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River Rats Cage Hershey 6-4 In Wild Affair

January 10, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


HERSHEY, PA - The Albany River Rats scored four goals in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit on their way to a 6-4 win over the Hershey Bears Saturday night at Giant Center.

Albany knew they needed a good start if they wanted to have success against the Bears, who have the AHL's best home record (15-3-0-0). The River Rats got exactly what they were looking for as Jakub Petruzalek scored his tenth goal of the season from the left face off circle, snapping a wrist shot off the inside of the left post and into the net at 5:13; assisted by Nick Dodge and Jonathan Paiement. The momentum boosted the Rats pressure as the visitors held Hershey without a shot on goal during the first ten minutes of play. Albany was very stingy defensively; out-shooting the Bears 8-3 in the opening frame, inspite of the fact that they allowed two power plays to the league's highest scoring offense.

The second period started off with more strong play from the River Rats. Pat Dwyer was quick to react on a rebound from a Jerome Samson shot and poked the loose puck under goaltender Daren Machesney and into the net for a power play goal at 3:39; Paiement got the other assist for his second helper of the game. But the rest of the period turned quickly against Albany's favor. Mathieu Perreault put the Bears on the board with a goal at 8:26, but the Rats continued to hold a 2-1 lead. At 16:12 rookie Harrison Reed was called for a four-minute double minor for high sticking and Hershey cashed in with the game-tying goal from Alexandre Giroux at 19:06, a sizzling one-timer set up by former Rats captain Keith Aucoin. Giroux's goal was his 26th of the season and gave him an AHL-leading ten-game goal scoring streak. 25 seconds later things went from bad to worse as the Bears caught the River Rats defense napping and Kyle Wilson scored a back-door goal to give the hosts a 3-2 lead at 19:31.

Hershey took a 4-2 lead at 6:05 when Giroux scored on a wrap around for his second goal of the night. It looked like Albany might lose their fifth game in a row to Hershey, but the Rats found something special and rattled off four-straight goals to mount a massive comeback. Michael Ryan got it started 11 seconds after Giroux's goal, cutting the lead to 4-3 at 6:16 as he took a pass off the ensuing face off, skated in alone and went around Machesney to slide home the puck on his backhand. Jerome Samson then tied it with his ninth of the year at 13:06, causing the announced crowd of 8,321 to go very quiet. Rookie Nick Dodge came up with the biggest goal of the night, redirecting a shot from Paiement into the far post for a power play goal at 16:42. Hershey pulled Machesney for the extra attacker, but Ryan was again on hand to score on the empty net from just over the red line at 19:00, his second goal of the night and 15th of the season, to cap off a 6-4 victory.

Albany starter Daniel Manzato made 19 saves on 23 shots to record his team-leading ninth win of the season as he helped the River Rats improve to 15-18-3-2. Hershey goaltender Daren Machesney stopped 23-of-28 shots in the losing effort as the Bears fell to 28-10-0-1. Albany out-shot Hershey 29-23 and finished the game 2-for-6 on the power play; the Bears were 1-for-5 with the man-advantage.

The River Rats will head home, but return to Hershey in four days for their next game on Wednesday, January 14th; a 7:00 pm face off against the Bears at Giant Center. The River Rats next home game takes place on Saturday, January 17th at 7:00 pm against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Times Union Center.

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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