Strong Defense Sparks Albany To Three-Point Week

Published on November 24, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


Albany had a rough start to their Week 7 schedule, getting shutout 5-0 in Philadelphia during an 11:00 am school-day special at Wachovia Spectrum. Eager to forget their-midweek disappointment against the Phantoms, the River Rats rebounded with arguably their best performance of the season so far, beating the Syracuse Crunch 3-1 Friday night for their first win at the Times Union Center this season. Mike Angelidis scored twice, Jerome Samson scored his team-leading fifth goal of the year, Nicolas Blanchard had two assists and goaltender Justin Peters stopped 28-of-29 shots in the win. Saturday night the two teams reconvened in Syracuse and the defense was equally stellar. Neither team could score over 65 minutes of action, so a shootout was required to settle the contest. Joe Jensen nearly put Albany in front, ringing his fourth round attempt off the left post, only to be followed by Derek MacKenzie, who scored the only shootout goal for a 1-0 Crunch win.

Overall it was a rebirth of sorts for Albany, who had conceded an average of almost four goals per game over their first 15 games this year. But the River Rats and goaltender Justin Peters tightened up their defenses against Syracuse, allowing just one goal in open play, a six on five goal in the closing minutes of Friday's game, and one shootout goal Saturday.

Week 8 Preview:

Albany seems to have taken a huge step in the right direction after a refocused squad gave the Syracuse offense fits last weekend. This week the River Rats will have their own tests to pass as they play games on three consecutive days, beginning with a Thanksgiving affair in Binghamton on Thursday, November 27th at 6:05 pm. It will also be the first opportunity for Albany to face former River Rats forward, and Cohoes, NY native, Marc Cavosie since he signed a PTO with the Senators on November 18th. Albany is back home Friday to host the Hershey Bears and Saturday against Syracuse as they looking to make up some ground in the highly contested East Division.

Monday saw some transactions in the Rats roster as alternate captain Pat Dwyer was recalled to the NHL by Carolina for the second time this year. Dwyer played seven games for the Hurricanes in his first ever NHL stint earlier this month and last weekend, along with Mike Angelids and Nicolas Blanchard, was part of Albany's most effective forward line. Carolina also reassigned Rats rookie Harrison Reed to the Florida Everblades of the ECHL. Reed, who was a healthy scratch in each of Albany's last four games, has one goal in 11 games for the River Rats this season. Injured Albany defenseman Bryan Rodney, who did not play in any of the three games last week, was back in practice with the team Monday at RPI's Houston Field House and he could possibly return to the lineup as soon as Thursday night in Binghamton.

Week 8 Schedule:

(All games are broadcast LIVE on 104.5 FM "The Team" ESPN Radio, are streamed free over the Internet at www.albanyriverrats.com and can be watched via internet pay-per-view video on www.ahllive.com)

Thursday, November 27 - 6:05 pm - Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena -Binghamton, NY

@ Binghamton Senators (9-7-2-1, 21 pts)

Tied-Third Place, East Division

The River Rats trail the B-Sens by nine points for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division, although Albany has two games in hand, not to mention there are still 63 games left in the regular season. Binghamton erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 during their first encounter on October 22nd in Albany and the Rats will be eager to spoil the Senators Thanksgiving celebrations. Binghamton is 1-3-1-0 in their last five games played, but snapped a four-game winless streak on Sunday with a 2-1 win over the Syracuse Crunch, which ended Syracuse's 18-game home winning streak.

Leading Scorer: Ilya Zubov (C) - 18 points (8 goals, 10 assists) in 14 games played.

Leading Goaltender: Brian Elliott (G) - 2.68 GAA, 0.917 save pct., 8-5-1 record in 15 GP.

Who's Hot: Josh Hennessy (C) - 4 points (3 goals, 1 assist) in last five games played. Danny Bois (RW) - 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist) in last five games played. Mattias Karlsson (D) - 2 assists in last five games played.

Friday, November 28 - 7:00 pm - Times Union Center - Albany, NY

vs. Hershey Bears (14-5-0-1, 29 pts)

Second Place, East Division

The Hershey Bears are not in first place, due to a 1-3-0-1 start to November. Since then the Bears have rattled off five wins in a row, all against the East Division, out-scoring their opponents 28-8. In that stretch they beat Philadelphia three times, trounced Binghamton 9-0 and then finished off last week with a convincing 4-1 win over first place Bridgeport. This will also be Hershey's final trip to Albany this season, with three more games with the Rats at the Giant Center coming up in a stretch between December 28th and January 14th. Hershey has score more goals as a team (88) than any other in the AHL and they are the only team in the league to average over four goals per game (4.40). The Bears also occupy four of the top ten individual scorers in the AHL.

Leading Scorer: Keith Aucoin (C) - 29 points (8 goals, 21 assists) in 20 games played.

Leading Goaltender: Simeon Varlamov (G) - 2.58 GAA, 0.892 save pct., 6-2-0 record in 8 GP.

Who's Hot: Keith Aucoin (C) - 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) and a +8 rating in last five games played. Alexander Giroux (LW) - 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists) and a +6 rating in last five games played. Graham Mink (RW) - 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) and a +9 rating in last five games played.

