AMERKS RALLY FOR 4-3 WIN OVER COMETS
Rochester closes out weekend with consecutive wins over intrastate rivals
Mar 23, 2025A pair of goals 19 seconds apart during the second period sparked a four-goal rally for the Rochester Americans, who went on to top the intrastate rival Utica Comets by a 4-3 final in the weekend finale Sunday evening at Blue Cross Arena.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POST-GAME REPORT
For the first time in March, Rochester has won consecutive games and improve to 37-18-3-3 on the season, sitting six points back of Laval for first in the North Division. Utica lost on back-to-back nights, remaining last in the North Division with a 24-29-5-2 record.
Rookie forward Noah Östlund remained hot, scoring his 15th goal of the season to put Rochester ahead early in the third period. Fellow Swedes Erik Brännström and Anton Wahlberg scored, while Nikita Novikov also found the back of the net.
Devon Levi recorded 33 saves for his 21st win of the season. He is one of five goaltenders in the league with more than 20 wins. Nico Daws suffered the loss for the Comets while making 32 saves.
FIRST PERIOD
Utica jumped on the attack early, scoring the first goal of the game just 2:49 into the contest. Joe Gambardella was skating down the ice for a breakaway that was broken up at the last second. Gambardella, however, recollected the puck behind the goal, shuffling it to the net-front for Filip Engaras to solve Levi for the 1-0 lead.
SECOND PERIOD
Utica doubled its lead by capitalizing off a Rochester turnover behind its own goal. In doing so, Marc McLaughlin went back to corral the puck before twisting it toward Brian Halonen at the front of the goal for his team-leading 22nd of the season, doubling the Comets’ advantage.
Levi neutralized the remainder of Utica’s second-period chances, making 17 saves in the frame to keep Rochester within a pair of goals. The red, white, and blue began their comeback later in the frame with 61 seconds to play.
Zachary Metsa flicked a puck from the right point that was knocked down toward the net-front where Novikov was planted off to the left side. The pinching defenseman chipped the puck over the blocker side of Daws, making it a 2-1 game.
Just 19 seconds passed, and Rochester evened the score.
Konsta Helenius scooped the puck on a turnover in Utica’s attacking end, racing down the right wing in transition. As soon as he gained the Comets blueline, he sent a perfect cross-ice pass to a streaking Brännström, who caught it in stride before picking the upper right corner of Daws to make it 2-2 going into the third period.
THIRD PERIOD
The comeback culminated 70 seconds into the third period when Riley Fiddler-Schultz chased a puck into the corner, then drug it out toward the side of the goal. .
As he got there, Fiddler-Schultz found a streaking Östlund marching down the center of the slot. Östlund connected for his fourth goal of the weekend and 15th of the season, nabbing the Amerks a 3-2 lead by converting on the team’s third goal in a span of 2:11.
Utica was held to 11 shots in the third, but with the goaltender pulled, Josh Dunne brought the puck through the neutral zone and into the attacking end before spinning it to Wahlberg for the empty-net conversion, making it 4-2.
Utica would go on to score once more in the final second of the game.
STARS AND STRIPES
Östlund extended his point streak to four games (4+2) and has 26 points (14+12) over his last 25 games… The Amerks are 9-0-0-0 lifetime when Novikov scores … Brännström has scored four goals in five games as an Amerk … Rochester ends its season series with the Comets owning a 10-1-0-1 record, including taking five of six games on home ice.
UP NEXT
The Amerks host the Bridgeport Islanders for the first time since the team visited the Flower City for opening night 2023. The game will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Friday night, as well as AHLTV on FloHockey. The matchup will also be televised locally on CW Rochester.
Goal Scorers
UTC: F. Engaras (3), B. Halonen (22), A. Strand (3)
ROC: N. Novikov (6), E. Brännström (7), N. Östlund (15), A. Wahlberg (10-EN/GWG)
Goaltenders
UTC: N. Daws – 32/35 (L)
ROC: D. Levi – 33/36 (W)
Shots
UTC: 36
ROC: 36
Special Teams
UTC: PP (0/1) | PK (3/3)
ROC: PP (0/3) | PK (1/1)
Three Stars:
1. ROC – N. Östlund
2. ROC– E. Brännström
3. ROC - N. Novikov