Krisjanis Redlihs scored 32 seconds into overtime to lead the Albany River Rats to a 4-3 win over the Syracuse Crunch in American Hockey League action Friday night.
The visiting River Rats came out strong in the first and played a very effective opening twenty minutes. They out worked and out shot the Crunch and that translated to a lead on the scoreboard.
Aleksander Suglobov’s 12th of the season opened the scoring for Albany at the 13:31 mark of period number one. Suglobov fired a quick wrist shot from atop the right face-off circle that beat Syracuse netminder Andrew Penner to give Albany the early advantage.
In the second the Crunch offense got things rolling with two goals in a span of 90 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. Joe Motzko used a nice combination of speed and grit to put the Crunch on the board at the 8:13 mark of the period.
Motzko beat Albany defender Alex brooks to the outside and sliced to the front of the River Rat net. Albany netminder Frank Doyle denied Motzko’s first bid, but was unable to keep out his rebound attempt for Motzko’s 7th of the season and a 1-1 game.
A minute and a half later Motzko was at it again, this time setting up line mate Greg Mauldin for the score. Mauldin did an excellent job of corralling Motzko’s saucer pass atop the crease, spun and flipped a shot off the post and behind Doyle for his 6th of the year and a 2-1 Crunch advantage.
Later in the period Albany evened things up courtesy of some hard work along the end boards from right wing Aaron Voros. The former Alaska-Fairbanks standout out-muscled Syracuse blueliner Marc Methot and sent a pass out front that rookie David Clarkson deposited into the open side to make it 2-2 heading into the third period.
Syracuse recaptured the lead just prior to the eight minute mark of the third on a power play goal from the red-hot Andy Delmore. With the Crunch holding a five-on-three advantage, Delmore did an excellent job of looking off a defender before firing a slap shot past Doyle for a 3-2 Crunch lead.
Just under four minutes later the Rats struck again. This time it was rookie Barry Tallackson, who controlled a loose puck along the half boards, slid into the high slot and slipped one past Penner for his 5th of the season and a 3-3 game.
That score remained after sixty minutes and the two clubs headed into what would turn out to be a very short extra session. On only the second rush of overtime Krisjanis Redlihs unleashed a shot that Penner stopped, but the rebound caromed off a mass of bodies crashing the net and into the back of the net for the game-winner just 32 seconds into overtime.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:Friday, December 23, 2005
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Albany River Rats
Attendance:4,455
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Albany, Suglobov 12 (Pihlman), 13:31. Penalties-Tollefsen, Syr (tripping), :56; Suglobov, Alb (roughing), 5:10; Goertzen, Syr (double minor, roughing), 5:10; Verot, Syr (hooking), 18:10.
Second Period-Scoring-2. Syracuse, Motzko 7 (Methot), 8:13, (pp). 3. Syracuse, Mauldin 6 (Motzko, Tollefsen), 9:43. 4. Albany, Clarkson 6 (Voros), 18:03. Penalties-Pihlman, Alb (interference), 1:30; Ference, Alb (roughing), 1:59; Suglobov, Alb (slashing), 6:14; Simon, Syr (hooking), 8:35; Nittel, Alb (tripping), 8:53; Methot, Syr (elbow), 12:35; Nittle, Alb (cross-checking), 14:34.
Third Period-Scoring-5. Syracuse, Delmore 5 (Nowak, Motzko), 7:56, (pp). 6. Albany, Tallackson 5 (Allen), 11:39. Penalties-Clarkson, Alb (fighting), :02; Sugden, Syr (fighting), :02; Khomutov, Alb (holding), 2:12; Miller, Alb (hooking), 6:58; Ference, Alb (unsportsmanlike), 7:30; MacMillan, Syr (hooking), 14:30.
Overtime-Scoring-7. Albany, Redlihs 2 (Suglobov), :32. Penalties-No Penalties.
Shots on Goal-Albany, 15-6-14-1--36; Syracuse, 8-23-17-0--48.
Power Play Opportunities-Albany, 0-6; Syracuse, 2-8.
Goalies-Albany, Doyle (7-12-2), 48 shots-45 saves; Syracuse, Penner (7-6-1), 36 shots-32 saves.
Referee-Chris Brown (86); Linesmen-Derek Sylvester (76), B.J. Ringrose (10).
Three Stars:
1. Frank Doyle: Doyle wasn’t spectacular, but he did record 45 saves and pick up the win.
2. Joe Motzko: After having his nine-game point streak snapped on Thursday, Motzko starts another with a goal and two helpers.
