AMERKS BLANKED BY MARLIES IN FIRST OF WEEKEND SET
Feb 26, 2022Despite several scoring opportunities early on, the Rochester Americans (25-19-3-2) were unable to solve the Toronto Marlies (24-14-3-1) in a 4-0 loss in the front-end of a home-and-home series between the two teams Saturday afternoon at The Blue Cross Arena.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | FINAL |
| Toronto | 1 | 0 | 3 | -- | -- | 4 |
| Rochester | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | 0 |
POST-GAME REPORT GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY
The shutout loss was Rochester’s first of the season and first on home ice since Feb. 15, 2019 against the Syracuse Crunch, a span of three years and 11 days. The Amerks, who have one point in five of their last nine games, show a record of 10-6-1-0 in their last 17 meetings with the Marlies dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.
Forward Nick Pastujov, who joined the club earlier this week after signing a Professional Tryout (PTO), led all Amerk skaters with a team-high four shots on goal while Brandon Davidson paced all Rochester blueliners with three.
Goaltender Aaron Dell (7-3-1) made a season-high 36 saves, including 16 in the second period, but suffered just his third regulation loss of the season. In nine of his 11 appearances this season, he has made 25 or more saves while also averaging 30 shots-against.
WATCH: GAME HIGHLIGHTS
Joey Anderson (1+2) led the Marlies, who entered the contest with points in eight of their last 10 contests dating back to Jan. 24, with a three-point outing, his third of the season and second in his last three outings. Brett Seney, Alex Steeves, and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev rounded out the scoring on the afternoon as first-year netminder Erik Källgren (14-6-1) earned his first professional shutout.
Less than four minutes into the contest, Anderson pushed the puck out of the Marlies zone before joining Seney on a two-on-one odd-man rush into the Amerks side of the ice. Seney carried the puck across the blueline before quickly snapping a shot over Dell’s glove to open the scoring at the 3:32 mark.
WATCH: JIMMY SCHULDT POST-GAME
Following the intermission break, the North Division rivals combined for 24 penalty minutes and 21 shots but both Dell and Källgren made timely saves to keep the game a 1-0 score going into the final period of regulation.
In the third frame, Rochester was called for a high-sticking infraction before Toronto capitalized on the man-advantage to build a 2-0 lead 5:19 into the period with Steeves’ 16th goal of the season.
WATCH: SETH APPERT POST-GAME
Six minutes after the goal, the Amerks hoped to gain some energy following a successful 5-on-3 penalty kill, but Der-Arguchintsev scored 14 seconds after the second infraction as he wired a shot past the glove-hand of Dell.
Rochester, in a final attempt to spoil the Marlies’ shutout bid, was awarded its fifth power-play of the contest with 1:38 left in regulation and pulled Dell for the extra attacker. Despite the two additional skaters, the Amerks saw a point shot blocked before Anderson sealed the 4-0 win with his team-leading 18th goal of the season with 1:25 remaining.
WATCH: BRENDAN WARREN POST-GAME
The same two teams are back in action again for the second straight day as the home-and-home series shifts north of the border on Sunday, Feb. 27 for a 4 p.m. rematch at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The contest will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
|
TORONTO |
GAMECENTER |
ROCHESTER |
|
B. Seney (14), A. Steeves (16), S. Der-Arguchintsev (10, J. Anderson (18) |
GOAL-SCORERS |
None |
|
GOALTENDERS |
|
|
1-6 |
POWER-PLAY |
0-5 |
|
5-5 |
PENALTY KILL |
5-6 |
|
40 |
SHOTS ON GOAL |
22 |