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Devils Hold Off River Rats In Shootout 3-2

February 18, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


LOWELL, MA - The Lowell Devils squandered a 2-1 lead in the third period before earning a 3-2 shootout victory over the Albany River Rats Wednesday night at Tsongas Arena.

Much like a chess match, the River Rats and Devils spent the first five minutes of the game battling for position and feeling each other out. In the middle of the frame the two teams traded power plays, but neither could find the net. Albany broke through first as Dwight Helminen scored his 15th goal of the season at 13:38. Joe Jensen ducked a big check attempt at the blue line to poke it forward down the right wing for Jerome Samson, who fired a low slap shot off the pads of goaltender Jeff Frazee and the rebound came into the path of Helminen for a quick snap shot into the back of the net. The point for Jensen extended his current assist streak to five straight games, while Samson scored in his fourth consecutive game.

If the judges gave the first period to the River Rats, they would have awarded the second period to the Devils. Lowell came out with more energy and quickly tied the game on a goal mouth scramble as Vladimir Zharkov eventually poked the loose puck up over goaltender Justin Peters at 2:13. The Devils received their third power play of the game when Yannick Tifu was whistled for hooking at 5:41 and just six seconds later the puck went into Albany's net on a shot from Nicklas Bergfors just off the ensuing face off.

Nicholas Blanchard was the hero of the third period for Albany as he tied the game with an unassisted goal at 8:00. On a face off in the right circle of the offensive zone, the puck was knocked to the inside hash mark right at Blanchard, who quickly unleashed a shot that beat Frazee for his seventh goal of the year.

After a scoreless, but wide-open overtime session that featured numerous scoring chances for both clubs the game headed to a shootout. The Devils chose to shoot second in each round and defenseman Tyler Eckford gave the home team a 1-0 lead on their first attempt. Rats defenseman Bryan Rodney leveled the score at 1-1 in the third round, but captain Pascal Rheaume regained Lowell's lead with a goal on his third round shot. After Dwight Helminen's shot was denied in the fourth round, Rod Pelley clinched the victory with Devils' third shootout goal.

Lowell goaltender Jeff Frazee made 40 saves on 42 shots through regulation and overtime and then stopped three-of-four shootout attempts as he helped the Devils improve to 26-21-1-5. River Rats starter Justin Peters blocked 30-of-32 shots in the game, but just one-of-four in the shootout as the River Rats record dropped to 24-25-3-3. Albany out-shot Lowell 42-33 and went 0-for-3 on the power play, the Devils were 1-for-4 with the man-advantage.

The River Rats will return home on Friday, February 20th as they host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:00 pm at the Times Union Center. Sunday, February 22nd Albany has a 5:00 pm home game with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

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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