AHL Norfolk Admirals

Sold out Scope Sees Scintillating Regular Season Finale

Published on April 7, 2012 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Norfolk Admirals News Release


NORFOLK, Va. - With a trio of goals in the final three minutes of regulation on Saturday night, the Norfolk Admirals (52-18-1-2) downed the Binghamton Senators (28-40-4-2), 4-1, in their regular season finale in front of a sellout crowd at Norfolk Scope Arena. With the win, the Admirals set a franchise record with 15 consecutive wins on home ice and stretched their overall winning streak to 25 games.

The Admirals will conclude the 2011-12 regular season with a three-game road trip beginning next Friday against the Albany Devils.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie, Trevor Smith, Tyler Johnson and Cory Conacher all scored for Norfolk while

Alex Killorn picked up a pair of assists in the victory. Dustin Tokarski (31-11-0) stopped 30 of 31 shots to run his personal winning streak to 12 games.

Craig Schira gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at 13:12 of the first. After Wacey Hamilton won a faceoff in the right circle of the Norfolk zone, Schira's shot from just inside the blue line deflected off a player in front of Tokarski and eluded the Norfolk netminder's glove.

The Admirals knotted the game at 1-1 in with less than two minutes to go in the second period. After winning a race to the puck, Alexandre Picard slipped a pass to Labrie on the right side of the net. From there, Labrie jammed home a shot behind Binghamton goaltender Mike McKenna at 18:27for his 14th goal of the season.

After an equally-played first 16 minutes of the third period, the Admirals took charge with three goals in the final three minutes to close out the game.

Norfolk took a 2-1 lead on Smith's 24th goal of the season. With teammate Brandon Segal fighting off a Senators' defenseman in front of the net, Smith snapped a shot from just inside the left faceoff circle. The shot found its way through traffic and over McKenna's shoulder and into the net at 17:11.

Norfolk doubled its lead just 42 seconds later. From the left faceoff circle, Killorn sent a cross-crease pass to Johnson. Before McKenna could recover, Johnson slipped his 31st of the season behind the Senators netminder to give Norfolk the 3-1 lead.

An empty-net goal by Conacher capped off the scoring as the Admirals skated away with the 4-1 victory in front of the third sellout crowd at Scope of the season.

McKenna (14-21-1) stopped 36 of 39 shots in the defeat.

Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play.

The Admirals will conclude the 2011-12 regular season with a three-game road trip beginning next Friday against the Albany Devils. All games can be heard at 102.1-FM, 1490-AM and 1021TheGame.com. You can also watch on a pay-per-view basis at AHLLive.com.

The 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs will begin the week of April 16th. Once Norfolk's Eastern Conference Quarterfinals playoff schedule and opponent has been determined, it will be posted at norfolkadmirals.com.

Individual tickets for all regular season games start at just $12. Tickets are available now at the Scope Box Office, all Ticketmaster Outlets, charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000 and online at ticketmaster.com.

Don't miss a minute of the action by purchasing your 2011-12 season tickets today. Season tickets start at just $350 while 10-Packs are available for as little as $110. Stop by the Admirals' Administrative Offices at Scope, call (757) 640-1212 weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or visit norfolkadmirals.com anytime!

Check out the Norfolk Admirals Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from April 7, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central