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Jensen's Overtime Goal Lifts Albany To 2-1 Victory

February 23, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


ALBANY, NY - Joe Jensen scored 56 seconds into overtime to lift the Albany River Rats to a dramatic 2-1 overtime win over the Lowell Devils Saturday night at the Times Union Center.

Looking for the four-game sweep of the season series the River Rats could have gone ahead early in the game when they had a little over one minute of a five-on-three power play, but Devils goaltender David Caruso made several strong saves to keep Albany at bay. Instead it was Lowell who score first as captain Stephen Gionta poked in a rebound in traffic at 14:39, assisted by Rosario Ruggeri and Sean Zimmerman. The River Rats had another power play just before the intermission, but the Devils held strong to keep the lead after one.

Albany battled back in the second period as they turned up the intensity on the Lowell net. Rookie forward Jerome Samson finally found a seam in the swarming Devils defense as he found defenseman Mark Flood pinching in from the blue line for a beautiful back door goal at 15:19. Flood's goal, his ninth of the season, tied the game at 1-1 and was assisted by Samson and Jamie Johnson.

The River Rats pressure continued as they out-shot the Devils 30-16 over the final two periods and 16-7 in the third, but the goaltenders, Caruso for Lowell and Albany's Justin Peters, kept every effort out of the nets, sending the game into overtime.

Lowell was fresh off an overtime win Friday night in Worcester, but this time it was the River Rats who triumphed in the extra session. In the blink of an eye Jamie Johnson won a face off in the Devils zone over to left wing Joe Jensen, who flashed behind a Lowell defenseman and snapped a quick shot through the legs of Caruso just 56 seconds into overtime, sending the 4,881 River Rats fans in attendance into a frenzy. Jensen was mobbed by his teammates in celebration of Albany's second straight win.

Justin Peters stopped 24-of-25 shots in goal to record his fourth win of the season and help the River Rats improve to 30-24-1-3 on the year. David Caruso was excellent in goal for Lowell, making 37 saves on 39 shots, but took the loss as the Devils fell to 16-29-7-4. Albany finished the night 0-for-5 on the power play, while Lowell was 0-for-3.

Sunday the River Rats will travel to Bridgeport for a 4:00 pm matinee with the Sound Tigers at the Arena at Harbor Yard. Albany's next home game is scheduled for Wednesday, February 27th against the Binghamton Senators at 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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