Ryan caps hat trick with overtime winner

Saturday’s boxscores

ALBANY 3, BRIDGEPORT 2 (OT)
Michael Ryan completed his second hat trick of the season with 1:22 remaining in overtime, lifting Albany to a 3-2 win over Bridgeport in an East Division battle at the Times Union Center on Saturday night.

Ryan, who had three goals and two assists in a game vs. Manchester on Dec. 12, opened the scoring at 5:10 of the first period, then appeared to score the deciding goal with 1:53 left in regulation.

But Sean Bentivoglio tied it for the Sound Tigers with 25 seconds to play, sending the game into overtime and allowing Bridgeport to earn a point in the standings.

Yannick Tifu recorded two assists and Daniel Manzato made 34 saves for Albany, which is 8-2-1-0 in its last 11 home games.

Andrew MacDonald also scored for Bridgeport.

TORONTO 6, PHILADELPHIA 1
Stefano Giliati scored the winning goal and added two assists and Max Taylor recorded a hat trick for insurance as Toronto cruised to a 6-1 win over a road-weary Philadelphia club on Saturday afternoon.

David Laliberte staked the Phantoms to a 1-0 lead just 61 seconds into the game, but that would be the only shot to get past Adam Munro on the day.

Darryl Boyce and Mark Bell also scored for the Marlies and Munro needed just 14 saves as Toronto finished with a 41-15 edge in shots.

Philadelphia, which continues its road trip in Hamilton on Tuesday, is now winless in its last six games (0-4-1-1).

NORFOLK 3, PORTLAND 2
Mike McKenna made 34 saves to backstop Norfolk to a 3-2 victory over Portland at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

McKenna, who was 24-13-1 as a member of the Pirates last season, helped the Admirals salvage the finale of their three-game New England road swing.

Chris Lawrence scored shorthanded, Mike Lundin added his second goal in as many games and Steve Downie potted the tiebreaking goal midway through the second period.

Marc-Andre Gragnani picked up a goal and an assist and Mark Mancari tallied his 14th goal of the season for Portland.

GRAND RAPIDS 2, MANCHESTER 1
Mattias Ritola’s goal with 49.5 seconds remaining in the third period gave Grand Rapids a 2-1 win over host Manchester on Saturday.

Former University of New Hampshire star Darren Haydar recorded a goal and an assist in his return to the Granite State and Jimmy Howard stopped 26 of 27 shots for the Griffins, who have allowed a total of nine goals in their last eight games.

Davis Drewiske scored his first professional goal for the Monarchs, whose five-game points streak (4-0-0-1) came to an end.

WORCESTER 3, LOWELL 2
One night after recording a hat trick, Riley Armstrong scored the game-winning goal in Worcester’s 3-2 victory over Lowell at the DCU Center.

Lukas Kaspar and Claude Lemieux also scored for the Sharks, who have won three of four. Thomas Greiss made 18 saves to improve to 11-9-1 on the season.

Former Worcester IceCat Jon DiSalvatore had a goal and an assist for the Devils, whose three-game winning streak was snapped.

HERSHEY 6, HARTFORD 2
Assigned from the Washington Capitals earlier in the day, Alexandre Giroux registered a goal and three assists in his former home arena as Hershey got back in the win column with a 6-2 decision in Hartford.

Giroux, who scored 74 goals in 167 regular-season games with the Wolf Pack, set up both of Graham Mink’s goals on the night. Keith Aucoin recorded a goal and two assists, Steve Pinizzotto had a goal and an assist and Kyle Wilson’s 15th goal of the year chased starting goaltender Miika Wiikman (4 GA, 19 saves) early in the second period.

Patrick Rissmiller notched a goal and an assist for the Wolf Pack, who killed off six of seven Bears power plays including four full minutes of 5-on-3 disadvantage.

Simeon Varlamov (13-3-0) turned aside 32 of 34 shots.

IOWA 3, HAMILTON 2
Matt Beleskey scored on a 5-on-3 power play with 36 seconds left in regulation to give Iowa a 3-2 win over Hamilton at Copps Coliseum.

Beleskey’s goal was the Chops’ third power-play goal of the night and came after Alex Henry and Frederic St. Denis were both whistled for delay of game minors.

Brian Salcido had a goal and an assist for Iowa, and now shows nine points in his last six games.

Olivier Latendresse led the Bulldogs with a goal and an assist on the night.

