ALBANY — The River Rats edged out the Springfield Falcons on Saturday in an old-fashioned shootout.
Albany squandered a two-goal lead in the first period and a three-goal advantage in the third, but rookie left wing Drayson Bowman scored 2:16 into overtime to lift the Rats past the Falcons, 7-6.
Right wing Jerome Samson and left wing Jacob Micflikier each scored back-to-back goals to spark Albany (27-19-3-2).
Rookie goalie Mike Murphy made 39 saves, including three in overtime, to earn the win.
Samson scored twice in the opening minute, 46 seconds into the game and then at the 1:00 mark.
Springfield (17-27-9-2) responded with three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead 8:27 into the second period.
The Rats answered with a four-goal run — sparked by two goals from Micflikier within a span of 1:06 in the middle period, scoring at 12:09 and then again with a power-play goal at 13:15.
Left wing Milan Gajic, recalled earlier in the day from Florida of the ECHL and in his Rats’ debut, scored 6:19 into the third period to build a 6-3 Albany lead.
But the Falcons rebounded with another three-goal run, capped by two consecutive goals from left wing Liam Maddox, who scored at 10:35 and followed with the tying goal with 3.4 seconds remaining in regulation.
Bowman followed with his game winner on the Rats lone shot in overtime, lifting the puck over goalie Devan Dubnyk’s shoulder, beating the goalie short side.
Defenseman Jamie McBain recorded three assists for Albany and defenseman Casey Borer finished as a plus-4 with an assist.
Earlier in the day, goalie Mike Morrison was recalled by Albany from Utah of the ECHL after goalie Tyler Sims was released from his PTO.
After the game, Albany coach Jeff Daniels announced center Rob Hennigar (hand injury) is out for the season and will undergo surgery. Daniels had no timeline for the return of defenseman Tim Conboy, injured in Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to Syracuse.