The Albany River Rats scored the game’s final two goals in a 5-3 victory over the defending Calder Cup champion Philadelphia Phantoms at Codey Arena in West Orange, N.J., on Tuesday afternoon.
Philadelphia, which won the preseason opener between the teams on Sunday, began the scoring when B.J. Abel tallied the first of his two goals on the day at the 3:32 mark of the first period, on an assist from Joey Hope. Albany’s Ivan Khomutov tied the game just over five minutes later with an unassisted tally, sending the teams into the locker room tied at one.
The River Rats took the lead with a pair of goals just over two minutes apart during the second period starting with Ilkka Pikkarainen’s score at the 12:01 of the frame. Mark Fraser picked up the lone assist. Albany extended its advantage to 3-1 when former University of Minnesota standout Barry Tallackson scored his first goal of the preseason at the 14:33 mark of the second period, with Patrick Davis collecting an assist.
The Phantoms started early in the third period as Abel potted his second tally at the 1:01 mark before Alexandre Picard scored just three minutes later to tie the game at 3-3.
Albany got the game-winner when Davis notched his first goal and second point of the game with 3:45 remaining in regulation. Davis, 18, was a fourth-round pick by New Jersey in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.
Aleksander Suglobov, who tied for the River Rats team lead with 25 goals last season, added an empty-netter with just over a minute remaining.
Martin Houle and Rejean Beauchemin shared the goaltending duties for the Phantoms, while Josh Disher and Dustin Slade played in net for Albany.
