Phantoms Earn Come-From-Behind Overtime Win

January 6, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release

Albany, NY- Phantoms forward Stefan Legein netted the game-winner at 4:05 of overtime as the Adirondack Phantoms beat the Albany River Rats 4-3 Wednesday night at the Times Union Center.

Albany led 3-2 late in the contest, but David Laliberte slipped a close range rebound under River Rats goalie Justin Peters with 1:07 remaining to knot the game. The tally was initially waved-off, as the referee ruled that the whistle had already sounded, but the official allowed the tying goal after a lengthy meeting with his two linesmen.

Albany dominated the ensuing sudden-death session and out-shot the Phantoms 5-1, but Adirondack's loan shot spelled the River Rats second straight loss as Legein's rap-around effort beat goaltender Justin Peters. Albany's lead in the 12-game Time Warner Cup series stands at 5-2.

The River Rats connected on a pair of first period power play markers from Chris Terry and Nick Dodge to take an early two-goal lead, but Adirondack cut its deficit to one in the second period on Marc-Andre Bordon's first professional goal at 14:27 on the power play. Phantoms leading scorer Jon Matsumoto tied the game at 2-2 with a short-side blast just 52 seconds into the third period, but Albany quickly reclaimed it's one goal lead on Mike Angelidis' sixth of the year, set up nicely by Marc Covosie in the Albany, New York, native's River Rats season debut.

Terry netted the game's first goal at 10:35 of the opening frame on a 5-on-3 River Rats advantage, burying a rebound for his ninth of the season. Albany doubled up at 13:04 on a 5-on-4 power play, when Jerome Samson's shot rebounded to Terry, who slid a behind-the-back pass to Nick Dodge for an open put-away.

Adirondack goaltender Johan Backlund turned-aside 25-of-28 shots for the win as the Phantoms improved to 17-16-2-0 this season. Peters stopped 30-of-34 shots faced in the game and took he loss as the River Rats fell to 19-16-1-2 this year. Adirondack out-shot Albany 34-28 in the game and went 1-for-6 on the power play, while the River Rats went 2-for-5 on the man-advantage.

The River Rats welcome a pair of Atlantic Division clubs to the Times Union Center this weekend, beginning on Friday with a 7:00 p.m. faceoff against the division-leading Manchester Monarchs. Albany then hosts the Hartford WolfPack on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. River Rats 2009-10 pro-rated season and flexible ticket packages are now on sale at the River Rats executive offices at the Times Union Center, by calling (518) 487-2244 (518) 487-2244 or by logging onto www.albanyriverrats.com