Norfolk wins again to keep pace in crowded East

Carl Corazzini tallied a pair of goals and Craig MacDonald recorded a goal and two assists to give Norfolk a 4-3 victory over visiting Lowell at Scope on Friday night.

Pierre Parenteau recorded three assists in his Admirals debut, and Corey Crawford stopped 18 of 21 Devils shots on the night for his league-leading 19th win. Norfolk maintains second place in the East Division with a 23-7-4-1 record and 51 points.

Adam Burish, who has five points in his last two games after recording three points in his first 25 contests, also scored for Norfolk.

Andy Greene, Rod Pelley and Patrick Davis all scored for Lowell in a losing effort.


HERSHEY 4, ALBANY 2
Joey Tenute recorded a pair of goals and an assist, including his second consecutive game-winning goal, as Hershey defeated the River Rats for the 17th consecutive time, 4-2.

Tenute scored twice in the third period as the Bears rallied from a 2-1 deficit for its fourth straight win overall.

Louis Robitaille had two assists and netminder Daren Machesney earned the win in his first career AHL start, stopping 27 of 29 shots for the Bears.

Shane Willis and Johnny Boychuk tallied goals for the River Rats in the loss. Boychuk now has six goals and two assists in his last eight games.


MILWAUKEE 2, GRAND RAPIDS 1 (OT)
Pat Leahy played the hero for the Admirals, scoring the game-winning goal with two minutes left in overtime as Milwaukee defeated Grand Rapids, 2-1.

Ramzi Abid extended his scoring streak to seven games by recording a goal and an assist while Karl Goehring stopped 25 of 26 shots for his 12th win on the year, tying him for fifth in the league in victories.

Josh Langfeld scored the lone goal for Grand Rapids in the loss.


IOWA 3, OMAHA 1
Joel Lundqvist recorded his fifth goal in his last four games and added an assist on the night as Iowa defeated division rival Omaha 3-1 at the Civic Auditorium.

Vojtech Polak registered two helpers while Francis Wathier and defenseman Marty Wilford scored the other goals for the Stars. Wathier snapped a 1-1 tie with 9:02 left in regulation.

Tobias Stephan made 21 saves in the win for Iowa.

Andrei Taratukhin, who has three goals and seven points in his last five games, scored the only goal for the Knights.


SAN ANTONIO 3, HOUSTON 2
Chris Ferraro tallied a goal and an assist and goaltender Josh Tordjman stopped 38 of 40 Houston shots to give the Rampage a 3-2 win at home against the Aeros.

Bill Thomas and Pascal Rheaume tallied the other goals for San Antonio, who ended a four-game winless skid.

Mattias Weinhandl recorded both goals on the night for Houston, giving him nine points in his five games since joining the Aeros on Dec. 14.


PROVIDENCE 4, PHILADELPHIA 3 (SO)
David Krejci cut off a late rally from Philadelphia by scoring the deciding goal in the sixth round of the shootout in the P-Bruins’ 4-3 win at the Wachovia Spectrum.

Martins Karsums and defenseman Dwayne Zinger each had a goal and an assist while Zinger posted a plus-3 in the contest.

Philippe Sauve stopped six of seven shots by the Phantoms after coming on in relief of Brian Finley during the second period.

Denis Tolpeko and Niko Dimitrakos scored in the final 2:34 of the third period to give the Phantoms a point in the standings and force overtime.

Martin Houle made 38 saves in a losing effort for Philadelphia.


SPRINGFIELD 2, PORTLAND 1
A pair of third period goals proved to be the difference as the Falcons moved into sole possession of third place in the Atlantic Division with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Portland.

Norm Milley and Eric Healey, who has five goals and 11 points in his last six games, each tallied a goal and an assist for Springfield while netminder Karri Ramo made 37 saves for the Falcons.

Portland owned a 1-0 lead and a 29-6 edge in shots through two periods, but could not hang on for the win.

Garett Bembridge registered the only goal for Portland in the loss. Sebastien Caron finished with 14 saves in his Pirates debut.


HARTFORD 3, BRIDGEPORT 2
Goals from Nigel Dawes, Dane Byers and Mark Lee were enough for Hartford to take down the Sound Tigers by a score of 3-2 at the Arena at Harbor Yard.

Al Montoya stopped 20 shots for his third straight win, two of which were decided by one goal, for the Wolf Pack.

Jeff Tambellini and defenseman Mark Wotton scored for Bridgeport in the loss.


TORONTO 3, HAMILTON 2
Luke Fulghum, Brett Engelhardt and Jeff Corey all tallied for the Marlies, who defeated their North Division rival Hamilton by a score of 3-2 and ended the Bulldogs’ four-game winning streak.

Todd Ford stopped 20 of 22 shots in the win while opposing goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves on 31 shots for Hamilton.

Andrei Kostitsyn and Andre Benoit both scored for the Bulldogs.


CHICAGO 6, PEORIA 3
Darren Haydar extended his league-record scoring streak to 35 games with a four-point performance, notching two goals and two assists in Chicago’s 6-3 win at Peoria.

It was Haydar’s fifth four-point game of the season, and he now has 22 goals and 52 assists for 74 points already this season.

Cory Larose added three assists to extend his own scoring streak to nine games, while leading rookie Brett Sterling scored a goal for the ninth straight game (his league-leading 34th of the season) and had an assist.

Mark Popovic and Brian Fahey also had a goal and an assist each while netminder Michael Garnett stopped 40 of 43 shots from the Rivemen.

Peter Sejna and Trent Whitfield both scored a goal and an assist for Peoria in the loss.


WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 3, SYRACUSE 2 (SO)
Tomas Popperle made 55 saves for the Crunch, but former Syracuse netminder Andrew Penner stopped Filip Novak in the fifth round of the shootout to give the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 3-2 decision at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter.

Popperle, who was coming off a 41-save shutout on Wednesday, stopped all 18 shots he faced in the first period, and made 23 stops in the third when the Penguins owned a 24-1 edge in shots.

Alexei Mikhnov and Rob Schremp each tallied for the Penguins, who climbed to within three points of the first-place Hershey Bears in the East Division.

Geoff Platt and Joe Motzko, who has eight points (4g, 4a) and has scored points in his last five games, each registered a goal and an assist in the loss for Syracuse.


MANCHESTER 5 , WORCESTER 3
The Monarchs won their fifth consecutive game at home by defeating the visiting Worcester Sharks by a score of 5-3.

John Zeiler tallied two goals while Matt Moulson had three helpers and teammate Gabe Gauthier had two assists and posted a plus-3 night for Manchester, which opened up a three-point lead over Portland atop the Atlantic Division.

Jason LaBarbera backstopped the Monarchs to a win, his 16th of the year, by making 33 saves on 35 Worcester shots.

Graham Mink scored a pair of goals for the Sharks while defenseman Dan Spang registered two assists on the night.


ROCHESTER 5, BINGHAMTON 3
Five different players registered goals for Rochester, who regained possession of first place in the North Division with a 5-3 win at home over the Senators.

Stefan Meyer, Greg Jacina and Janis Sprukts all tallied a goal and an assist for Rochester while goaltender Adam Dennis stopped 33 of 36 shots for the Amerks, who begin a five-game road trip on Friday. Sprukts has now has 10 points (2g, 8a) in his last four games.

Ryan Vesce led the B-Sens with a pair of assists in a losing effort.