Rats Skate By Phantoms 3-1

Defenseman Jay Harrison broke a 1-1 third period tie at 1:03 of the final frame and Jerome Samson gave the River Rats a two-goal cushion and a 3-0 lead in the Time Warner Cable Cup series.

Harrison collected a pass from Samson at the left point and sent a slap shot past Adirondack goalie Johan Backlund for his first goal as a River Rat and the eventual game-winner. Samson gave his club a two-goal lead at 5:36 on a strong individual play, that saw the winger dig the puck out of the corner and fight-off a defenseman en route to the front of the net. Albany’s points leader fired a pair of point-blank attempts at the Backlund and connected on the second.

The River Rats trailed 1-0 after the first period, but Bryan Rodney put his club on the board at 17:21 to knot the game. The assistant captain gained the blue line on the right wing, pivoted at the outer hash marks and beat Backlund on the short side for his first of the season.

Albany did not allow a Phantoms shot through thirteen minutes of action and out-shot the visitors 14-6 in the opening frame, but Adirondack’s sixth and final shot was good for the game’s first goal. Jonathan Matsumoto went five-hole at 19:29 for his team-best sixth goal of the year; Patrick Maroon and Joonas Lehtivuori assisted on the tally.

River Rats goaltender Justin Peters stopped 28-of-29 shots faced and earned the win as Albany improved to 7-6-0-1 this season. Adirondack goalie Johan Backlund allowed three goals on 31 shots and took the loss, as the Phantoms fell to 6-5-1-0 this year. The River Rats out-shot Adirondack 31-29 and went 0-for-5 on the power play; the Phantoms were 1-for-5 on the man-advantage.