JOBST LIFTS AMERKS TO OVERTIME WIN IN UTICA
Amerks close out 2024 with league-leading 13th road win over Comets
Dec 28, 2024On the strength of his first two-goal outing since last October, captain Mason Jobst (2+0) gave the Rochester Americans (19-9-3-0) a 3-2 victory in the first minute of overtime to complete a two-game sweep of the Utica Comets (6-15-2-2) Saturday at Adirondack Bank Center.
Rochester has now won 11 of its last 13 games – including its sixth straight on the road – and has earned at least one point in 21 of its last 27 contests dating back to Oct. 23. Additionally, the Amerks, who improved to 6-1-0-0 in the season series against Utica, close out the 2024 calendar year in first place in the AHL’s North Division standings.
Along with Jobst’s two-point outing, Kale Clague (1+1) and Lukas Rousek also recorded two points in the victory, Rochester’s league-leading 13th road win of the season and 14th of the last 15 games on the road against the Comets dating back to last season.
Riley Fiddler-Schultz, who sparked Friday’s win with the first two-goal game of his AHL career, tallied an assist for his sixth point (4+2) over his last six contests. Vsevolod Komarov closed out the scoring as he earned his seventh helper on Clague’s second-period goal.
Goaltender Felix Sandström pushed his record to 5-4-1 with Rochester as he made 23 saves in his 10th appearance of the season and first since Dec. 14. The netminder, who boasts a 2-1-0 mark against the Comets on the slate, has won his last two contests while allowing a pair of goals in each game.
FIRST PERIOD
In a scoreless opening period, neither team generated much offense as Rochester carried an 11-8 shot-advantage. The Amerks had 10 different skaters record at least one shot with Clague registering a pair to lead the club, while Mike Hardman topped all Utica players as he had three of his team’s eight.
SECOND PERIOD
Less than two minutes after Sandström made a sprawling left pad to keep the game scoreless, Utica forced the Amerks into a defensive zone turnover and quickly capitalized on the ill-advised error.
Xavier Parent retrieved the puck inside the blueline, and while he had a teammate to the backside of the crease, he fired a shot over the glove of the Rochester netminder for his third of the season.
The Amerks responded 3:48 later as Tyson Kozak dug the puck out of the left corner of the Utica zone and rimmed it around the boards to Komarov. The young blueliner exchanged a pass with Fiddler-Schultz and the latter gave a pass to Clague at the right point. Clague initially fired a shot that Poulter turned aside but the Rochester defenseman gathered his own rebound and tucked it inside the post to even the score at 1-1.
As the middle stanza was inside the final minute, Rousek sprinted to track down a loose puck inside the right face-off circle before dishing it back to the point. Zach Metsa was the recipient of the drop pass and flung a shot towards Poulter. While the Utica goaltender stopped the attempt, Jobst finished off the play with his fourth of the season at the 19:21 mark.
THIRD PERIOD
After seeing Rochester erase a deficit early in the third period of Friday’s game, Utica duplicated the effort as Brian Halonen cashed in a rebound from Shane Bowers and Will MacKinnon just 26 seconds into the frame.
Both teams pressed hard for the go-ahead goal over the 19 minutes of regulation as they combined for 23 shots, however, both Sandström and Poulter turned aside each shot to keep the score deadlocked at 2-2.
OVERTIME
Utica had the first chance to secure the extra point in the overtime period as they had the puck deep inside Rochester’s zone, but Simon Nemec’s attempt of a back-door feed was flagged down by Noah Östlund.
Immediately after gaining control of the puck inside the right dot of his own zone, Östlund sped away in the opposite direction alongside Ryan Johnson but was stonewalled by Poulter.
On the ensuing draw to the left of the Comets’ net, Jobst won the face-off back to Clague at the right point. While Jobst looped around the high slot, Rousek grabbed the puck from Clague and skated towards the center of the hashmarks. The Czechia native continued on his way towards Poulter but left the puck for Jobst to wrist past the Utica goaltender to seal the 3-2 win just 42 seconds into the extra frame.
STARS AND STRIPES
Rochester will go into New Year with 41 points on the campaign, which are tied for most in the AHL this season … Of their 19 wins on the slate, an AHL-best 13 have come on the road and two have came in the last two home games … Over the last three games, Rochester has combined to take just two penalties … Tonight’s game was the first AHL contest without a penalty assessed to either team since March 23 of this past season in a game between Texas and Coachella Valey.
UP NEXT
The Amerks usher in the New Year on Friday, Jan. 3 when they head to MassMutual Center for a 7:05 p.m. contest with the Springfield Thunderbirds. All the action will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
Goal Scorers
ROC: X. Parent (3), B. Halonen (10)
UTC: K. Clague (7), M. Jobst (4, 5 – OT GWG)
Goaltenders
ROC: F. Sandström – 23/25 (W)
UTC: I. Poulter– 33/36 (OTL)
Shots
ROC: 36
UTC: 25
Special Teams
ROC: PP (0/0) | PK (0/0)
UTC: PP (0/0) | PK (0/0)
Three Stars:
1. ROC - M. Jobst
2. UTC - B. Halonen
3. UTC - I. Poulter