Penguins 3, River Rats 1

Luca Caputi had two goals to back a 38-save effort from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton rookie goaltender Brad Thiessen as the Penguins edged the Albany River Rats, 3-1, tonight at the former Knickerbocker Arena.

Ex-Rats forward Ryan Bayda sealed the game on an empty-net goal with 8.5 seconds to play for Wilkes-Barre (8-4-1-1), which has won three in a row.

Defenseman Zack FitzGerald had the lone goal for Albany (7-7-0-2), which was 2-0-0-1 in its last three games. Rookie netminder Mike Murphy had 28 saves and fell to 2-3 this season; both his wins had come on home ice.

"They've given up, I think, 11 goals in the last seven games, so we knew it was going to be a strong defensive battle," Albany head coach-GM Jeff Daniels said. "They don't give up a whole lot. We had more than enough chances to win the game, and we just didn't score.

"Their goalie played well. He played real well. We had a lot of Grade A chances, a lot of quality chances. At the end of the game, (Stefan Chaput)'s all alone in the slot; on the power play we hit the post; he makes another save on (Jay) Harrison sliding across. We had more than enough chances to win that game, but their goalie was first star, and he deserved to be."

Actually, on the official game sheet, Thiessen was somehow named the third star, behind Caputi (No. 1) and FitzGerald (No. 2), even though on the two submitted media ballots, he was listed first on one and second on the other.

It was only the third pro start for Thiessen, an undrafted free agent signing by the Pittsburgh Penguins after three college seasons at Northeastern University. His last appearance came on Nov. 1.

"I thought he played well his first two starts, but he didn't get the result he was looking for," Wilkes-Barre head coach and former Rats defenseman Todd Reirden said. "He does a nice job for a younger guy in terms of composure outside the net. He challenges shooters and he's a confident kid. Our guys knew he was trying pretty had for that first win. I'm happy for him."


WB-Scranton 0 2 1 -- 3
Albany 0 1 0 -- 1

First period -- None. Penalties -- Caffaro, Wbs major (fighting), :04; Goertzen, Alb major (fighting), :04; Brookbank, Wbs major (fighting), 2:29; FitzGerald, Alb major (fighting), 2:29; D'Aversa, Wbs major (fighting), 12:12; Blanchard, Alb major (fighting), 12:12; Guenin, Wbs (cross-checking), 15:09; Guenin, Wbs (interference), 19:20.

Second period -- 1, WB-Scranton, Caputi 6 (Lee, Jeffrey), 3:11 (pp). 2, Albany, FitzGerald 2 (Bellemore, Dwyer), 9:56. 3, WB-Scranton, Caputi 7 (Tangrady, Smith), 12:10. Penalties -- Angelidis, Alb (hooking), 2:52; Pushkarev, Wbs (hooking), 3:39; Boulerice, Wbs major (fighting), 6:00; Herauf, Alb major (fighting), 6:00; Smith, Wbs (roughing),14:49; Herauf, Alb double-minor (roughing, served by Terry), 14:49; Caputi, Wbs (roughing), 19:41; Terry, Alb (roughing), 19:41.

Third period -- 4, WB-Scranton, Bayda 8 (Jeffrey, Strait), 19:51 (en). Penalties -- Smith, Wbs (delay of game), 12:56.

Shots on goal -- WB-Scranton 11-12-8 -- 31. Albany 14-11-14 -- 39.

Goalies -- WB-Scranton, Thiessen 1-2 (39 shots-38 saves). Albany, Murphy 2-3(30-28).

Power-play opportunities -- WB-Scranton 1 of 2. Albany 0 of 4.

A -- 5,141. T -- 2:31.

Referee -- Chris Cozzan. Linesmen -- Jim Briggs, Frank Murphy.