Month: January 2013

To finish out the month of January and start off the All Star break, the Devils had two familiar opponents on the schedule this week…basically rematches from the weekend before in Springfield and Adirondack. After a dud start, the boys finished off the week on a high note, finishing with another 4 of 6 points this week. Time for the recap:

1/23 vs. Springfield: 4-2 L

Times Union
The Republican

The week began with a midweek tilt at home against the division leading Falcons. Not much to write home about in this one. Despite the Devils outshooting their guests 13-12 in the first, they were down 1-0 thanks to a Cody Goloubef goal 9 minutes in. Things didn’t get any better in the second period…Michael Chaput (fun fact: he is the younger brother of former River Rat Stefan, now in Hamilton) gave the Falcons a 2-0 cushion 4:39 into the period. Mike Sislo cut the deficit in half with a short handed goal less than a minute later. Then with just over 6 minutes left in the period, an odd double penalty call on rookie defenseman Raman Hrabarenka gave Springfield’s Ryan Russell a penalty shot. Jeff Frazee would deny it thanks to his trusty goalie post. But less than a minute later the defense was caught napping and Scott Howes would capitalize, giving the Falcons the two goal lead right back. Tomas Kubalik would extend the lead to 4-1 on a video reviewed goal (it bounced off the top of the crossbar and dropped just barely over the goal line…we all thought it was cleared out in time but it was not) 90 seconds into the third. Joe Whitney would add his 9th goal of the season 4 minutes later, but that’s as close as the Devils would get. It wasn’t the greatest of nights defensively, as only two Devils (Whitney and Jay Leach) finished with a + rating (Corbin McPherson, normally steady on defense, finished a -3). Frazee finished with 29 saves on 33 chances in the loss, and Bobby Butler had the lone assist.

1/25 at Adirondack: 4-1 W

Times Union
Glens Falls Post Star

For the second time in 7 days, the Devils headed north on Interstate 87 to take on the Phantoms, who on this night were sporting very pretty pink jerseys as part of a Pink in the Rink promotion (sadly, no pink ice, just the jerseys). Unlike last week, when the Devils outshot Adirondack by a huge margin, it was the Phantoms who came out shooting in the first period, with a 12-3 advantage. But the Devils made their precious few shots count…on their second of the game, Joe Whitney scored for the early 1-0 advantage. Keith Kinkaid managed to stop all 12 chances. The momentum would shift over in the Devils favor in the second, as they added to the lead on a Matt Anderson goal nearly halfway through the period. Matthew Ford would score on a power play to cut the deficit in half, but that’s all Adirondack would manage to get. Albany took over in the third, scoring twice and outshooting the Phantoms 18-6. After Kinkaid stopped the team’s second consective penalty shot (this one off the stick of Harry Zolnierczyk), Whitney would score his second of the game for a two goal lead, then Kelly Zajac scored his second as a pro with 7 minutes left for some extra insurance. Kinkaid had an excellent showing in net, stopping 26 of 27 and earning second star of the game honors. Steve Zalewski contributed two assists.

1/26 vs. Adirondack: 5-2 W

Times Union
Glens Falls Post Star

The Devils and Phantoms finished off the home and home with an early Saturday afternoon tilt in downtown Albany. I knew it was going to be a big day when I walked in and saw every single upper deck section had the black curtains lifted up. I haven’t seen that for hockey in quite a long time, probably way back in the River Rats days. But more on that in a bit. This game was all Devils from the start, as they put up a 3 spot in the first period against Scott Munroe. Steve Zalewski got the scoring going 4 minutes into the period. Harri Pesonen was next in line, scoring 6 minutes later. Then Bobby Butler would add his team leading 16th with 5 and a half remaining. All of this was on just 6 shots on goal…Keith Kinkaid stopped all 9 Phantom shots. Marcel Noebels would get Adirondack on the board in the second with a power play goal (just 22 seconds into the penalty kill…they either give it up early or completely kill it off it seems). Pesonen would return the favor 4 minutes into the third with his second of the day on a power play for a 4-1 lead. Danny Syvret would cut the lead to 4-2 just before the penalty kill ended. Then Darcy Zajac would seal it with a short handed empty netter with just 13 seconds left to close out the win. Another good day in net for Kinkaid as he stopped 26 of 28 shots. Tim Sestito, Eric Gelinas, and Phil DeSimone would each add two assists. But the biggest story of the day had to be the announced attendance…ready? A whopping 10,218 people witnessed this one, which shatters the old Devils AHL attendance record by over 2000 (this just counts Lowell/Albany). If you really want to dig into attendance records, there hasn’t been a crowd like this since the River Rats heyday in the mid 90s, when 10,000+ crowds almost seemed like the norm, especially when the old Adirondack Red Wings came to town.

