In its last five games, Albany shows three wins, one overtime loss and one shootout loss, good for eight of a possible 10 points. In the previous five games the Rats were 1-3-1-0, good for three out of 10 points.
If not for blowing a pair of one-goal leads in a 3-2 overtime loss to Hershey on Friday, Albany could have had a clean sweep this week.
"We're happy with the weekend. It was a good weekend for us," coach Jeff Daniels said. "We can look back and wish we had the extra point last night, but it was good to get five out of six. It doesn't get any easier for us. We've got four in five next week, all big games, three within our division. We've got to keep climbing up. I told the guys, good job tonight, get a couple days of rest and it's back to work."
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Michael Ryan (two goals) and Dwight Helminen (two assists, game-winning goal) are two very important cogs in the Rats' offensive machine. It was important to see both players get untracked after struggling in recent weeks.
Ryan had three points, all assists, and was minus-4 in eight games since being returned by the Carolina Hurricanes Nov. 12. Helminen, who had four points in Albany's first three games, had scored just one in his next 11, a stretch also interrupted by a stint with the Canes.
"They were skating hard all game," Daniels said. "Ryan was a little snakebit there, but now he's got two goals and hopefully that gives him some confidence. We definitely need him to score goals for us. Same thing with Helminen. He's been working real hard, but he just hasn't been getting the results. He was productive at both ends tonight."
Both of Ryan's goals came on the power play, driving the net from his spot on the point on Albany's top unit.
"I've got to start scoring more goals for this team," Ryan said. "I've been pressing a little bit. It's important to bear down and just keep playing hard around the net. That's sort of how you get out of those funks, and that's what happened tonight."
Helminen had a clean faceoff win that led to Joe Jensen's goal that made it a 3-1 game early in the second period, and was credited with the secondary assist on Ryan's second goal.
"We've had a hard time scoring goals as a team and myself individually," Helminen said. "We had some good chances tonight, and were able to bury some. I was just trying to focus on the little things. You can't think about it too much or it's never going to happen. I just tried to concentrate on draws and defensive zone coverage and just battle."
On the winner, Helminen stole the puck from defenseman Andrey Plekhanov just outside the Syracuse blue line, skated in alone and roofed a shot over goalie Dan LaCosta's glove and under the crossbar.
"That's a goal-scorer's goal, going top shelf like that," Daniels said. "It was a goal we needed."
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In his first start in two weeks, Daniel Manzato was sharp for Albany, stopping 32 of 35 shots, including all 11 in the third period. He improved his record to 3-4-1-0.
"He made some big saves for us," Daniels said. "He's been sitting on the bench, but he's very, very professional in the way he handles himself. Even though he wasn't playing, he kept working off the ice and was very focused, just waiting for his chance."
In his last start, Manzato was pulled in a 6-3 road loss to Portland. He had eight saves on eight shots in his only appearance since then, relieving Peters in a 5-0 loss at Philadelphia Nov. 19.
"We practice very hard with assistant coach Geordie Kinnear, going on the ice early every day," Manzato said. "Game and practice is not the same, but I feel very comfortable in my net. We practice hard enough to stay in good shape. I was very happy to be in the net tonight, and we played well. The win was very important to us."
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The six goals were the most by a Rats team in a regular-season game since beating Hershey, 6-2, on March 19 (30 games) .... Ryan missed an open net on the game's first shift, or he could have become the first Albany player with a hat trick since Cody McLeod on Jan. 20, 2007. That is 137 games and counting .... Jakub Petruzalek extended his goal streak to three games (3-0-3) on a nice effort with 6:25 left in the third period. He got behind the defense and was able to redirect a great pass from D Bryan Rodney on LaCosta, then followed up and chipped in a bouncing puck .... Ryan has points in each of the last four games (2-2-4) .... D Brett Carson stretched his point streak to three games (0-4-4) wtih a pair of assists .... Rodney and Stefan Chaput, each returning from a four-game injury absence, both picked up an assist .... Daniels said none of injured Brett Bellemore, Benn Olson and Bobby Hughes are expected back in 2008. Hughes latest issue is not related to the neck injury that nearly ended his career last season. Olson is expected to miss 4-5 weeks with a broken thumb, suffered in a second-period fight with Binghamton's Chazz Johnson on Thursday.
