2013–14 Albany Devils season

2013–14 Albany Devils
Division	4th Northeast Division
Conference	9th
2013–14 record	5–5–0–1 (11 pts)
Home record	4–3–0–1
Road record	1–2–0–0
Goals for	25
Goals against	29
Team information
General Manager	Chris Lamoriello
Coach	Rick Kowalsky
Assistant Coach	Tommy Albelin Dave Caruso Sergei Brylin
Captain	Rod Pelley
Alternate captains	Chris McKelvie Tim Sestito Mike Sislo
Arena	Times Union Center
Team leaders
Goals	Scott Timmins (5) Joseph Whitney (5)
Assists	Scott Timmins (6) Joseph Whitney (6)
Points	Scott Timmins (11) Joseph Whitney (11)
Penalties in minutes	Seth Helgeson (26)
Plus/minus	(+) Joseph Whitney (+5) (–) Brandon Burlon (–4) (–) Chris McKelvie (–4)
Wins	Scott Wedgewood (3)
Goals against average	Keith Kinkaid (1.97)
< 2012–13 2014–15 >

The 2013–14 Albany Devils season is the franchise's 4th season in the American Hockey League, which began on October 6, 2013. The team lost 21 skaters from the previous season, resulting in a much younger roster of players.

Off-season

Former New Jersey Devils center Sergei Brylin was hired in September as an Albany assistant coach, joining Tommy Albelin and Dave Caruso.^[1] Albany saw a significant amount of turnover in the off-season, losing two of the prior year's three highest scorers in forwards Matt Anderson and Steven Zalewski left for Finland.^[2] Seven experience players with at least 28 games with Albany last year departed from the organization, including Anderson, Zalewski, defenseman Jay Leach, goaltender Jeff Frazee, and forwards Bobby Butler, Phil DeSimone and Chad Wiseman. Other departures included defensemen Matt Corrente, Stefan Stepanov,^[3] and Alexander Urbom;^[4] and forwards Jean-Sébastien Bérubé, Bryan Haczyk and Scott Parse.^[3]

Veteran center Rod Pelley joined the team, having previously played for the New Jersey Devils and Lowell Devils. He was assigned the new team captain.^[2] Center Tim Sestito, who was re-signed to a new contract in the off-season,^[2] was named full-time alternate captain, while Chris McKelvie and Mike Sislo would rotate as the second alternate.^[5] Rookies Seth Helgeson, Jon Merrill and Reid Boucher started their first full seasons this year, and Albany signed new players Stefan Matteau, Reece Scarlett and Scott Timmins.^[3] Albany also re-signed Joseph Whitney, their top scorer from the previous year,^[2] and agreed to a two-year contract with Darcy Zajac, who had played with the team for three previous seasons but was not under contract with the team.^[6] Goaltender Scott Wedgewood also joined the Devils, having played most of the previous season with the ECHL's Trenton Titans.^[7]

By the end of the off-season, the Albany starting roster lacked 21 skaters who had played the previous season,^[3] Only seven of the players were older than 25,^[8] and Pelley, Sestito and goalie Cam Janssen were the only three with more than three seasons of experience with Albany.^[3] The team included four professional rookies, and three others with less than a half-season of experience in the American Hockey League level or higher.^[8] Head coach Rick Kowalsky described the new line-up as "probably the youngest team I've had in four years",^[3] but felt the roster included a good mix of experience and youthful energy.^[3]

Albany played in two road games during the preseason and won both of them. The first was a 4–3 shootout victory on September 26 against the Hartford Wolf Pack, who the Devils outshot 41 to 15. Boucher, Artem Demkov and Dmitry Goldenkov each scored on the shootout.^[9] Albany also defeated the Adirondack Phantoms 3–2 on September 28.^[10] The Devils sent several players to ECHL after the preseason ended, including forward Demkov,^[11] goaltender Maxime Clermont, and defensemen Raman Hrabarenka and Harry Young.^[12]

2013–14 Preseason Game Log: 2–0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0–0; Road: 2–0–0–0)
# Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Record 1 September 26 Albany 4–3 Hartford SO Wedgewood 1–0–0–0 2 September 28 Albany 3–2 Adirondack Clermont 2–0–0–0

