The River Rats host Springfield tonight at the former Knickerbocker Arena, looking to delay being bounced from Calder Cup playoff contention.

Any combination of points won by Binghamton or lost by Albany adding up to four will eliminate the Rats. That could happen tonight, with a Rats regulation loss and Senators victory over Rochester at home.

The Falcons, meanwhile, were formally knocked from the playoffs in a 3-2 loss at Worcester last night. Springfield is last in the AHL with 22 wins and 55 points in 72 games.

Ex-Rat forward Shane Willis, who did not play in the Falcons other trip to Albany on Feb. 13, is in the lineup tonight. Signed to a 25-game pro tryout in mid-January, Willis has 11 points (3g, 8a) in 24 games. He signed a standard players contract on March 9.

Here's a fun fact that we may or may not have used before. Falcons assistant coach Gerry Fleming was a left wing on the 1994-95 Fredericton Canadiens team that lost to Albany in the Calder Cup finals. The 6-5 Fleming teamed with Donald Brashear as the Habs' enforcers. Fleming was a head coach in the ECHL the past eight years, the last seven for Carolina's AA farm team in Florida.

Albany D Brett Carson is not in warmups, replaced by Noah Babin, who was a healthy scratch for Jamie McBain's pro debut on Friday. McBain is wearing No. 34 tonight in place of the 27 he had to wear last night because the Rats are using special "Go Green" sweaters this weekend and 34 wasn't ready. The jerseys will be auctioned off for charity.

To the game. Justin Peters will be making his fourth straight start, to be opposed by Dany Sabourin.

Albany's line combinations from warmups: Pat Dwyer (C)-Brandon Sutter-Jakub Petruzalek; Yannick Tifu-Nick Dodge-Jerome Samson; Tomas Pospisil-Harrison Reed-Ryan Weston; Brad Herauf-Bobby Hughes-Aaron Clarke.

Defense combinations: Bryan Rodney (A)-Jamie McBain; Ryan McGinnis-Mark Flood (A); Benn Olson-Noah Babin.

Scratches: Brett Carson, Mike Angelidis (A), Stefan Chaput, Joe Jensen, Cory Quirk, Nicolas Blanchard, Jonathan Paiement, Casey Borer, Trevor Gillies (A).

Springfield's lines: Ryan Stone-Ryan Potulny (A)-Jordan Eberle; Rob Schremp-Ryan O'Marra-Shane Willis; Giullaume Lefebvre (A)-Tyler Spurgeon-Colin McDonald; Milan Maslonka-Cory Urquhart-Hans Benson.

Defense pairings: Bryan Young-Mathieu Roy (A); Cody Wild-Taylor Chorney; Mike Gabinet-Rob Bina; Chorney-Cleve Kinley.

Scratches: Rob Bina, Jake Taylor, Charles Linglet, Bryan Lerg, Tim Sestito (C), Jeffrey Lee, Viachaslav Trukhno, Stephane Goulet, Gilbert Brule, Geoff Paukovich, Kelly Czuy.

Here are some leftovers from Friday's game:

* - Rats coach Jeff Daniels was pleased with the play of McBain, who was paired with Rodney at even strength and on the power play. McBain also saw time on the penalty kill.

"I thought he was good," Daniels said. "He showed some poise with the puck. He did a good job jumping into the play, not just for the sake of jumping in but he read it well. I'm sure he had some nerves,a nd we threw a lot at him system-wise and I thought he handled it fairly well. He'll just get better."

* - Paiement, who has not played since being hurt in the team's Feb. 19 bus crash, remains unable to play following his latest doctor's visit on Thursday. Daniels was uncertain of a return for Paiement, who shed the yellow non-contact sweater and took part in regular practice this week.

* - Working Friday's game in Norfolk between the Admirals and Grand Rapids, AHL referee Chris Cozzan was cut in the neck by a player's skate and rushed to Norfolk General Hospital for emergency surgery after being helped on the ice by medical personnel and team trainers and doctors. Cozzan is expected to make a full recovery.