January 17, 2002

Skid ends with frustrating tie
Phil Janack
Special to The Plain Dealer

Albany, N.Y. - The streak is over.  Sort of. For the first time in eight games, the Barons didn't lose.

But they didn't win, either.

Cleveland rallied from a two-goal, first-period deficit to lead late into the third, but had to settle for a 4-4 tie with the Albany River Rats last night at Pepsi Arena.

Graig Mischler's second goal of the game gave the Barons a 4-3 lead with 6"23 remaining, but Steve Guolla netted the equalizer with 26.8 seconds left and Rats goalie Scott Clemmensen on the bench for an extra attacker.

Although it was the team's first point since its last win, Dec. 29 over Cincinnati, ending a seven-game losing streak was little consolation.

"I'm not satisfied with a tie at all, " head coach Roy Sommer said.  "We came back, battled back to make it a 4-3 game, and its the way we lost it.  It was an icing that shouldn't have been an icing, it should have been a chip play."

With Albany's net empty and the Rats pressing in Cleveland's end the Barons shot the puck up the ice, where it was touched up or an icing call, bringing the face off back into the Barons' defensive zone.  Guolla worked behind the net, where Ted Drury fed Brian Gionta in the right corner.

Gionta fired the puck out front, where Guolla tipped it over goaltender Vesa Toskala, who had gone down to play the pass.

"Twenty-three seconds left, you don't ice the puck there, in that situation," Sommer said.  "We should know better than that."

After a rough first period, where it fell into a 3-1 hole, Cleveland bounced back in the second.  Mischler made it a 3-2 game at 14:50 when he redirected a fluttering Brandon Smith wrist shot between Clemmensen's pads.

Just 89 seconds later, Mike Craig tied the game.  With Rats defenseman Benjamin Carpentier in the penalty box for holding Eric Laplante, Ryan Kraft pulled up behind the net and dropped the puck to Craig, who stuffed it in at the right post.

Mischler's goal, fired over a sliding Albany defenseman on a slapshot, gave the Barons their first lead.  Hannes Hyvonen opened the scoring 4:37 into the game.

The Rats had a chance to win it in overtime, but Andreas Salomonsson's one-timer rang off the crossbar with 2:47 left.

NOTES:  Rookie D Matt Carkner served the first of his two-game AHL suspension for making an obscene gesture during last weekend's loss in Chicago.  He is eligible to return Saturday at Portland.