Attack's big win brings playoffs to Capital Region
Albany thumps Express, 14-6, securing home-field advantage
Chad Gambone (Outsider's Guide Game Correspondent)

With fans of five franchises interested in the result of Sunday's season-closing game, the Albany Attack produced a resounding 14-6 victory over the Montreal Express in front of 3,562 fans at Pepsi Arena, showing why the third-year franchises must be considered one of the favorites to win the Champions Cup this season.

The win clinched the top record in the league for the Attack, the first time in ten years that a team other than Philadelphia, Buffalo, or Toronto has held that title.

Mat Giles opened the scoring for the Express almost four minutes into the tilt, but that would be the last lead the Express would hold. Four goals in just over four minutes, by Gary Rosyski, Jamie Grimoldby, Nick Trudeau, and Mark Cochrane, gave the Attack a three-goal cushion after ten minutes of play. Josh Sanderson assisted on the Grimoldby goal at 5:12 of the first quarter, snapping John Tavares' single-season assist record in the process. Tracey Kelusky cut the deficit to two, but Josh Sanderson got into the goal column to end the first quarter at 5-2, Albany.

Kelusky scored again to open the second quarter, this time on an early power play, trying to start a run for the Express, but Albany's defense and Rob Blasdell shut the door. It was the last Express marker for 21 minutes, during which time Dan Teat, Mike Regan, and Josh Sanderson ran the score to 8-3 by halftime. The shots on goal were even at 26 at the break, clearly showing the difference in goaltending which was the difference in the match all evening.

Trudeau scored three minutes into the second half to move to a six-goal cushion. The Express' Purnell decided it was time to stir up his team, so he picked a fight by jumping into the Albany bench, for which he was duly ejected from play. Josh Sanderson scored to make it 10-3 in favor of the home side, then finally Kelusky got the Express back on the board with a power play goal midway through the quarter.

Bruce Alexander became the first Express player not named Kelusky to score since Giles' opening tally, to bring Montreal to within five. The Attack then took a series of penalties, and Montreal had its opening to get back into the game and save the season. Instead, Blasdell threaded the needle with a pass to Nick Trudeau, who scored a breakaway, three-on-five shorthanded goal to push the score to 11-5, and effectively end all resistance from the Express.

In the fourth, Trudeau, Rosyski, and Teat each tallied in the first six minutes to balloon the lead to 14-5. Ted Dowling closed the scoring with a garbage time goal with under two minutes to play. Attack goaltender Rob Blasdell made 49 saves on 55 shots tonight, good enough to earn him Game MVP honors. Montreal's starting goalie, Curtis Palidwor, made 27 saves on 41 shots in 51:38 before being relieved by Alain Lalumiere, who stopped all four shots he faced.

The Attack will now await the winner of Saturday's quarterfinal battle between the Rochester Knighthawks and the Vancouver Ravens. The semifinal game in Albany will be played at 7:30 PM on Saturday, 6 April. The loss drops the Montreal Express to 8-8 and into a three-way tie with Philadelphia and Buffalo for the 6th seed; however, Montreal's season is over because Philadelphia won the tiebreaker.

Game Report reprinted with permission from The Outsider's Guide to the NLL. (Original text is here.)