Friday, March 21, 2008

Devils Throttled by Admirals, 6-1
Lowell looks to rebound in rematch on Saturday night

NORFOLK, Va. – The Lowell Devils allowed five unanswered goals as the Norfolk Admirals skated to a 6-1 victory on Friday night at the Norfolk Scope.    

With the game tied 1-1 in the second, Norfolk broke the game wide open with three goals before the end of the period.  Justin Keller put the Admirals up by one at 12:09 when he was left alone on the near post to deposit the rebound from Sean Hurley’s shot from the blueline.  Five minutes later, it was Norfolk making the score 3-1 after Radek Smolenak wrapped his second goal of the night inside the near post.  The Admirals were able to take a comfortable three-goal cushion 31 seconds before the intermission as Brandon Segal cut into slot and fired a low wrister that slid under the pad of Dave Caruso. 

The Devils found themselves down 1-0 after one despite launching 19 shots at Norfolk goalie Marc Denis and also owning over a minute of a 5-on-3 advantage.  Instead it was the Admirals converting on their lone power play of the period as Smolenak redirected Blair Jones’ point shot into the net at 18:11.

Though the Devils had their frustrations on the man-advantage for much of the night, they were able to knot the score with a power play early in the second period.  A broken rush for Lowell found its way into the Admirals zone, where Nicklas Bergfors beat Denis with a wrist shot from the near circle at 9:27.   Lowell went 1-for-6 on the man-advantage in the game.

Already holding a 4-1 lead entering the final frame, Norfolk completed the scoring on goals from Jones at 3:05 and Rob Klinkhammer with 35.6 seconds left in regulation.  Caruso made 17 saves as the Devils dropped their fourth straight contest.  Lowell was 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.   

The Devils complete their two-game set against the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday, March 22 at 7:15 p.m.  Listen to all of the Devils’ action on WCAP-980AM with Ryan Johnston bringing you all of the play-by-play.  The Devils’ next home game will be Dollar Dawg Night on Wednesday, March 26 to battle the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7:05 p.m.  Tickets start at just $10.  Call the Devils office at (978) 458-PUCK for more information or visit www.lowelldevilshockey.com

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