River Rats season winds down

The Albany River Rats will conclude their regular season tomorrow with a game at the Philadelphia Phantoms. Both teams have qualified for the playoffs. The Rats can neither gain nor lose ground in the Eastern Conference standings, but the Phantoms have a lot on the line. They are three points back of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with two games to play. They have a chance to take the East Division crown.

In the final week of the season, the playoff seeds are nowhere close to being set, but Albany knows that they will have the #6 seed.

Last night in Albany, the Rats lost to the Baby Penguins 4-3. Dave Gove potted two goals to beat his former team.

In other Rats news, Mike Leighton was recently awarded the Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award, given annually to the best goaltender in the AHL. I don't think there's any doubt that he will be the #2 goaltender in Raleigh next season. Crackers never really got the job done. To his credit, he didn't pout and stomp around when it became clear that his role was never to leave the bench, but he just isn't a serviceable NHL goaltender anymore. Maybe John Tortarella isn't so much of an asshole after all. Nah. He's still an asshole, even if he was right about Grahame.

Anyway, look for the re-signing of Leighton to be a high priority for the Canes this summer. Samsonov is first. Acquiring defense is second. Getting Leighton signed should be right up there.

When the standings/ Calder Cup seedings are settled, I'll get more into that.

Go Rats!