brennan tried to convince Albany captain Tim Conboy to fight at 18:38, but picked up a double-minor for roughing instead.

Hershey found the accelerator in the second period as they blew open the game with three goals to take a 4-1 lead. Andrew Gordon broke the 1-1 tied at 1:57 as he finished off another great pass by Aucoin and then Kyle Wilson scored on a two-on-one rush at 6:04 to give the Bears a 3-1 advantage. Jakub Petruzalek nearly cut the lead in half after he was awarded a penalty shot at 17:38, but the River Rats points leader was lightly poke-checked by Neuvirth to force the puck agonizingly wide of the far post. The Bears added to their lead in the closing seconds of the period when Aucoin slapped in a rebound for a power play goal with 4.2 ticks left on the clock.

Albany tried to battle back early in the third period, but could not seem to beat Neuvirth, who made two outstanding saves from close range on Brad Herauf. To their credit the River Rats would not quit and Mark Flood set up Pat Dwyer for a wide-open back door goal at 17:12, Dwyer's sixth goal of the season. 31 seconds later Albany caught Hershey napping and Josef Melichar pinched from the left point to setup Nick Dodge for a goal from the top of the crease at 17:43 and a stunned Giant Center crowd saw the Bears' three-goal lead cut to 4-3. Albany pulled Peters for the extra attacker, but Hershey had just enough as Chris Bourque scored an empty net goal to finish off the game 5-3.

Rookie goaltender Michal Neuvirth stopped 24-of-27 shots to record his first career AHL win, helping the first place Bears improve to 23-8-0-1 and a perfect 4-0-0-0 against Albany this season. Justin Peters made 23 saves on 27 shots and shouldered the loss as the River Rats lost their fourth-straight road game, dropping to 11-16-3-2 on the season. Hershey out-shot Albany 28-27 and went 1-for-3 on the power play; the Rats were 2-for-5 with the man-advantage.

Notes: Earlier today the River Rats released defenseman Steve Ward from his professional tryout contract, returning him to the Reading Royals of the ECHL. Ward played in six games for Albany during his call-up, registering one assist and a team-leading +3 plus-minus rating.

The River Rats will return to the Times Union Center on Tuesday, December 30th for a 7:00 pm face off against their old affiliate the Lowell Devils.



American Hockey League Stories from December 28, 2008


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