Old Rivalry Renewed In Devils' Loss To Manchester
Published on February 5, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany Devils News Release
ALBANY, N.Y. - A once divisional rivalry was resurrected Saturday night as the Albany Devils and the Manchester Monarchs battled on at Times Union Center in front of 4,631 fans. The Monarchs claimed a 4-0 victory in the 32nd meeting between these two organizations in the last five seasons.
These clubs met on a regular basis during the past four years when the Devils were located in the Atlantic Division and in Lowell, Mass. Louis Robitaille and Richard Clune set the tone early, dropping the gloves within the first three seconds of the game.
"There is a rivalry," Robitaille said. "We've had a few losses in a row and we have to prove that we are in the game and get the crowd into it. That's my role to pick up the team and the crowd and show that we are here to play tonight."
Offensively, Oscar Moller netted a pair of goals and Dwight King and Bud Holloway added the others, helping Manchester improve to 31-16-1-4 on the season and remain atop the Atlantic Division. The loss moves the Devils to 18-27-0-3.
Moller registered his first goal at 10:14 of the first on a backdoor play and then scored again on a breakaway at 11:29 of the second.
King started the scoring on a tic-tac-toe play involving Patrick Mullen and Holloway on the power play at 5:05 of the first.
Holloway closed the scoring with a power-play goal at 10:36 of the third.
The Devils had their chances. In the first, they had a full two-man advantage followed by a full 5-on-4 power play. Then in the second, Albany held a 12-8 shot advantage and controlled the play until Moller's breakaway tally.
"We ran into another good goaltender tonight and we have to find a way to beat these guys," said head coach Rick Kowalsky. "I think we can be more aggressive taking pucks to the net. We did a much better job in the second getting pucks through."
Manchester goaltender Martin Jones stood tall in goal, making all 26 stops for his 18th victory of the season.
For Albany, Mike McKenna had 18 saves on 22 shots.
After a night off, the Devils are back at it on Monday, Feb. 7 with a 7 p.m. contest against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.
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