Notes:

-Forward Bryan Haczyk was reassigned to Trenton on Friday, after only appearing in one game since coming up two weeks ago while a few Albany forwards were participating in New Jersey’s training camp.

-Injury update: Only three on the list, all had sat out the week. Chad Wiseman (lower body) and Scott Parse (hip) were both expected to be available, but neither made an appearance. David Wohlberg (lower body) sat out as well, we’ll know more about their return to the lineup once everyone returns to work after the break.

-Yesterday morning the AHL All Star starting lineups were announced, all selected by fan voting…and Bobby Butler was chosen as one of the starting forwards, along with Nino Niederreiter of Bridgeport and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault of Springfield. Lineups for both can be seen here.

The Week Ahead:

After a nice four day vacation for the rest of the Devils, it’s back to work at the end of the week, as they start the month of February with a 6 game road trip. The first two stops come Friday night in Providence and Saturday night in Portland. Looking ahead at the month, the Devils only touch home ice three times (well, four if you count the final stop in Atlantic City on the 24th), with this New England swing the furthest they will travel. Historically this part of the schedule is always heavy on travel for Albany (this goes back to the River Rat days as well), so this is a great time to judge what these guys have got as they make the push to move up in the standings.

Despite all the roster changes this week as New Jersey’s training camp went on, the Devils still had a tough 3 in 3 weekend stretch to face, as they took on two divisional opponents with a lot of travel mixed in. And it wasn’t a bad showing, gaining 4 of 6 points, but a big weakness prevented them from making it so much more. Looking back on the weekend:

1/18 at Adirondack: 4-3 W

Times Union
Glens Falls Post Star

The weekend began with the first trip north of 2013 for Game #5 of the Time Warner Cable Cup series. Matt Anderson put the visitors on the board 3 minutes into the game. Then the Phantoms, despite barely having that many scoring chances, made those chances count. Jason Akeson would tie the game at 1 on a power play, then rookie Marcel Noebels would give the Phantoms the lead under two minutes later. All that despite having only 3 shots on goal. Albany would finish the period outshooting Adirondack 15-5, but staring at a 2-1 deficit. Second period was virtually all Devils, as they probably produced one of their most dominant periods of the season (and usually second period is a weak time for them…go figure). Harri Pesonen, just returning from spending the week in New Jersey training camp, tied the game at 2 halfway through the period. Then Joe Whitney would score twice in a less than 5 minute span to boost the Devil lead to 4-2. And the shot on goal differential? 16-4 for the period, with a total of 31-9 after 40 minutes of play. Third period, the Phantoms suddenly woke up and tried to stage a rally. Tye McGinn would cut the deficit to 1 halfway through the period, but it was all Keith Kinkaid would allow. He went on to stop 20 of 21 Phantom shots in the 3rd, while the Devils only managed 4. The last Phantom shot was thought to have tied the game with just 1.4 seconds left, but it was waved off, and the Devils survived with their fourth win in 5 tries against their upstate rivals. Kinkaid recovered from a shaky first period to stop 27 of 30 shots, including a penalty shot against Matthew Ford in the 3rd. Mike Sislo and Brandon Burlon each contributed two assists.

