Salak, Rochester Defeat Rats 2-1

Published on October 23, 2009 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


ALBANY, NY - The River Rats rallied from a 2-0 deficit late in the third and thought they'd tied the game with two seconds remaining, but goaltender Alexander Salak held-on to his 32nd save of the night and his Rochester Americans beat Albany 2-1 Friday night at the Times Union Center.

Albany was trailing 2-0 until 15:08 of the third period when rookie Zach Boychuk willed the puck through Salak's frame with a short-side stuff-job to make it a 2-1 game. In the final seconds of action Salak gloved a Pat Dwyer shot and fell backwards into his own net, but the referee ruled that the whistle had blown before the puck crossed the goal-line and the American's escaped with the one-goal victory.

The River Rats were the stronger team early in the contest, but Rochester forward Chris Taylor's power play goal in the first period spelled a 1-0 deficit for Albany heading into the second. The Americans doubled their lead in a more evenly played middle frame when David Brine blasted-home a one-timer from the low slot for his fourth of the year. Albany forward Matthew Pistilli hit the post before the period was finished, but Salak turned-aside twelve other shots to remain perfect.

Albany had the upper-hand early in the first period and out-shot the Americans 7-2 through 10 minutes of play, but Salak put on a show in the Rochester goal to keep his club in a scoreless tie. His biggest stops came on a pair of Albany power plays, first denying a Jerome Samson back-door one-timer from close range, than stoning a Brandon Sutter break-away, and finally robbing Jonathan Paiement's wide-open rebound attempt with a head-first dive across the crease.

Rochester converted on their only power play of the opening frame at 12:54, when a broken River Rats stick turned the 5-on-4 advantage into, for all intents and purposes, a 5-on-3. Peters turned-aside six shots during the man-down session, but the seventh shot hit a sprawling defenseman and popped high over the netminder before arching under the cross bar. Americans goalie Alexander Salak stopped 32-of-33 shots faced to earn the win as Rochester won it's fifth straight game and improve to 6-1-1-0. Albany goaltender Justin Peters blocked 20-of-22 shots in the contest and took the loss as the River Rats fell to 4-3-0-0. Albany out-shot the Americans 33-22 in the game and went 1-for-7 on the power play; Rochester went 1-for-5 on the man advantage, scoring the first goal allowed this season by Albany's penalty kill (were 22-for-22).

Tomorrow night the Times Union Center hosts it's first Time Warner Cable Cup game of the season as Albany battles the Phantoms at 7:00 p.m. River Rats 2009-10 season and flex ticket packages are now on sale at the River Rats executive offices at the Times Union Center, by calling (518) 487-2244 or by logging onto www.albanyriverrats.com.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 23, 2009


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