River Rats Overpower Syracuse 6-3

November 29, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


ALBANY, NY - Michael Ryan scored twice and Dwight Helminen notched the game-winning goal and two assists as the Albany River Rats defeated the Syracuse Crunch 6-3 Saturday night at the Times Union Center.

Syracuse opened the scoring at 8:12 in the first period when Andrey Plekhanov's shot from the blue line was tipped by when Alexandre Picard passed the glove of Albany goaltender Daniel Manzato. Albany responded on the power play at 12:30 as Michael Ryan slammed the puck home at the side of the net, set up by a great cross-ice pass from rookie Stefan Chaput. It was Déjà vu for Ryan at 18:18 when he scored another power play goal from almost the same spot on the ice, this time banging in a rebound from a Brett Carson slap shot to give the River Rats a 2-1 lead.

Joe Jensen gave Albany a two goal cushion at 6:54 in the second period, floating a deflected shot up over the glove of Crunch net-minder Dan LaCosta; Helminen recorded his second assist of the night on Jensen's "change-up" goal. Syracuse cut the lead to 3-2 when Craig MacDonald caught the Rats chasing the puck in the defensive and sent a pass across the crease to an unmarked Nikita Filatov for an easy tap-in goal at 14:31. Albany looked to be regaining momentum, creating several glorious scoring opportunities from close range, only to be counter-attacked by the Crunch. Clay Wilson finished off another goal-mouth scramble by poking a loose puck into the net to even the score with 59 seconds remaining in the period.

The River Rats thought they regained the lead just forty seconds into the third period when Nicolas Blanchard poked a puck under LaCosta, but due to a quick whistle from the referee, Blanchard's goal was disallowed. Un-phased, Albany took the lead at 7:27 on a brilliant individual effort from Helminen; the center stripped the puck away from Plekhanov at the blue line, raced in on a breakaway and buried his wrist shot over LaCosta's glove and into the top corner of the net for his fourth goal of the season and the eventual game-winner. Jakub Petruzalek made it 5-3 River Rats at 13:35 when he chased down a long pass behind the Crunch goal line and, unmarked, skated out in front to tuck his shot by LaCosta's out-stretched leg. Assistant captain Mike Angelidis iced the game at 18:54 with an empty net goal from the red-line to finish off Syracuse 6-3.

River Rats goalie Daniel Manzato stopped 32-of-35 shots to record his third win of the year as Albany improved to 6-9-3-2 on the season. Syracuse's Dan LaCosta allowed five goals on 23 shots and took the loss as the Crunch fell to 14-7-0-1. Syracuse out-shot the River Rats 35-24 and went 0-for-3 on the power play; Albany was 2-for-3 with the man advantage.

Albany will ring in the month of December with two-straight home games against the Norfolk Admirals on Wednesday, December 3rd and Friday, December 5th; both games are scheduled for 7:00 pm face offs 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.



American Hockey League Stories from November 29, 2008


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