1/19 at Springfield: 2-1 L (SO)

Times Union
The Republican

The road trip continued east down the Mass Pike for the third matchup in less than a month against the first place Falcons. Unlike the night before, both teams played a little more evenly. Nick Drazenovic put the hosts on the board 7 minutes into the first on (what else is new?) a goaltender interference call against Matt Anderson, probably the 4th or 5th time this week a Devil was called for that (when it was really an opposing player shoving said Devil into the net). Barely two minutes later, on a full 2 minute 5 on 3 advantage, Eric Gelinas would tie it up at 1. After that, the goalies took over, particularly Falcons netminder Paul Dainton. The Devils would go on another shot barrage, outshooting the Falcons 22-9 through the second and third periods, but Dainton was practically standing on his head and running a goaltending clinic, stopping everything in his path. And I believe it was because of him that instead of the Devils cruising to another win against Springfield, that the game stayed tied at 1 going into the dreaded overtime. To refresh your memory, the Devils and overtime do not get along well, as they have suffered 1 loss and 6 shootout losses thus far. Despite outshooting the Falcons 4-1 in the extra session, again it was Dainton who rose to the challenge. It was on to the shootout, where once again the Devils would fall short. Phil DeSimone was the only Devil of 5 (Mike Sislo, Harri Pesonen, Eric Gelinas, and Joe Whitney the other participants) to score, while Frazee allowed goals to Sean Collins in round 1 and Wade MacLeod in round 4 to seal the Devils 7th shootout loss of the season. You have to feel for Frazee in this one, as he played outstanding in yet another hard luck defeat, stopping 23 of 24 shots and earning 3rd star of the game honors. Mike Sislo and Joe Whitney each had one assist, and Gelinas actually had 8 shots on goal.

1/20 vs. Adirondack: 3-2 L (SO)

Times Union
Glens Falls Post Star

Much like the weekend before, the Devils went back to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for a rematch with Adirondack. Unlike Friday night, when the Devils had a huge shot advantage, it was the Phantoms who came to play this time. They outshot Albany 12-6 and despite being in early penalty trouble, it was a power play goal by Jason Akeson late in the first that put the Phantoms up 1-0 (to the delight of what sounded like a good chunk of the city of Philadelphia in house). The Devils would comeback in the second to tie it up, courtesy of a power play goal from Phil DeSimone. Third period the Devils had a great chance to go ahead with a 5 on 3 opportunity, but couldn’t produce. But it was during a 4 on 4 that Marcel Noebels would score to give the Phantoms a 2-1 advantage. But with just over 2 minutes left on the clock, the captain came through in the clutch, as Jay Leach would score just his second goal of the season to tie the game at 2…and salvage at least one standings point, because it was off to overtime (lather, rinse, repeat the night before). During the 5 minute OT session, the Devils had quite a few chances to get the game winner past goaltender Cal Heeter, but he was up to the challenge, stopping all 5 shots. So of course it was off to shootout #8 of the season, maybe today would be the day? Of course not. Akeson and Tye McGinn scored during the first 3 rounds, while only Matt Anderson was able to score for Albany (the other shooters for those who are wondering: Mike Sislo, Phil DeSimone, Steve Zalewski). Danny Syvret scored the deciding goal in the 5th round to give Adirondack the win…and shootout loss #8 for the Devils (is that a league record?). Yet another hard luck defeat for Keith Kinkaid, who turned in a solid day in goal stopping 28 of 30 shots. And Harry Young finally cracked the lineup for the first time all season.

Notes:

-Finishing off all the roster moves from this week: Bobby Butler cleared waivers on Saturday and was reassigned to Albany. He returned to the lineup on Sunday. Mattias Tedenby was sent down and recalled within a day on paper while Butler’s fate was decided.

-Injury front: very short list. Chad Wiseman and Scott Parse are both out with various lower body injuries (Parse’s I believe is reaggravating his hip injury that kept him out most of last season while in Los Angeles). David Wohlberg sat out both Saturday and Sunday, I’m not sure if it was injury related or not.

The Week Ahead:

Three games this week, and virtually no real travel involved. Wednesday night the Devils return home to host the Falcons, then it’s a home and home with Adirondack to close the week, Friday night in Glens Falls and a Saturday early afternoon tilt. Saturday has the makings of what could be an epic day at the TU Center, as attendance is expected to be over 8000 thanks to a $5/$10 Time Warner Cable ticket promotion…and the game will be followed by college hockey at night, as local teams RPI and Union (Kinkaid and Kelly Zajac’s alma mater) square off.

Wednesday will also mark the official halfway point of the schedule for the Devils, so watch for a first half numbers entry sometime Thursday evening, before the weekend games kick off the second half of the season.