River Rats push Pens to the brink

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ALBANY 2, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 1
2010 AHL All-Star Justin Peters made 31 saves in net as Albany closed within a game of its first playoff series win since 1998 with a 2-1 road win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The River Rats now hold a commanding 3-0 series lead on the Penguins and can close it out with another victory in Game 5 on Monday night.

Albany has not collected a playoff series win since earning a four-game sweep of Hamilton in the 1998 Western Conference semifinals.

Sunday’s contest was scoreless through two periods before Mike Angelidis broke the deadlock 2:16 into the third period.

Second Team AHL All-Star Jerome Samson then made it 2-0 just 2:29 later, with Angelidis picking up an assist. Rookie Zach Boychuk assisted on both goals for the River Rats.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got on the board at 14:27 when Chris Conner buried his first goal of the playoffs, but the Penguins were unable to get the equalizer.

The Penguins face a 3-0 series deficit for the fifth time in their history. They were swept in the 2004 Calder Cup Finals by Milwaukee and in the 2006 division finals by Hershey, lost in five games to Hershey in the 2007 division finals, and pushed Chicago to six games in the 2008 Calder Cup Finals before succuming.