AMERKS UNABLE TO COMPLETE COMEBACK IN SEASON-OPENING LOSS TO SENS
Dunne and Kozak score in 3-2 loss to Belleville
Oct 11, 2024The Rochester Americans (0-1-0-0) opened and closed the scoring against the Belleville Senators (1-0-0-0), but ultimately were unable to close the gap as they saw their comeback fall short in a 3-2 season-opening loss Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POSTGAME REPORT
Newcomer Josh Dunne started the scoring 12 minutes into the first period from Viktor Neuchev and Ryan Johnson before Tyson Kozak scored at the 13:06 mark in the final frame from Isak Rosén and Zach Metsa. Defenseman Jack Rathbone and Dunne both made their Amerks debuts while Konsta Helenius and Vsevolod Komarov both appeared in their first professional contests in North America.
Goaltender Felix Sandström (0-1-0) stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced in his Amerk debut but suffered the defeat.
Belleville forwards Xavier Bourgault and Cole Reinhardt both had multi-point efforts with a goal and an assist while Maxence Guenette also scored in the victory. Donovan Sebrango and Jan Jenik each tallied an assist while netminder Leevi Merilainen logged the win as he made 22 saves.
FIRST PERIOD
After drawing the first penalty of the contest and Rosén nearly giving the Amerks a 1-0 lead as he rung a shot of the left post, Rochester opened the scoring with eight minutes left in the opening stanza. Johnson banked an outlet-pass to Neuchev near the far blueline from inside his own zone. The second year forward tracked down the puck before tucking a pass to Dunne, who broke through on a breakaway and flipped a shot over the glove of Merilainen to give the home club a one-goal lead.
The Senators countered the goal with their own while on the power-play as Bourgault converted his own rebound from in-between the dots from Reinhardt and Guenette at the 17:05 mark. The goal came two seconds prior to an Amerks hooking infraction.
The two sides went into the intermission deadlocked at 1-1 with Belleville holding a slim 11-10 shot-advantage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCRqlsuQhcA
SECOND PERIOD
In the middle period, both teams had a player denied on a breakaway opportunity as Dunne was turned aside at the halfway point before Zack Ostapchuk was unable to solve Sandström shortly thereafter.
The Senators would eventually take the lead, however, when Bourgault darted his way through the center of the ice, sliding a pass to Daoust at the far blueline. Daoust, who appeared in four games with Belleville in 2023-24, skated down the left wing and quickly snapped a shot past the glove of Sandström with 2:20 left in the frame.
THIRD PERIOD
Early in the final frame, the Amerks were whistled for a double minor for high sticking and Belleville used the man-advantage to double its lead with 15:43 left to play. The puck was trapped behind Sandström and Bourgault pushed it out front to Daoust. The forward’s first shot was turned aside by Rochester’s netminder, but he tucked the rebound inside the post to push the advantage by a pair.
With the Amerks trailing 3-1 towards the second half of the final period, Rosén pressured a Belleville skater, who had the puck along the left wall, into a turnover inside his own blueline. The Amerks forward eventually received a pass from Metsa at the left point and fired a shot towards the cage. As the rebound remained loose in the crease, Kozak crashed the blue paint and finished off the goal at the 13:06 Mark.
Rochester pulled Sandström for an extra attacker for the final two minutes of regulation as they looked push the game to overtime, but the Amerks could not complete the comeback.
UP NEXT
The Amerks hit the road for the first time in the young season as they travel to face the intrastate rival Utica Comets on Saturday, Oct. 12. The North Division showdown from Adirondack Bank Center gets underway at 7 p.m. and will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
STARS AND STRIPES
Josh Dunne had a game-high four shots on goal while Konsta Helenius and Isak Rosén each had three apiece … Amerks head coach Michael Leone made his professional coaching debut after he was hired in June as the 34th head coach in team history … Leone is the AHL’s second-youngest active head coach behind Cleveland’s Trent Vogelhuber ... Friday marked the first time ever that the Amerks have opened an AHL regular season against an Ottawa Senators’ affiliate.
Goal Scorers
BEL X. Bourgault (1), C. Reinhardt (1), P. Daoust (1)
ROC: J. Dunne (1), T. Kozak (1)
Goaltenders
BEL L. Merilainen – 22/24 (W)
ROC: F. Sandström – 28/31 (L)
Shots
BEL 31
ROC: 24
Special Teams
BEL PP (2/6) | PK (5/5)
ROC: PP (0/5) | PK (4/6)
Three Stars:
1. BEL - C. Reinhardt
2. BEL - X. Bourgault
3. ROC - J. Dunne