Bridgeport Out-Guns Albany 6-3

Published on February 15, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


ALBANY, NY - The Bridgeport Sound Tigers scored four times in the second period on their way to a 6-3 win over the Albany River Rats Friday night at the Times Union Center.

The River Rats were able to bring the energy and intensity they had in from Wednesday's third period and overtime into the opening period against Bridgeport. Right wing Chris Blight and defenseman Steve Ward and John Adams were all in lineup and making their Albany debuts, while in Ward's case it was his American Hockey League debut. Both goaltenders were solid in the first period; Albany's Michael Leighton and Bridgeport's Joey MacDonald kept everything out of their nets.

The goal-fest began in the second period as Bridgeport opened up a 2-0 lead with two quick goals in a span of 1:10. Justin Bourne poked in a crossing pass from Jason Pitton at 2:14 and Steve Regier scored power play goal at 3:24 to put the Sound Tigers in front. But the River Rats battled back, getting on the board at 10:52 with a power play goal of their own from Jakub Petruzalek. The Czech Republic forward tipped a Brett Carson shot into the net for his 10th goal of the season, assisted by Carson and Brandon Nolan. Albany then tied the game at 16:51 on a Nicolas Blanchard redirection, tipping a Mark Flood shot past MacDonald for his 6th goal of the year.

MacDonald was the difference in the game as he kept Albany from grabbing the lead soon after they tied it. The Bridgeport goaltender came up with the save of the game by stacking his pads and then reaching up with his glove hand to spectacularly bat away a Jamie Johnson shot that would have given the River Rats a 3-2 lead. Shortly thereafter the Sound Tigers counter-attacked and Trevor Smith scored at 18:44 to put the visitors back in front. 23 seconds later Tim Jackman picked up his sixth goal of the season when his rebound shot hit off defenseman Bryan Rodney and ricocheted into the net at 19:07. Albany managed a season-high 21 shots on goal in the second period, but still found themselves down 4-2 after 40 minutes.

In the third period Jason Pitton scored a backbreaking goal at 16:36, giving the visitors their biggest lead of the game. With the net empty for a six-on-four advantage, Mike Angelidis fired home a rebound from Flood and Johnson for a power play goal at 18:27, his 8th goal of the season, cutting the deficit to 5-3. But Bridgeport's Kyle Okposo added an empty net goal with five seconds remaining to cap off a 6-3 win for the Sound Tigers.

Joey MacDonald turned in an impressive 46 save performance on 49 shots to help Bridgeport improve to 27-24-1-0, pulling within two points of the River Rats in the standings. Michael Leighton stopped 23-of-28 shots in goal for Albany as the River Rats dropped to 27-23-0-3 on the year. Albany was 2-for-6 on the power play and out-shot Bridgeport 49-29; the Sound Tigers were 1-for-5 on the power play.

Notes: Before the game the River Rats released defenseman/forward Milan Maslonka from his Professional Tryout Agreement, returning him to the Youngstown Steelhounds of the CHL.

Albany will complete their three-game home stand on Saturday, February 16th when they host the first place Philadelphia Phantoms and hold their big 15th anniversary celebration; face off is scheduled for 7:00 pm at the Times Union Center.

Partial season tickets packages and flex tickets for the 2007-08 River Rats season are on sale now. For more information please contact the Albany River Rats at (518) 487-2244 or online at www.albanyriverrats.com.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 15, 2008


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