Albany, NY – The River Rats fell 4-2 to the Norfolk Admirals Wednesday at Pepsi Arena. Norfolk captain Ajay Baines iced the victory with his empty netter with 44 seconds remaining in the final frame. River Rats alternate captain Craig Darby had two assists on the night, giving him his tenth multi-point game of the season.

Center Eric Johannsen brought Albany within one at the 6:51 mark in the third period and the River Rats pulled netminder Ari Ahonen late in the third frame in favor of the extra skater to try and tie the score and send the game into the overtime period. Despite the River Rats’ man advantage, Norfolk’s Baines managed to flip the puck just over the reach of River Rats captain Mike Matteuci to seal the game with the empty netter.

After being held scoreless in the opening period, the Admirals scored three unanswered goals in the middle stanza to take a 3-1 lead heading into the third period. Norfolk tied the game 1-1 with Quintin Laing’s wrist shot goal at 5:04, and the Admirals then took the 2-1 lead at 8:51 with winger Shawn Thornton’s backhanded snapshot past Ahonen. The Admirals extended their lead 3-1 with Baines third goal of the season at the 16:08 mark in the middle period.

The River Rats opened the scoring at 18:16 of the first period when Ilkka Pikkarainen took a loose tally from Darby in front of the crease and snapped it over the shoulder of Norfolk netminder Michael Leighton. Darby now has 29 helpers on the season and Pikkarainen’s score was just his fourth of the season.

RATS NOTES: Former River Rats head coach, Robbie Ftorek, worked behind the Albany bench for the first time since leaving the club after the 1996-1997 campaign. Ftorek holds a 138-71-42 record with Albany and a 292-196-68 mark over his AHL coaching career.