Rochester Rolls Over Albany 4-0

Published on December 7, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


ROCHESTER, NY - In his first AHL game of the season, goaltender Mike Brodeur made 28 saves for his first career AHL shutout as the Rochester Americans beat the Albany River Rats 4-0 Sunday night at Blue Cross Arena.

Coming off their first regulation loss in their last eight games, the River Rats were looking to return to winning ways against the struggling Americans. Rochester gave Albany an early chance to take the lead when Tanner Glass took a slashing penalty just eight seconds into the game. But the River Rats could not capitalize on the opportunity, failing to register a shot on goal against the AHL last place penalty kill. After the Amerks returned to even strength, the Rats took back-to-back penalties, giving Rochester a five-on-three power play. Albany's penalty killers and goaltender Daniel Manzato defended the net valiantly, but with four seconds left on the two-man advantage Stefan Meyer jammed in a loose rebound for a power play goal at 4:30. The River Rats power play woes continued later in the period when Janis Sprukts took a pass from Tanner Glass on a counter attack and Sprukts snapped a twisted wrist shot over the glove of Manzato for a shorthanded goal at 16:18 and a 2-0 Rochester lead.

The Americans came into the game with the 28th ranked power play operating at just an 11.5% success rate (15-for-131), but that statistic did not seem to deter Rochester. Having already scored a five-on-three goal, the Amerks cashed in with their second power play goal of the game on a very unlucky Albany bounce. Janis Sprukts was given credit for his second goal of the game at 10:14 when his cross-ice pass from the right corner redirected off the back of the skate of rookie defenseman Brad Zanon and in passed a handcuffed Manzato; it was a particularly cruel deflection for Zanon who was making his AHL debut for the River Rats.

In the third period Tanner Glass, who also had a game-high 11 penalty minutes, drove hard to the net and buried his own rebound to extend the Americans lead to 4-0 at 3:35. The rest of the game was dominated by goaltender Mike Brodeur, who put on a clinic in his Rochester debut. Brodeur, who was with the Augusta Lynx of the ECHL when the team ceased operations this past Monday, was outstanding in goal and the River Rats could not find a solution as the Amerks goalie stopped all 13 shots he faced in the third period to preserve the 4-0 win.

Mike Brodeur made 28 saves to record his first career AHL shutout as he helped Rochester improve to 4-18-0-2 on the season. River Rats goaltender Daniel Manzato stopped 25-of-29 shots in the loss as Albany lost their second straight game and fell to 8-11-3-2. The Amerks finished the game 2-for-7 on the power play and out-shot Albany 29-28; the River Rats were 0-for-6 with the man-advantage.

Albany will complete a three-game road stretch on Friday, December 12th as they head to New Hampshire for a 7:30 pm face off against the Manchester Monarchs at Verizon Wireless Arena. The River Rats next home game is set for Saturday, December 13th as they host the Binghamton Senators for a 7:00 pm face off at the Times Union Center.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 7, 2008


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