AMERKS SURVIVE LATE PUSH FROM COMETS FOR THIRD STRAIGHT WIN
Fiddler-Schultz, Helenius, Murray each record two points in 3-2 win over Utica
Dec 4, 2024The Rochester Americans (10-6-3-0) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second period before holding off a late push by the Utica Comets (5-11-1-2) for a 3-2 victory Wednesday night at Blue Cross Arena.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POST-GAME REPORT
With the win, Rochester has earned at least one point in 13 of its last 17 games dating back to Oct. 23 and has won three consecutive contests. Additionally, the Amerks improved to 4-1-0-0 through the first five meetings with Utica this season and have outscored the Comets 20-11 over that span.
The line trio of Brett Murray, Konsta Helenius, and Riley Fiddler Schultz combined for three goals and three assists as they helped the Amerks to their second straight 3-2 victory. Fiddler-Schultz’s two-point outing was his first of his AHL career while Helenius notched his second of the season. Murray, who began the night with four goals over his last six outings, netted his first even strength goal of the season and seventh overall.
Zachary Metsa and Graham Slaggert both notched an assist on Fiddler-Schutlz’s second-period goal to close out the scoring.
In his sixth appearance with Rochester this season and fourth consecutive, goaltender Devon Levi (4-1-1) made 21 saves to earn his third straight win. The second-year netminder has held the opposition to three or fewer goals in all but six of his 32 appearances with the Amerks.
FIRST PERIOD
While neither team capitalized on its initial power-play of the contest, Rochester broke the scoreless contest in the waning minutes of the first period.
With less than four minutes left in the opening frame, the Comets won a face-off to the right of Levi. A Comet attempted a shot after the draw, but instead rimmed the puck around the boards for Murray to swat out of the zone. Fiddler-Schultz scooped the puck near center ice and raced towards Poulter on an odd-man rush. As the Edmonton, Alberta, native reached the face-off dot inside the Comets zone, he provided a feed for Helenius to steer into back of the net at the 16:55 mark.
Rochester carried the lead into the intermission break along with a narrow 9-8 shot-advantage.
SECOND PERIOD
Four minutes after Levi gloved a 2-on-1 odd-man rush by Nolan Foote and Brian Halonen, Rochester used the momentum to double its score with 8:29 left in the middle stanza.
As the puck was exiting the Amerks zone, Fiddler-Schultz made sure it completely crossed the blueline and was pinned against the boards in the neutral zone. After Metsa dug the puck out and Slaggert dumped it into the right wing of Utica’s zone, the blueliner retrieved it again. As the Metsa faced the net, he dropped it back to Fiddler-Schultz to snap past the blocker of Poulter to double Rochester’s lead with 8:29 left in the stanza.
Prior to the completion of the period, Murray knocked down an attempted clearing attempt out of the Comets zone before quickly pushing it deeper in-between the hashmarks for Helenius to steal back. The rookie forward gained ownership of the puck and then dropped it back for Murray to wire past the right arm of the netminder for his seventh of the campaign.
THIRD PERIOD
Trailing by three goals and facing their potential fifth shutout of the season, Utica struck twice for a pair of tallies in the final 11 minutes.
The Comets tried to dump the puck into the offensive zone to Levi’s left, but Murray again knocked it down. As the loose puck was in the corner, Adam Beckman passed it to Xavier Parent behind the net and the latter centered it for Mike Hardman to fire it by the Amerks’ goaltender at the 8:44 mark.
To close out the scoring, Utica pulled Poulter in the final 90 seconds of regulation, and as he was on the bench for an extra skater, Hardman again netted another goal to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Despite allowing a pair of goals, Rochester preserved its one-goal lead for the final nine seconds to earn the 3-2 victory.
STARS AND STRIPES
With his secondary assist on Fiddler-Schultz’s marker, Graham Slaggert, who has four points (1+3) over his last five games, has matched a career-high six assists in 25 fewer games this season … Zachary Metsa is tied for second-most in the AHL amongst all defensemen with a team-leading 12 assists as his 13 points rank eighth… Despite making only six appearances with the Amerks this season, Devon Levi is 10th in the league with a 2.28 goals-against-average while he is one of 21 netminders to record at least one shutout.
UP NEXT
The Amerks set out on a season-long five-game road swing beginning with the front-end of a back-to-back set with the Charlotte Checkers on Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:00 p.m. All the action from Bojangles Coliseum will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
Goal Scorers
UTC: M. Hardman (6, 7)
ROC: K. Helenius (6), R. Fiddler-Schultz (1), B. Murray (7 – GWG)
Goaltenders
UTC: I. Poulter – 20/23 (L)
ROC: D. Levi – 21/23 (W)
Shots
UTC: 23
ROC: 23
Special Teams
UTC: PP (0/2) | PK (2/2)
ROC: PP (0/2) | PK (2/2)
Three Stars:
1. ROC - R. Fiddler-Schultz
2. ROC - B. Murray
3. UTC - M. Hardman