ALBANY — The Syracuse Crunch won the special teams battle against the Albany River Rats in the latest meeting of the East Division rivals.
Both teams were awarded nine power plays, but Syracuse scored three man-advantage goals to down Albany, 5-3 on Wednesday night in an American Hockey League tussle at Times Union Center.
Tomas Kana, Derek MacKenzie and Michael Blunden each scored power-play goals for the Crunch.
Jacob Micflikier opened the scoring with a power-play goal 1:51 into the game for the River Rats, but Albany didn’t convert on its next eight power plays.
The Rats also couldn’t cash in on nearly 12 minutes of power play time in the second period, including two minutes of 5-on-3 man-advantage time.
After Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman scored the go-ahead goal at 16:00 of the second period for a 3-2 Syracuse lead, MacKenzie and Blunden followed with a power-play goal each in the third period to take control.
The Rats drew within 5-3 on Nicolas Blanchard’s goal at 15:56 and nearly pulled to within one as defenseman Bryan Rodney apparently scored on a long-range drive from within Albany’s blue line, but the goal was waved off on an offsides call.
Goalie Kevin Lalande made 38 saves for Syracuse (20-23-3-3), which won its fourth consecutive game.
Justin Peters stopped 28 of 33 shots faced for Albany (26-18-3-2), which dropped its second straight decision. Right wing Jerome Samson scored his team-leading 17th goal for the Rats and defenseman Jamie McBain contributed two assists.
The Rats lost Tim Conboy, who left the game after he was cut above his right eye during a fight with left wing Kevin Harvey 12:17 into the second period. The scuffle came after Conboy’s hit on center Derek MacKenzie and the defenseman was assessed a boarding penalty.