Peters Turns Aside 37 As Albany Makes It Three Straight
ALBANY, NY— Goaltender Justin Peters made 37 saves and Stefan Chaput notched the game-winner in the second period as the Albany River Rats defeated the Norfolk Admirals 3-1 Wednesday night at the TimesUnionCenter.
Albany rallied for a pair of second period goals from Steven Goertzen and Stefan Chaput, and Jerome Samson sealed the home team’s third straight victory with an empty-netter late in the contest, as the River Rats improved to 3-1-0-0 on the season.
The home team was caught flat-footed in the opening period, as the Admirals out-shot Albany 18-6 through 20 minutes. Norfolk points leader Brandon Bochenski added to his total at 12:42 with a short-side tally, but River Rats goaltender Justin Peters stopped every shot that he saw from that point on.
Goertzen’s first of the season knotted the game at one, 7:18 into the frame when an off-target Bryan Rodney slap shot caromed off of the end-boards and onto the forwards stick for a quick put-away. Albany converted on another miss-cue five minutes later, as a Jonathan Paiment rebound attempt slid wide to a waiting Chaput for an easy marker; Zach Boychuk also assisted on the go-ahead goal.
The Admirals opened the third period with on the power play, but Albany’s penalty kill maintained it’s perfect record on the year and kept Norfolk off the board. Samson made it 3-1 from outside the blue-line with 29 seconds to play.
River Rats goalie Justin Peters stopped 37-of-38 shots faced to earn the win. Admirals goalie Jaroslav Janus, in his AHL debut, turned aside 27-of-29 shots and took the loss as Norfolk fell to 1-3-0-0 on the year. The Admirals out-shot Albany 38-30 in the game and went 0-for-3 on the power play; the River Rats went 0-for-1 with the man advantage.
Albany hits the road this weekend for a faceoff with the Adirondack Phantoms in the first Time Warner Cable Cup Series game of the year on Saturday, October 14th at 7:00 p.m. The River Rats next home game is Friday, October 3rd at 7:00 p.m. against the Rochester Americans. River Rats 2009-10 season and flex ticket packages are now on sale at the River Rats executive offices at the TimesUnionCenter, by calling (518) 487-2244 or by logging onto www.albanyriverrats.com.
