Devils Tie Record; Down Sound Tigers

Published on November 30, 2013 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany Devils News Release


ALBANY, NY - Fourteen goals and a shattered pane of glass later, the Albany Devils claimed an 8-6 victory against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Saturday at Times Union Center. Six Devils registered multi-point games; Stefan Matteau, Mike Sislo and Tim Sestito led all scorers. Matteau and Sislo both registered two goals and an assist and Sestito recorded a goal and two helpers.

Reece Scarlett posted a goal and an assist. Reid Boucher and Chris McKelvie also scored, while Dan Kelly and Kelly Zajac both registered a pair of helpers.

The Devils eight goals tied a franchise record, which was also accomplished against Providence (8-1) on Dec. 27, 2008.

"I just told the guys, we don't need any more of those games for a long time," said Head Coach Rick Kowalsky. "We were on the right side of it.

"I did like that we scored some goals and responded even though they kept coming back. For whatever reason, this weekend we just were not as tight as we've been in our defensive zone, so we're going to have to correct that. But again, find a way to score goals and get three or four points."

Raman Hrabarenka's body check, which demolished a pane of glass near the Sound Tigers bench, sent both teams to an early second intermission. When play resumed, Bridgeport's Matt Donovan tied the game, 5-5, at 16:30 of the middle period.

Matteau scored his first goal of the night -- a power-play tally -- at 19:41 and netted the eventual game-winner, unassisted, at 5:40.

"I just saw the puck popped out, the defense just kind of mishandled it and it blew right by them," Matteau said of his second goal and fourth of the season. "It froze the goalie and I went around him. When you work hard, good things happen."

Albany trailed 3-1 early in first until Boucher netted his team-leading 10th goal of the season at 15:20 of the first period. Before the break, Sestito scored at 16:06 and Scarlett netted his second in as many games at 19:57.

After Bridgeport's Alan Quine scored at 4:24 of the middle frame, Sislo netted his second of the game at 9:15. The Sound Tigers followed with a pair, which was countered by Matteau's back-to-back goals.

McKelvie made the score 8-5 at 12:26 and Bridgeport's Nick Larson capped the scoring at 12:32.

Albany, which owned a 32-15 shot advantage, went 3-6 on the power play and 2-3 on the penalty kill.

"We try not to repeat bad things and we try to repeat what gets us two points," Matteau said. "Defensively we gave up a lot of goals, but offensively it was one of our better games with eight goals."

Albany concludes its stretch of six straight divisional games Wednesday when they welcome the Springfield Falcons to Times Union Center for a 7 pm contest. Fans can stream the game online at ahllive.com or listen on 104.5 "The Team" ESPN Radio.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 30, 2013


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