Albany Out-Shoots Crunch 41-22 In Home Loss

ALBANY, NY - Rookie center Stefan Chaput recorded his second straight two-point game, but backup goaltender Sebastian Dahm came on in relief to stop all 27 shots that he faced as the Syracuse Crunch downed the Albany River Rats 5-3 Wednesday night at the Times Union Center.

Syracuse had the upper hand early on and they scored the game’s first goal at 8:50 of the opening period when Nikita Filatov’s slap shot from the blue line hit defenseman Clay Wilson’s leg and deflected into the net. The Crunch doubled their lead at 13:08 on defenseman Kris Russell a power play goal, a one-timer from the middle of the high slot. But Albany responded with a power play goal from rookie Stefan Chaput at 15:15, his second goal in as many games. Chaput drove the net hard and was in prime position to slam home the puck after Jerome Samson’s shot rebounded off the leg pad of Syracuse goalie Dan LaCosta. The first period would end with the Crunch lead 2-1, but Albany had clearly grabbed the momentum away from the visitors.

The River Rats came out firing on all cylinders in the second period and evened the score at 3:16 when Joe Jensen cleverly swatted a bouncing puck behind passed LaCosta for his first goal of the season, assisted by Samson and Chaput. Just 74 seconds later Mike Angelidis gave the Rats their first lead of the game, walking the puck out from behind the net and beating the Crunch goaltender low to the far side. After conceding the lead, LaCosta was pulled by Syracuse head coach Ross Yates and replaced by rookie backup Sebastien Dahm. Almost immediately Albany thought they took a 4-2 lead, but Nicolas Blanchard’s goal was disallowed because the referee had lost sight of the puck and blown his whistle before it crossed the goal line. Minutes later the Crunch tied the game on a fluky goal when Jonathan Sigalet’s shot from the point ricocheted off River Rats defenseman Noah Babin’s skate and into the net at 14:56. The equalizing goal seemed to quell Albany’s momentum, furthered three minutes later when Syracuse killed off a two-minute five-on-three penalty without allowing the River Rats a single high-quality scoring chance. The hosts still dominated the period, out-shooting Syracuse 23-6.

Early in the third period Albany’s offensive put on a surge to try to level the score, but Syracuse’s rookie backup kept the Rats off the board. Craig MacDonald reclaimed the Crunch lead 4-3, poking in his own rebound at 5:51. In spite of a number of opportunities, the Rats pull back the deficit as Dahm shut them out for the remainder of the game. Rookie Maksim Mayorov iced the game for the Crunch at 18:10 when he slotted home a perfect pass from Filatov on a 2-on-1 rush to finish off the Rats 5-3.

Sebastian Dahm stopped all 27 shots that he faced in 35:30 of relief to lead Syracuse to the win and a 10-3-0-0 record on the season. Starter Dan LaCosta made 11 saves on 14 shots in 24:30 of ice time before being pulled early in the second period. Albany goaltender Justin Peters stopped 17-of-22 shots and took the loss, as the River Rats fell to 2-7-2-1. Albany out-shot the Crunch 41-22 and went 1-for-7 on the power play; Syracuse went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

Albany will hit the road for a pair of games in New England this weekend, beginning on Friday, November 14th at 7:00 pm against the Portland Pirates at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, Maine. The River Rats next home game comes on Friday, November 21st as they again host the Syracuse Crunch 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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