Clermont, Boucher and Penalty Kill Lift Devils to 2-1
January 31, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany Devils News Release
ALBANY, NY -- The Albany Devils killed off a four-minute penalty during the seven-minute overtime period and knocked off the St. John's IceCaps 1-0 in the shootout to earn a 2-1 win Saturday at Times Union Center.
Tim Sestito's slashing and misconduct penalties sent the game to a 4-on-3 situation 1:09 into overtime. The Devils, backed by eight Maxime Clermont saves, fended off the IceCaps power play to send the game into the shootout.
"We made it more interesting than it had to be," said Head Coach Rick Kowalsky. "We failed to clear it about four or five times. We had it on our tape and didn't have enough mustard to get it out. We fanned on it a couple of times, but a great job by those guys.
"We really only used six guys: Darcy Zajac and Rod Pelley up front and then the four defensemen and then, obviously, Max. But it was a huge kill and it got us the extra point."
After two-and-a-half scoreless rounds, Reid Boucher, who scored during regulation, beat Connor Hellebuyck blocker side to give Albany its first shootout win of the season. The Devils improve to 22-15-4-5, while the IceCaps go to 19-21-5-2.
Clermont, who is 4-0-0-0 this season, made 23 saves during regulation and overtime.
"It is always fun winning, no matter what level you are at," Clermont said. "Guys are battling hard every night that I'm in there. Its only four games; we have to keep rolling now."
A pair of power-play goals had the Devils and IceCaps knotted, 1-1, after 60 minutes.
John Albert, who had a goal and an assist during the team's Friday game, opened the scoring at 15:01 of the first period. He sent home a rebound opportunity on Julien Brouillette's point shot.
In the second, Brandon Burlon's pass from deep in the Devils zone found Boucher, who got behind the IceCaps defensemen. One-on-one with Hellebuyck, Boucher sent a snapshot into the lower-left corner at 6:18 to tie the game.
"It was perfect timing by Burlon," Boucher said. "I wasn't expecting it. I was just trying to draw the D back, and it was right there on my tape. I had a lot of time on that breakaway and good thing I made it count. It feels good watching the puck go in the net."
Game Notes
Reid Boucher registered his 12th goal of the season and first since Jan. 17 at Hershey. The tally was his seventh power-play goal, tying him with Paul Thompson and Joe Whitney for the team lead ... Brandon Burlon has six points 2g-4a) in the last seven games ... Maxime Clermont registered his first career AHL point ... The shootout win was Albany's first since Apr. 16, 2014 - a 3-2 decision at Portland that clinched a spot in the 2014 Calder Cup Playoffs ... The Devils only allowed one shot during the second period -- a season low ... Albany is 17-5-2-3 when scoring a power-play goal ... Albany is 12-6-2-3 against conference opponents at Times Union Center ... The Devils improved to 2-3-0-1 all-time against the IceCaps.
Next Up
The Devils begin a road-heavy February with a 7 pm contest against the Manchester Monarchs Wednesday at Verizon Wireless Arena. Fans can follow the action online or on mobile devices at ahllive.com. Additionally, the game can be heard on 104.5 "The Team" ESPN Radio.
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