AMERKS TOP FIRST-PLACE MARLIES IN SHOOTOUT
Rochester rallies in third, snaps three-game skid with 4-3 win over Toronto
Dec 10, 2022After Sean Malone tied the contest in the final two minutes of regulation, the Rochester Americans (12-9-1-1) finished off the 4-3 victory in a shootout over the first-place Toronto Marlies (14-8-1-1) Saturday at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
With the win, Rochester’s second of the season against the Marlies, the club snapped its season-long three-game skid. The Amerks have earned at least one point in eight of their last 13 games. The team is second in the North Division standings with 26 points through its first 23 games of the campaign and remains only four points back of Toronto.
On the strength of his third two-point (1+1) outing in the last four games, forward Brandon Biro helped the Amerks to the comeback win while Lukas Rousek and Malone both scored their sixth and eighth goals of the season, respectively. Mason Jobst and Linus Weissbach both recorded assists in the win.
Goaltender Malcolm Subban (3-2-0) appeared in his fifth contest of the season and earned his third win. Subban made 23 saves in the contest in addition to stopping all three Marlies in the shootout.
Bobby McMann (2+0) and Logan Shaw (0+2) both collected a pair of points for Toronto while Max Ellis completed the scoring with his second of the season. Goaltender Erik Källgren (0-2-1) appeared in his fourth contest of the season, stopping 34 of the 37 shots he faced.
Trailing 3-2 with under two minutes left in regulation, the Amerks pulled Subban with the hopes to find the equalizer.
As the netminder was on the bench, Rochester cycled the puck around the perimeter of the offensive zone. Defenseman Jeremy Davies fired a shot through bodies before Biro dished a pass back in-between the hashmarks for Malone. The Buffalo native quickly wristed a shot past the glove hand to send the game to overtime.
In the extra session, in addition to the Amerks successfully killing off a too-many-men penalty, Subban turned aside all five shots he saw, thus requiring a shootout.
In the skills competition, the Marlies elected to shoot first, but Ellis, Mikhail Abramov and Shaw all were denied by Subban. On Rochester’s attempts, Rousek beat Källgren before Aleksandr Kisakov was turned aside, but it was enough to give the Amerks a hard-earned 4-3 win.
In the opening seven minutes of the first period, the Amerks outshot the Marlies 9-1 and drew a power-play.
Rochester was unable to beat Källgren and then was whistled for a holding infraction with 7:47 left in the frame.
During the man-advantage, Semyon Der-Arguchintsev was falling to the ice atop the point and slid it to Shaw at the far side of the blueline. Shaw, Toronto’s leading point-getter, centered a pass for McMann in-between the circles and he fired a shot past the blocker of Subban to give the Marlies a 1-0 lead.
Early in the second period, the Marlies drew their second power-play of the contest, and much like their first, capitalized on the extra skater to make it a 2-0 score 3:14 into the period.
After Noel Hoefenmayer dumped the puck down the left wall to Joseph Blandisi, the forward quickly centered it to Ellis in the near circle. With the puck on his stick, Ellis picked the corner overtop Subban for his second of the season.
Five minutes later and facing a 2-0 deficit, the Amerks countered back for a pair of goals just 20 seconds apart to even the score.
On the first of the two markers, Mason Jobst intercepted a pass inside the Rochester zone and tracked it down through the neutral zone. As the forward had a defender pressuring from behind, he pushed it to his left for Rousek to swipe into the net.
Immediately after Rousek scoring his sixth goal of the campaign, Rochester forced a turnover to Källgren’s right. Linus Weissbach grabbed the puck and slid a cross-crease pass to a wide-open Biro just outside the crease. Biro stopped the pass with his skate before patiently tucking inside the post to knot the score with his sixth.
Before the end of the frame and after seeing its two-goal advantage disappear, Toronto reclaimed its lead as McMann finished off a two-on-one feed from Shaw at the 10:36 mark.
Rochester tied the game late in the third period, forcing the extra-period before the club won in the shootout.
The Amerks continue their three-game road-swing as they head to Charlotte for a pair of contests against the Checkers beginning on Friday, Dec. 16 for a 7:00 p.m. faceoff. All of the action from Bojangles' Coliseum will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
Storyline Stripes:
Amerks forward Brandon Biro has totaled 20 points (8+12) over his last 20 games dating back to the 2021-22 campaign ... Biro has a team-leading seven multi-point games this season, three of which have come over the last four games … In the last 36 games against Toronto, the Amerks have scored two or more goals in 27 contests.
Goal Scorers
ROC: L. Rousek (6), B. Biro (6), S. Malone (8)
TOR: B. McMann (2, 3), M. Ellis (2)
Goaltenders
ROC: M. Subban – 23/26 (W)
TOR: E. Källgren – 34/37 (SOL)
Shots
ROC: 38
TOR: 26
Special Tea
TOR: PP (0/4) | PK (2/4)
ROC: PP (2/4) | PK (4/4)
Three Stars
1. ROC - L. Rousek
2. TOR - B. McMann
3. ROC - B. Biro