The Albany River Rats and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, two of the three teams tied for second place in the AHL's East Division, face off tonight at the former Knickerbocker Arena.
Each team has 16 points: Albany is 7-6-0-1 and shows two wins and a shootout loss in its last three games. Wilkes-Barre has won two in a row after losing three straight and is 7-4-1-1. Norfolk (8-7-0-0, 16 points) visits the Rats tomorrow night.
Albany continues to be without defenseman and alternate captain Bryan Rodney, who was recalled by the Carolina Hurricanes this week. His spot was filled by alternate captain Brett Carson, who played Wednesday night in Syracuse after breaking his wrist on Oct. 9.
Former Albany captain Tim Conboy, who hasn't played in two weeks, was placed on waivers today by Carolina, and could return to the Rats if he clears. He is on a one-way NHL contract this season.
Rookie goaltender Mike Murphy is making his fifth start of the season and first since Nov. 6. He's opposed by the Pens' Brad Thiessen, who is playing only his third game (Oct. 24, Nov. 1).
Linemates Stefan Chaput (1g, 4a) and Jerome Samson (2g, 3a) are both on three-game point streaks for the Rats. Dustin Jeffrey (1g, 6a) has a five-game streak for Wilkes-Barre.
Wilkes-Barre has several players with local ties on the roster. LW Ryan Bayda had 71 points (36-45) in 76 regular-season games for the Rats from 2006-08. RW Jesse Boulerice (16 games, 2006-07), LW Wade Brookbank (25 games, 2007-08) and D Chris Lee (3 games, 2006-07) each had short AHL stints with Albany, as did Pens head coach Todd Reirden (2 games, 1994-95) ..... With D Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy on recall with Pittsburgh, rookie Lane Caffaro skated in his second game for the Pens. Caffaro played four seasons at Union College in Schenectady.
Here are tonight's lineups:
Albany line combinations: Zach Boychuk-Stefan Chaput-Jerome Samson; Nicolas Blanchard-Mike Angelidis (A)-Pat Dwyer (C); Chris Terry-Nick Dodge-Steve Goertzen; Brad Herauf-Harrison Reed-Matt Pistilli.
Defense pairings: Jay Harrison-Jamie McBain; Zack FitzGerald-Brett Carson (A); Jonathan Paiement-Brett Bellemore.
Scratches: D Benn Olson, RW Drayson Bowman.
Wilkes-Barre line combinations: Ryan Bayda (A)-Dustin Jeffrey-Keven Veilleux; Konstantin Pushkarev-Joe Vitale-Tim Wallace; Wade Brookbank (A)-Zach Sill-Jesse Boulerice; Eric Tangradi-Wyatt Smith (C)-Luca Caputi.
Defense pairings: Jon D'Aversa-Lane Caffaro; Brian Strait-Nate Guenin; Chris Lee-Robert Bortuzzo.
Scratches: C Mark Letestu, RW Chris Conner, RW Nick Johnson, RW Aaron Boogard.
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