Regular season

October

The Devils had only one regulation loss in their first seven games, marking their best start to a season in franchise history.^[13] Additionally, Timmins had a goal or assist in each of the team's first nine games, the second-longest point streak in franchise history, behind Michael Swift's 10-game run in 2010–11.^[14] Albany lost their October 6 season opener 4–3 against the Wolf Pack. Timmins scored the team's first goal of the season just 51 seconds into the game, the team squandered two leads and failed to capitalize on two of three power plays.^[15] The Devils won their next two games, including their first victorious home opener in four seasons with a 3–2 win over the Utica Comets. The crowd of 3,424 was the lowest for a home opener in the team's 21-year history.^[16] Albany also defeated the Phantoms 4–1 on October 14, killing all eight of Adirondack's power plays and scoring on two of their own five such chances. Sestito scored twice, and Whitney scored his third goal in as many games.^[17][18] The Devils next split a pair of away games against the Norfolk Admirals,^[19][20] starting with a 2–1 shootout loss on October 18. Eric Gelinas scored the sole goal, and the team failed to score during the shootout.^[19]

The next day's game also went to a shootout, but the Devils won 2–1 after Matteau and Whitney scored in the shootout, while Wedgewood stopped all four of Norfolk's shots.^[20] Gelinas was recalled to the New Jersey Devils on October 23 to replace the injured Bryce Salvador,^[21] while Darcy Zajac and Mike Sislo were each taken out of play in Albany due to upper-body injuries. Kelly Zajac, Darcy's younger brother, was called up to Albany from the Trenton Titans.^[22] After winning their next two games on October 23 and 25,^[13][23] goalie Keith Kinkaid was called up to the New Jersey Devils to replace the injured Cory Schneider.^[24] The newly-reduced Albany saw their seven-game point streak end with a 5–2 loss to the Portland Pirates on October 26, which began a four-game losing streak for the team. The game was briefly delayed after Seth Helgeson checked Portland's Jordan Szwarz into the boards and shattered the Plexiglas; shards of glass struck at least two people in the crowd, but nobody was seriously injured.^[25] By the end of the month, the line of Boucher, Timmins and Whitney had scored 15 of Albany's 24 goals, prompting Rick Kowalsky to express concern with a lack of offense from the rest of the roster.^[26]

November

The Devils suffered their first shutout loss on November 1, falling 3–0 to the Norfolk Admirals in a game that placed their winning record below .500 for the first time all season.^[27] The Devils also lost 3–1 the next day to the Phantoms, who scored three times before Joeffel finally scored for Albany. Clermont made 27 saves in his first start for the season.^[28] Jon Merrill was recalled to the New Jersey Devils on November 3, and Kinkaid was returned to Albany.^[29]

Standings

Divisional standings

	Northeast Division[30]	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	Pts	GF	GA
1	Springfield Falcons (CBJ)	14	10	3	0	1	21	38	32
2	Albany Devils (NJ)	17	10	6	0	1	21	44	39
3	Hartford Wolf Pack (NYR)	17	8	7	0	2	18	48	58
4	Adirondack Phantoms (PHI)	15	7	6	0	2	16	36	38
5	Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI)	14	4	8	1	1	10	36	51

After games of November 20, 2013

Conference standings

	Eastern Conference[31]	Div	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	Pts	GF	GA
1	^*y– Manchester Monarchs (LAK)	AT	76	48	19	3	6	105	244	188
2	^*y– Springfield Falcons (CBJ)	NE	76	47	23	1	5	100	247	212
3	^*y– Binghamton Senators (OTT)	ET	76	44	24	3	5	96	276	232
4	x– St. John's IceCaps (WPG)	AT	76	46	23	2	5	99	258	207
5	x– Albany Devils (NJD)	NE	76	40	23	5	8	93	220	193
6	x– Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (PIT)	ET	76	42	26	3	5	92	206	185
7	x– Providence Bruins (BOS)	AT	76	40	25	2	9	91	233	210
8	x– Norfolk Admirals (ANA)	ET	76	40	26	3	7	90	201	192
9	e– Hershey Bears (WSH)	ET	76	39	27	5	5	88	221	213
10	e– Hartford Wolf Pack (NYR)	NE	76	37	32	1	6	81	202	220
11	e– Worcester Sharks (SJS)	AT	76	36	34	4	2	78	189	226
12	e– Syracuse Crunch (TBL)	ET	76	31	32	4	9	75	198	232
13	e– Adirondack Phantoms (PHI)	NE	76	30	38	2	6	68	182	225
14	e– Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI)	NE	76	28	40	2	6	64	183	238
15	e– Portland Pirates (PHX)	AT	76	24	39	3	10	61	222	284

