The River Rats and Phantoms resume their Northway rivalry at 7 Wednesday night in Albany.
The season series between the East Division foes has been one-sided as the Rats have won all four encounters, two victories in each city.
Second-place Albany (18-13-1-2) is the midst of a two-game losing skid, but has lost only three times in December (7-3-0-0); while sixth-place Adirondack (14-14-2-0) has won four of its past six games. The two teams complete their home-and-home series on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Glens Falls in a New Year’s Eve matinee.
Right wing Jerome Samson, who leads Albany in goals (11), assists (15) and points (26), has registered six (3-3) points in four games against Adirondack, as has center Stefan Chaput (1-5-6 versus Phantoms).
Goalie Justin Peters won the first three meetings with Adirondack this season and rookie Mike Murphy recorded the last win.
Phantoms center Jonathan Matsumoto, selected to represent Canada at the AHL All-Star Classic along with Rats defenseman Bryan Rodney, has totaled four (1-3) points in four games against Albany this season.
Rodney (upper body injury), who didn’t play on Sunday against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, didn’t practice Tuesday.