Saturday, November 29 - 5:00 pm - Times Union Center - Albany, NY

@ Syracuse Crunch (13-6-0-1, 27 pts)

Tied-Second Place, North Division

Syracuse have hit their first speed bump of the season. The Crunch have lost three of their last four games, with their only win coming by way of a 1-0 shootout victory over Albany last Saturday. In that span Syracuse has managed only three goals as a team, two from open play and one as a result of winning the shootout; a far cry from the 3.31 goals per game average they had over their first 16 games this season. The Crunch narrowly held on to their home winning streak against the River Rats last Saturday, only to have it broken Sunday afternoon in a 2-1 loss to Binghamton. They had won 18-straight games at the War Memorial at Oncenter dating back to March 8, 2008, which was one game shy of the AHL record held by the 1996-97 Philadelphia Phantoms.

Leading Scorers: Mike York (LW) - 17 points (3 goals, 14 assists) in 20 games played.

Leading Goaltender: Dan LaCosta (G) - 2.16 GAA, 0.928 save pct., 10-3-1 record in 15 GP.

Who's Hot: Mike York (LW) - 4 assists in last five games played. Craig MacDonald (C) - 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists) in last five games played. Derek MacKenzie (C) - 2 goals and a 1 shootout goal in last five games played.

Week 7 Game Results:

11/19/08 Albany 0 @ Philadelphia 5

11/21/08 Syracuse 1 @ Albany 3

11/22/08 Albany 0 @ Syracuse 1 - Shootout (0-1)

River Rats Player of the Week: (Week 7)

Justin Peters - G - #35 3 GP, 2.17 GAA, 0.938 Sv. %, 1 SO, 91 Saves

River Rats goaltender Justin Peters was an enormous part of Albany's three points out of a possible six in Week 7. The Blyth, Ontario native rebounded from a lackluster team performance where he was pegged with five goals Wednesday morning in Philadelphia to play nearly flawless hockey over the weekend. In a home-and-home series with Syracuse, Peters allowed just one goal in 125 minutes of action, forcing the Crunch to go to a shootout to beat Albany 1-0. Friday night he came within 66 seconds of his first shutout of the season as he made 28 saves in a 3-1 win over the Crunch. Saturday night he got the shutout, a 43-save effort for his second career AHL clean sheet. Peters finished the week with a 2.17 GAA and a 0.938 save percentage; in the two-game series with Syracuse his goals-against was 0.48 and he stopped 98.6 percent of his shots faced.

Rat Bites:

- THE SHOOTOUT SHUTOUT CURSE - The last two shutout performances by a River Rats goaltender has oddly enough led to losses for the team. Saturday night in Syracuse Justin Peters recorded a 43 save shutout, but lost 1-0 to the Crunch in a shootout. Michael Leighton accomplished a similar feat on March 14, 2008 when he stopped 29 shots against Binghamton, but lost the shootout in a 1-0 game at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

- THE FIRST OF MANY - Although the River Rats have two wins at "home", Friday's 3-1 victory over Syracuse was their first win at the Times Union Center this season; their other home result was a 5-4 win over Worcester on October 17th at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

- STREAK SNAPPED, RESULTS COMING - Friday's win over the Crunch snapped a six-game winless streak at home for the River Rats. Followed up with Saturday's 1-0 shootout loss in Syracuse made for the first two-game unbeaten run for Albany this year.

- 300 CLUB - Albany captain Tim Conboy played in his 300th career professional game Saturday night in Syracuse. The game was Conboy's 281st career AHL game played; he also has 19 NHL games on his resume, all with the Carolina Hurricanes. River Rats center Dwight Helminen will soon join the club, he has 298 career pro games to his name, and left wing Dan LaCouture needs 14 more games played to reach 700 GP in his pro career.

- DEFENSE RISING UP - After allowing three or more goals in each of their first thirteen games (a 3.77 team goals-against average), the River Rats broke the streak on November 15th in Lowell with a 3-2 shootout win over the Devils. They fell back into old ways in a 5-0 loss at Philadelphia Wednesday morning, but they allowed just one goal in each game of the home-and-home series with Syracuse. Over their last four games played Albany's team GAA is down to 2.16.

River Rats Recent Transactions

November 24 - DELETE Pat Dwyer (RW) - Recalled from loan by Carolina (NHL).

November 24 - DELETE Harrison Reed (RW) - Reassigned by Carolina (NHL) to Florida Everblades (ECHL).

Albany River Rats Team Leaders:

Games Played: Seven players tied with (17)

Goals: Jerome Samson (5)

Assists: Mark Flood (7)

Points: Mark Flood (9)

Plus/Minus: Nick Dodge (+4)

Penalty Minutes: Trevor Gillies (61)

Power Play Goals: Stefan Chaput & Jerome Samson (2)

Short Handed Goals: Pat Dwyer, Mark Flood & Dwight Helminen (1)

Game-Winning Goals: Mike Angelidis, Pat Dwyer & Michael Ryan (1)

Shots: Jerome Samson (42)

Shooting Percentage: Joe Jensen (13.3%)

Saves: Justin Peters (311)

Wins: Daniel Manzato & Justin Peters (2)

GAA: Justin Peters (2.87)

Save Percentage: Justin Peters (0.909)

####

The River Rats are back in action on Thursday, November 27th with a 6:00 pm Thanksgiving game against the Binghamton Senators at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. Albany's next home game is scheduled for Friday, November 28th as they host the Hershey Bears at 7:00 pm 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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American Hockey League Stories from November 24, 2008


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