* = Division leaders are seeded 1, 2, and 3 in Conference standings.
The top eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs.
 y–  indicates team has clinched division and a playoff spot
 x–  indicates team has clinched a playoff spot
 e–  indicates team has been eliminated from playoff contention

Schedule and results

2013–14 Game Log – Regular season
October: 5–3–0–1 (Home: 4–2–0–1 ; Road: 1–1–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Gamesheet 1 October 6 Albany 3–4 Hartford Kinkaid 2,128 0–1–0–0 0 Gamesheet 2 October 12 Utica 2–3 Albany Kinkaid 3,424 1–1–0–0 2 Gamesheet 3 October 14 Adirondack 1–4 Albany Wedgewood 2,222 2–1–0–0 4 Gamesheet 4 October 18 Albany 1–2 Norfolk SO Kinkaid 3,406 2–1–0–1 5 Gamesheet 5 October 19 Albany 2–1 Norfolk SO Wedgewood 4,330 3–1–0–1 7 Gamesheet 6 October 23 Albany 4–1 Utica Kinkaid 3,815 4–1–0–1 9 Gamesheet 7 October 25 Hartford 3–4 Albany Wedgewood 2,345 5–1–0–1 11 Gamesheet 8 October 26 Portland 5–2 Albany Wedgewood 2,099 5–2–0–1 11 Gamesheet 9 October 30 Syracuse 4–1 Albany Wedgewood 1,535 5–3–0–1 11 Gamesheet
November: 0–2–0–0 (Home: 0–1–0–0 ; Road: 0–1–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Gamesheet 10 November 1 Norfolk 3–0 Albany Wedgewood 4,009 5–4–0–1 11 Gamesheet 11 November 2 Albany 1–3 Adirondack Clermont 3,936 5–5–0–1 11 Gamesheet 12 November 5 Albany Bridgeport 13 November 8 Albany WB/Scranton 14 November 9 Adirondack Albany 15 November 11 Bridgeport Albany 16 November 15 Albany Hartford 17 November 16 Albany Syracuse 18 November 20 Hartford Albany 19 November 22 Albany Springfield 20 November 23 Albany Adirondack 21 November 29 Adirondack Albany 22 November 30 Bridgeport Albany
December: 0–0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Gamesheet 23 December 4 Springfield Albany 24 December 7 Albany Binghamton 25 December 13 Bridgeport Albany 26 December 14 Hartford Albany 27 December 21 Albany Binghamton 28 December 22 Albany Bridgeport 29 December 27 Adirondack Albany 30 December 28 Portland Albany 31 December 29 Albany Bridgeport
January: 0–0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Gamesheet 32 January 3 Springfield Albany 33 January 4 Albany Adirondack 34 January 7 Springfield Albany 35 January 10 Albany Springfield 36 January 11 Manchester Albany 37 January 12* Hershey Albany 38 January 17 Albany Utica 39 January 18 Albany Adirondack 40 January 19 Albany Hershey 41 January 24 Binghamton Home 42 January 25 Adirondack Albany 43 January 26 Binghamton Albany 44 January 31 Bridgeport Albany * Game to be played at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey
February: 0–0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Gamesheet 45 February 1 Albany Hartford 46 February 4 Albany Springfield 47 February 8 Albany Bridgeport 48 February 9 Albany Manchester 49 February 14* Hershey Albany 50 February 15 Adirondack Albany 51 February 16 Albany Bridgeport 52 February 21 Albany Adirondack 53 February 22 Norfolk Albany 54 February 23 Utica Albany * Game to be played at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey
March: 0–0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Gamesheet 55 March 1* WB/Scranton Albany 56 March 2 Albany Providence 57 March 7 Albany Portland 58 March 8 Albany Hartford 59 March 9 Albany Worcester 60 March 14 Albany Springfield 61 March 15 Hartford Albany 62 March 16 Syracuse Albany 63 March 19 Binghamton Albany 64 March 22 Albany Syracuse 65 March 23* WB/Scranton Albany 66 March 28 Albany Hershey 67 March 29 Worcester Albany 68 March 30 Binghamton Albany * Game to be played at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey
April: 0–0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Gamesheet 69 April 4 Albany Syracuse 70 April 5 Albany WB/Scranton 71 April 6 Albany Adirondack 72 April 11 Bridgeport Albany 73 April 12 Providence Albany 74 April 13 Syracuse Albany 75 April 18 Albany Home 76 April 19 Springfield Albany
Legend:       Win (2 points)       Loss (0 points)       Overtime/shootout loss (1-point)

