ALBANY — In a meeting of two defense-oriented teams, the Albany River Rats got defensive against Norfolk on Monday.
The River Rats held the Admirals to 23 shots, defenseman Bryan Rodney scored the game winner midway though the third period and rookie defender Jamie McBain assisted on both goals as Albany trimmed Norfolk, 2-1 in a meeting of East Division foes in the American Hockey League.
Goalie Justin Peters made 22 saves to earn the win after he was reassigned to the Rats by Carolina. The fourth-year netminder won both of his first two NHL career starts in his last recall, including a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
After Norfolk seized a 1-0 lead on Mark Parrish’s goal 4:16 into the second period, rookie left wing Drayson Bowman swept in a rebound of a McBain drive from the left point to draw Albany even at one at 7:43.
McBain also assisted on the deciding goal as left wing Jiri Tlusty sent a cross-ice pass to Rodney, who beat rookie goalie Dustin Tokarski (29 saves) with a one-timer at 9:11 of the third period for the second-place Rats (29-20-3-3), who expanded their lead over third-place Norfolk (27-25-3-1) in the division to six (64-58).
Albany continues its stretch of five games in seven days with a Wednesday night game at Binghamton (7:05 p.m.) and returns home to host Portland on Friday at 7 p.m. and Adirondack on Saturday at 5 p.m. before concluding the week at Hershey on Sunday at 5 p.m.