HINOSTROZA CAPS AMERKS COME-FROM-BEHIND WIN
Hinostroza scores game-winner in third period to seal 3-2 win over Penguins
Jan 25, 2023The Rochester Americans (20-14-2-1) fell behind by a pair of goals in the first period before scoring three straight unanswered to come away with a 3-2 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (19-15-2-3) Wednesday at The Blue Cross Arena.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POST-GAME REPORT
With the win, Rochester has gone a perfect 8-0-0-0 in the last eight meetings since the 2017-18 season versus Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the team’s longest active win streak against any opponent. Additionally, the Amerk snapped a four-game skid with the victory to maintain their third place standing in the North Division standings.
Jiri Kulich and Lukas Rousek each had a pair of assists while fellow linemate Vinnie Hinostroza, who made his Amerks debut after being assigned by the Buffalo Sabres last week, netted the game-winning goal in the third period to seal the win. Hinostoza logged his first AHL goal since Dec. 1, 2017, while Kulich and Rousek posted their fourth and sixth multi-point efforts of the season, respectively, as the line combined for five points on the night.
Defensemen Lawrence Pilut and Jeremy Davies rounded out the scoring for Rochester, while Linus Weissbach and Ethan Prow each booked an assist.
Goaltender Malcolm Subban (10-4-0) earned his 10th victory of the season as he finished with 26 saves. After suffering a defeat in his season-debut on Nov. 18, Subban has gone 10-3-1 since, including seven straight wins between Dec. 10 to Jan. 14.
Former Amerk Alexander Nylander scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season while Sam Houde added his ninth to complete the scoring for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Netminder Filip Lindberg (6-8-1) made his 16th appearance of the campaign but suffered his third straight defeat.
Trailing 2-0 to begin the second period, the Amerks evened the scored midway through frame.
Nearly four minutes into the stanza, Prow rimmed the puck around the boards inside the Rochester end of the ice for Kulich. As the rookie forward gathered the pass, he one-touched it ahead to Rousek, who cut through the neutral zone. Rousek carried the puck across the blueline before dropping it for Pilut at the 4:02 mark.
With Pilut’s shot handcuffing Lindberg, it marked his first goal in the AHL since Jan. 22, 2019.
Six minutes later, Davies served a roughing penalty, then immediately stepped onto the ice following a successful kill.
Rousek scooped up the puck in the defensive zone and dished a pass for Davies and Weissbach to enter the Penguins’ zone on a two-on-one, odd-man rush. Weissbach retrieved the outlet pass and gave it to Davies, who patiently outwaited a sliding Wilkes-Barre/Scranton skater before roofing it under the crossbar to knot the score at two with 9:19 to play in the frame.
With his goal, his third in the month of January and third in his last seven games, Davies is now one shy of equaling a career-high (6) he set last season. Additionally, he his now the second Amerk blueliner to reach the 10-point mark, joining Prow.
The game remained tied at 2-2 to start the final period of regulation before Rochester capitalized on its fourth penalty of the night.
While on the man-advantage, the Amerks kept the puck inside the offensive zone for the first minute of the infraction.
Following a scrum in front of Lindberg, Kulich snatched a rebound in the crease and dished it to the top of the zone for Prow. The former Penguin then slid the puck to the right circle for Hinostroza, who sniped a shot inside the far post to give Rochester its first lead of the contest.
Over the course of the final 15 minutes of play, each team each took consecutive penalties, and despite Wilkes-Barre/Scranton pulling Lindberg, the Amerks prevailed for the 3-2 victory.
Early in the contest after drawing its first penalty of the contest, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton used the man-advantage to grab a 1-0 lead.
The Penguins won the face-off following the infraction and kept the puck inside the Rochester zone before former Buffalo Sabre Drake Caggiula fed a back-door feed for Nylander at the 4:01 mark.
Three minutes after Nylander’s team-leading 17th of the slate, the Amerks seemed to gather momentum as Cederqvist evened the score at one. After a conference and video review, it was determined the puck was played with a high stick, negating the goal.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton countered and doubled its lead with 5:32 left in the period on Houde’s eighth of the season.
Rochester trailed 2-0 after the first period then scored three straight goals, including a pair in the second stanza, to record a 3-2 win.
The Amerks host the first of back-to-back meetings with the Charlotte Checkers beginning at 7:05 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27 at The Blue Cross Arena. All of the action will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
Storyline Stripes:
Along with his first goal of the season, Lawrence Pilut matched a career-high as he recorded five shots … It is the fifth time he has had five shots in a game with the Amerks ... With an assist on Rochester’s first two goals, Lukas Rousek has recorded 16 points (6+10) over his last 22 games ... Vinnie Hinostroza centered a line between Jiri Kulich and Rousek and the trio combined for five points (1+4), including the game-winning goal during the third period.
Goal Scorers
WBS: A. Nylander (17), S. Houde (9)
ROC: L. Pilut (1), J. Davies (5), V. Hinostroza (1)
Goaltenders
WBS: F. Lindberg – 26/29 (L)
ROC: M. Subban – 24/26 (W)
Shots
WBS: 26
ROC: 29
Special Teams
WBS: PP (1/5) | PK (4/5)
ROC: PP (1/5) | PK (4/5)
Three Stars
1. ROC - V. Hinostroza
2. ROC - J. Davies
3. ROC - L. Rousek