Player statistics

Skaters

Note: GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes
Updated as of November 3, 2013^[32]

Regular Season Player GP G A Pts +/- PIM Timmins, ScottScott Timmins 11 5 6 11 4 6 Whitney, JosephJoseph Whitney 11 5 6 11 5 10 Boucher, ReidReid Boucher^* 11 3 5 8 1 2 Merrill, JonJon Merrill^‡ 11 2 5 7 0 0 Sestito, TimTim Sestito 11 2 1 3 −3 9 Gelinas, EricEric Gelinas^‡ 5 1 2 3 2 4 McKelvie, ChrisChris McKelvie 11 1 2 3 −4 13 Hoeffel, MikeMike Hoeffel 7 2 0 2 −1 4 Helgeson, SethSeth Helgeson^* 11 0 2 2 −2 26 Kelly, DanDan Kelly 11 0 2 2 −3 15 Pesonen, HarriHarri Pesonen 11 0 2 2 −2 12 Sislo, MikeMike Sislo 7 1 0 1 −1 2 Matteau, StefanStefan Matteau^* 10 1 0 1 −3 4 Wohlberg, DavidDavid Wohlberg 10 1 0 1 −2 6 Zajac, DarcyDarcy Zajac 4 0 1 1 −3 12 Zajac, KellyKelly Zajac^* 5 0 1 1 −2 0 McPherson, CorbinCorbin McPherson 9 0 1 1 1 13 Scarlett, ReeceReece Scarlett^* 9 0 1 1 −2 2 Burlon, BrandonBrandon Burlon 10 0 1 1 −4 6 Janssen, CamCam Janssen 11 0 1 1 −2 15 Pelley, RodRod Pelley 11 0 1 1 0 4 Boychuk, RileyRiley Boychuk 6 0 0 0 0 0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining team. Stats reflect time with the team only.
^‡Left the team mid-season
^*Rookie

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time on Ice; W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; SV = Saves; SA = Shots Against; SV% = Save Percentage; SO = Shutouts; G = Goals; A = Assists; PIM = Penalty Minutes
Updated as of November 3, 2013^[33]

Regular Season

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SV	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Kinkaid, KeithKeith Kinkaid	4	243:35	2	2	8	1.97	83	91	.912	0	0	0	0
Clermont, MaximeMaxime Clermont	2	90:03	0	1	3	2.00	36	39	.923	0	0	0	0
Wedgewood, ScottScott Wedgewood^*	6	331:56	3	3	15	2.71	116	131	.885	0	0	0	0
Totals		665:34	5	6	26	2.34	235	261	.900	0	0	0	0

^‡Left the team mid-season
^*Rookie

Milestones

Player	Milestone	Reached
Stefan Matteau	1st AHL Game	October 6, 2013	[34]
Reece Scarlett	1st AHL Game 1st AHL Assist	October 12, 2013	[35]
Seth Helgeson	1st AHL Assist	October 23, 2013	[36]
Stefan Matteau	1st AHL Goal	October 25, 2013	[13]

References

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2. Dougherty, Pete (September 15, 2013). "Depth could mean goals for Albany Devils". Times Union. Archived from the original on September 18, 2013. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
3. Cain, Bill (October 7, 2013). "Really, really big Albany Devils preview". The Daily Gazette. Archived from the original on October 8, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
4. Carrera, Katie (October 3, 2013). "Capitals acquire Alexander Urbom, assign Michael Latta to Hershey (updated)". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 8, 2013. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
5. Janack, Phil (October 13, 2013). "McKelvie, Sislo join Devils' leadership group". The Record. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
6. Tucker, Cam (July 7, 2013). "Devils sign another, younger Zajac". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on September 18, 2013. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
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18. Nearhos, Diana (October 15, 2013). "Phantoms lackluster on power play, lose to Albany". The Post-Star. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
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24. Chere, Rich (October 26, 2013). "Devils: Cory Schneider hurt; Keith Kinkaid recalled from Albany". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on October 30, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
25. Dougherty, Pete (October 27, 2013). "Albany's point streak snapped by Portland". Times Union. Archived from the original on October 30, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
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28. Dougherty, Pete (November 2, 2013). "Devils lose fourth straight; Phantoms win fourth straight". Times Union. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
29. Chere, Rich (November 3, 2013). "Devils recall Jon Merrill from Albany (AHL); Cory Schneider activated". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
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33. "Goalies – 2013–14 Regular Season – Albany Devils". American Hockey League. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
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External links

• Albany Devils official website