PROVIDENCE 5, SPRINGFIELD 2
Providence scored two power-play goals, two shorthanded goals and a penalty-shot marker en route to a 5-2 win over Springfield at the MassMutual Center on Saturday.

Martins Karsums and Johnny Boychuk each tallied a goal and an assist for the Bruins. Wacey Rabbit scored for the fourth time in six games, Mikko Lehtonen scored on one of his game-high eight shots and Matt Marquardt gave the B’s their second penalty-shot goal in as many nights.

Kevin Regan made 31 saves as Providence opened up a three-point lead over Portland atop the Atlantic Division.

Rob Schremp and Theo Peckham scored for the Falcons.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 3, HOUSTON 2 (SO)
Janne Pesonen and Mark Letestu each scored once in regulation and once in the shootout as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton rallied from two goals down for a 3-2 win over visiting Houston.

Pesonen got the equalizer with 7:38 left in the third period.

Danny Irmen and Jesse Schultz scored in regulation for the Aeros and Maxim Noreau had their only successful shootout attempt on John Curry, who made 19 saves.

Barry Brust stopped 31 of 33 shots for the Aeros but again gave way for the shootout to Nolan Schaefer, who denied three of five tries.

LAKE ERIE 3, SYRACUSE 2 (OT)
Mike Vernace scored with 13 seconds left in overtime to lift Lake Erie over Syracuse, 3-2, at the Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday.

Vernace took a cross-ice feed from former Crunch forward Philippe Dupuis and wristed it past Dan LaCosta for the game-winner.

Tom Fritsche and Codey Burki also scored for the Monsters, who are 9-7-1-2 on home ice this season.

Petr Pohl (his first in the AHL) and Ryan Garlock scored for the Crunch, who dropped to 1-10-2-1 in their last 15 games.

SAN ANTONIO 4, QUAD CITY 3
David Spina and Garth Murray scored first-period goals and San Antonio held on for a 4-3 win over Quad City at the I Wireless Arena in Moline, Ill., on Saturday.

David Schlemko and Jeff Hoggan also scored for the Rampage and Josh Tordjman made 28 saves as San Antonio won for the third time in its last five road games.

Jamie Lundmark led the Flames with a goal and an assist but it wasn’t enough to avoid the end of Quad City’s three-game home winning streak.

Anders Eriksson and Gord Baldwin had the other Flames goals.

ROCKFORD 6, CHICAGO 4
Pascal Pelletier snapped out of a nine-game goal-scoring drought with his second hat trick of the season, propelling Rockford to a 6-4 win over Chicago at the MetroCentre.

Pelletier, who also had an assist for a four-point night, snapped a 4-4 tie with 3:50 left in regulation and sent the IceHogs to their fifth win in seven meetings with the Wolves this season.

Jack Skille had a goal and two assists, Petri Kontiola had a goal and Rob Klinkhammer capped the scoring with an empty-netter, his fourth goal in three games.

Antti Niemi stopped all 11 shots he faced in relief to earn the win after Corey Crawford had allowed four goals on 22 shots through two periods.

Zach Bogosian, the third overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, scored his first professional goal to help Chicago erase a 4-1 deficit late in the second period. Bogosian was making his AHL debut in the beginning of a conditioning assignment from the parent Atlanta Thrashers.

ROCHESTER 3, MANITOBA 2 (SO)
Karl Stewart scored in the last half of the 10th shootout round to give Rochester a 3-2 win over Manitoba and a two-game weekend sweep at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

Stefan Meyer’s goal with five seconds left in regulation tied the score and gave the Americans a chance to improve to 6-2-0-1 in their last nine games.

Cory Murphy also scored for the Amerks and Mike Brodeur made 16 saves for the win.

Michel Ouellet scored both Moose goals in regulation but was 0-for-2 in the shootout.

MILWAUKEE 2, PEORIA 0
Drew MacIntyre made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season as Milwaukee blanked Peoria, 2-0, before 12,444 fans at the Bradley Center.

Scott Ford scored on a power play with 3:28 left in the second period to break a scoreless tie, and Cal O’Reilly added an empty-net goal with 37 seconds to play.

With the win, the Admirals have points in their last eight games (7-0-1-0) and 14 of their last 16 (13-2-1-0), and now have an eight-point lead over the second-place Rivermen in the West Division.

Chris Holt stopped 30 of 31 shots in defeat.