Ruzicka rallies Phantoms to overtime win

Stefan Ruzicka scored the final three goals of the night as Philadelphia rallied for a 5-4 overtime win over Norfolk at the Wachovia Center on Friday night.

The Admirals built a 4-1 lead by the midway point of the second period, thanks in part to a pair of shorthanded goals by Carl Corazzini. Brandon Bochenski and Ivan Novoseltsev also scored for Norfolk and Craig MacDonald recorded three assists.

But the Phantoms started chipping away, with Alexandre Picard tallying a power-play marker at 12:14 of the second. Ruzicka then one-timed a pass from former Admiral Matt Ellison 2:18 into the third period, and with the extra attacker on late, found the back of the net with just 15 seconds left in regulation to tie the score.

Ruzicka, who scored 16 goals for the Phantoms last year, capped the natural hat trick only 15 seconds into OT, finishing a four-point night.

Marty Murray finished with three assists, while Picard and Ellison picked up a goal and an assist each.

Sebastien Caron was saddled with the loss in his Admirals debut, making 20 saves. Martin Houle picked up the victory for the Phantoms by stopping 29 shots.

Dan Spang scored with 53 seconds left in regulation and Mike Iggulden got the only goal of the shootout as the Worcester Sharks earned a win in their debut, 4-3 at Portland.

Spang, a rookie out of Boston University, was a second-round draft pick by San Jose in 2002.

Mathieu Darche and Joe Pavelski also scored for the Sharks, who rallied after falling behind 2-0 and 3-2.

Bjorn Melin, Tim Brent and Shawn Thornton scored in regulation for the Pirates, but Portland was stopped on all five of its shootout attempts by Dimitri Patzold.

Drew Stafford and Greg Jacina each scored twice and Craig Anderson made 21 saves as Rochester shut out Albany, 6-0, in the season opener for both teams at the Blue Cross Arena.

Stafford, the 13^th overall pick in the 2004 NHL draft, added an assist for a three-point night in his professional debut.

Daniel Paille had three assists for the Amerks and Janis Sprukts added a goal and an assist.

It was Anderson’s 12^th career AHL shutout.

Rookie Daniel Winnik scored 3:18 into overtime to give San Antonio an entertaining 5-4 win over Grand Rapids at the AT&T Center.

Tyson Nash scored twice for the Rampage, who let a 4-1 lead slip away before securing the win in OT.

The Griffins got a goal and an assist from Josh Langfeld and went 3-for-6 on the power play.

Zack Stortini broke a tie 7:32 into the third period to propel Hamilton to a 5-3 win over Manitoba at Copps Coliseum.

The Moose coughed up three one-goal leads and dropped their second straight game to begin the 2006-07 season. Jesse Schultz, Brad Moran and Rick Rypien were the scorers for Manitoba.

Maxim Lapierre recorded a goal and an assist and Kyle Chipchura and Andre Benoit added two helpers apiece for the Bulldogs, who got 29 saves from Yann Danis.

Thirteen Marlies found the scoresheet and J.F. Racine made 20 saves as Toronto posted a 6-0 win over Syracuse on opening night at Ricoh Coliseum.

Erik Westrum, coming off a 98-point season a year ago, had a goal and an assist for the Marlies, as did defenseman Dominic D’Amour.

Eighteen-year-old Jiri Tlusty, the Maple Leafs’ first-round pick in the 2006 draft, scored in his professional debut. Brett Engelhardt, Kris Newbury and Owen Fussey also scored for Toronto.

Jon DiSalvatore scored his second goal of the game on a power play with 10 seconds left in overtime, giving Peoria a 4-3 win over Omaha on home ice Friday night.

Ryan Ramsay and David Backes put the Rivermen up 3-2 early in the third, but the Knights answered on Brad Ference’s goal with 13:03 left in regulation.

Dave Moss scored twice for Omaha.