HARTFORD 5, ALBANY 1
Jarkko Immonen scored three times and Al Montoya made 28 saves as Hartford posted a 5-1 victory over Albany at the Hartford Civic Center on Sunday afternoon.
It was the Wolf Pack’s eighth straight victory over the River Rats.
Nigel Dawes assisted on all three of Immonen’s goals and Craig Weller and Dwight Helminen also scored for Hartford, which is one point away from clinching second place in the Atlantic Division.
Bobby Sanguinetti, the New York Rangers’ first-round pick (21st overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, notched two assists for his first two professional points.
Montoya improved to 26-17-0 on the season with his fourth straight home win.
Ryan Bayda scored the only goal for Albany, his 21st point in his last 16 games (13g, 8a).
HERSHEY 3, WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 1
The Hershey Bears moved closer to their first division title in 13 years by defeating the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Sunday evening, 3-1.
Frederic Cassivi made 28 saves and Tomas Fleischmann had a goal and an assist for the Bears, who opened up a four-point lead over the second-place Penguins with three games to play.
Kyle Wilson and Dave Steckel also scored and Jakub Klepis had two assists for Hershey, which is 5-3-0-1 against the Penguins this season.
Wilkes-Barre remains two points ahead of third-place Norfolk in the East.
The Bears won Calder Cup championships in 1997 and 2006, but have not won a regular-season division crown since 1994.