3. Krisjanis Redlihs: Notched the game-winner in overtime.
I Hear Voices:
“It stinks right before Christmas to lose by a goal like that. The chances were there. It has been a long stretch and I think we all need to regenerate, come back after Christmas and start off another four games in five nights stretch.” ---Andy Delmore on the loss to Albany.
“I didn’t even know what I was thinking to tell you the truth. I was going to pass it over and sure enough the guy kind of bit on it and I found myself in the high slot. I just turned and fired and lucky enough there was a pretty decent screen.” ---Delmore on his third period goal.
“I feel good right now that I am on a little roll and getting things going, but I just wish sometimes, on a personal level, that I buckle down on defense a little better. I think I am doing a decent job, but there is so much room to improve.” ---Delmore on his play of late.
“Hopefully this continues into the New Year. I am one of those guys who don’t want the break to start up because I am starting to go on a little bit of a roll. ---Greg Mauldin on scoring in two straight and his game turning in the right direction.
“I don’t know why both defensemen decided to go to Motzko. He is a very good player, but I thought I deserved a little bit more respect. ---A smiling Mauldin on his goal in the second period.
“I heard someone say it may have went off Ole’s pants, then in. The guy just shot it and I made the save then bang, bang and it was too late to react. You hate to lose a game like that.” ---Andrew Penner on the game-winner in overtime.
“The guy has been a warrior for us. The number of games that he has played in a short time with the travel and still put up the points that he has is phenomenal. He has been amazing, probably more than what we thought he would be. ---Head Coach Gary Agnew on Delmore.
Lineups:
Rats:Goal:Frank Doyle, Ari Ahonen, Chris Terreri. Defense: Bobby Allen, Matt DeMarchi, Brad Ferrence, Alex Brooks, David Hale, Teemu Kesa, Krisjanis Redlihs, Bryan Miller, Ben Carpentier.Forwards:Adrian Foster, Aleksander Suglobov, Peter Vrana, Ilkka Pikkarainen, Ivan Khomutov, Ahren Nittel, Nicklas Bergfors, Aaron Voros, Ryan Murphy, Jason Ryznar, David Clarkson, Barry Tallackson, Mike Sgroi.
Crunch:Goal:Mike Ayers, Andrew Penner, Martin Prusek Defense: Marc Methot, Jeff MacMillan, Jamie Pushor, Andy Canzanello, Andy Delmore, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. Forwards:Steve Goertzen, Ben Simon, Tyler Kolarik, Darcy Verot, Andrew Murray, Peter Sarno, Brandon Sugden, Joakim Lindstrom, Greg Mauldin, Brett Nowak, Tim Konsorada, Jeff Szwez, Joe Motzko.
Pre-Game Skate:
Scratched for the Crunch was goaltender Martin Prusek (groin), center Peter Sarno (wrist) and left wing Joakim Lindstrom (shoulder). The River Rats didn’t dress goaltender Ari Ahonen, defenseman Ben Carpentier, centers Nicklas Bergfors and Adrian Foster along with left wings Ryan Murphy and Mike Sgroi.
Crunch One-Timers:
After the game the Crunch announced that Columbus has sent Mark Hartigan back to Syracuse. Hartigan saw 12:44 of ice time on Friday with the Jackets and finished the game with three shots………… The Columbus curse continued on Friday with Aaron Johnson suffering a sprained knee in the Jackets game versus Nashville. He is expected to be out a minimum of four weeks. That comes on the heels of David Vyborny’s rib injury on Tuesday and Luke Richardson’s broken jaw on Wednesday……………With his third period goal Andy Delmore extended his point streak to eight games. He has recorded two goals and 13 assists over that span.………Ole-Kristian Tollefsen returned to the Crunch lineup and that meant Brandon Sugden returned to forward. The Sugden experiment, however, did prove successful and his play on the blueline will give the Crunch coaching staff options in the future………Speaking of Tollefsen, he continues to lay the body with the best of them. Friday’s victim was Ivan Khomutov. The Mighty Thor laid him out just prior to the thirteen minute mark in the third period with a gorgeous check………Left wing Lucas Lawson, claimed off waivers by Hamilton earlier in the week, appeared in his first game with the Bulldogs on Friday and was held scoreless.
On Deck:
The Crunch is off until Tuesday when they travel north of the border to battle division rival, the Hamilton Bulldogs. On Friday the Bulldogs lost 3-2 to Rochester as the Amerks tallied twice in the third for the win. The game is slated to start at 7:30 P.M and can be heard locally on 620 WHEN and nationwide via the internet on www.syracusecrunch.com. It also can be streamed live on the internet courtesy of the B2 Network.