A one-point lead for the final playoff spot in the AHL’s East Division with one week left isn’t much.
But the way the Albany River Rats gained their one-point lead on Bridgeport may mean everything.
Keith Aucoin, Jakub Petruzalek and Brett Carson scored shootout goals to help the River Rats defeat the Sound Tigers 3-2 Saturday night at the TU Center and break a fourth-place tie with Bridgeport.
More importantly for Albany, the win gave the Rats a 5-3 season series advantage over Bridgeport, which gives them the tiebreaker should the Sound Tigers rally in the final week of the regular season.
I guess it’s appropriate that it went into a shootout, said Albany coach Tom Rowe. `We’ve been battling back and forth all year.`
Just the fact that the Rats are in a battle for a playoff berth is welcome news for a franchise that hasn’t been to the AHL playoffs the last seven years.
`This is as good for the organization as it is for the team,` said Rowe. `We want to get people back in the building, and this is a good way to do it.`
It looked for a little while that Bridgeport would gain the upper hand in the battle when Masi Marjamaki scored 6:19 into the first period. The Sound Tigers maintained their one-goal lead until the early stages in the second period when Shane Willis and Cody McLeod tallied to put Albany ahead 2-1.
The Rats had a golden opportunity to take a two-goal lead later in the second period. A five-minute major to Marjamaki and a two-minute tripping infraction against goaltender Billy Thompson gave Albany nearly seven minutes of power play time including 39 seconds of a five-on-three advantage. But the Rats couldn’t convert.
`We can’t let five-on-threes go like that,` said Aucoin. `That’s something we’ll work on in practice.`
Bridgeport drew even 17 seconds before the end of the second period. Blake Comeau circled around Albany’s defensive zone and took a shot from near the blue line that Trevor Smith deflected past Tyler Weiman.
`We don’t want to give up goals in the last minute of a period because it might give them momentum, but that’s what happened,` said Weiman.
Weiman and the rest of Albany’s defense stifled Bridgeport’s momentum in the third period and overtime. The Rats limited the Sound Tigers to 11 shots over the final 25 minutes, all of which Weiman handled.
`They did a good job of keeping (Bridgeport’s forwards) to the outside,` Weiman said of his defenders. `When I made a save and couldn’t contain the rebound, they did a good job of clearing it.`
`Weiman was unbelievable,` said Rowe. `He’s a money guy, and I told the guys that he would step up ` not that (backup) Justin Peters can’t do it, but he’s a young guys and this is a tough time to put a young guy in.`
Aucoin and Petruzalek helped Weiman out in the shootout by scoring on their attempts.
`A lot of times, I shoot (at the goaltender’s) glove,` said Aucoin of his shootout strategy. `But what I saw this time was he (Thompson) was really out there, so I decided to go five hole (between the goaltender’s legs).`
Gregg Johnson converted on his third round attempt to pull Bridgeport within a goal before Carson sealed Albany’s victory by making his shot.
`We watched him in practice, and I told my assistant that if we go into a shootout, he goes in,` Rowe said of Carson.
Albany’s playoff chances took a hit Sunday with a 5-1 loss at Hartford, but the Rats still hold an advantage over Bridgeport other than the one point separating the two teams ` a better schedule. While Bridgeport travels to Wilkes Barre-Scranton and Hartford ` two of the better teams in the AHL’s Eastern Conference ` Albany hosts last-place Binghamton Wednesday and Friday.
The Rats finish the season Saturday against third-place Norfolk, while the Sound Tigers get Philadelphia and Norfolk this weekend. That could lead to some scoreboard watching in Albany and Bridgeport, but the Rats said they will do their best to ignore what’s happening in Connecticut.
`The last couple of weeks, we’ve done pretty good with not looking at the scoreboard until after we finish playing,` said Aucoin.
For Albany’s long-suffering hockey fans, though, they will be watching the out-of-town scoreboard closely. “
