TACO BELL WRAP-UP: AMERKS EMERGE .500 FROM WILD WEEKEND
Rochester finishes four-game road trip with win in Hartford
Jan 27, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
The Rochester Americans (24-12-3-1) split a weekend of games in New England that couldn’t have been more different from one another. After a 3-0 loss to Providence Friday, the Amerks turned the scoring on in a big way Saturday, topping Hartford by a 6-3 final highlighted by a contest featuring a combined 160 penalty minutes.
With 32 games remaining in the 2024-25 season, the Amerks return home in second place in the North Division with 52 points, having won two of four games on their road trip. Rochester will not play another road trip of that length for the remainder of the season.
OLD TIME HOCKEY
The Amerks played the Wolf Pack in XL Center Saturday night, a venue that played host to an NHL team for nearly two decades. In that era, hockey was a different game, and in many ways Saturday’s meeting in Hartford saw a rekindling of that old spirit.
As the horn sounded to end the second period, Wolf Pack forward Alex Belzile decided to commit a cardinal sin in hockey: shooting the puck into the net following a stoppage in play.
The result was pandemonium.
A whopping 122 penalty minutes were assessed across both sides, with Graham Slaggert, Jagger Joshua, and Vsevolod Komarov receiving fighting majors and game misconducts. Ty Tullio also dropped the gloves, earning himself a fighting major and 10-minute misconduct.
Felix Sandström, who went on to win his career-best fifth consecutive game, had his helmet dislodged during the net-front scrum with Belzile. Sandström appeared to take exception, shoving Belzile, which prompted Hartford goaltender Dylan Garand to race down the ice and challenge the Amerks netminder. Both parties seemed willing, but the officials broke it up before things escalated further.
All told, the two sides combined for 122 penalty minutes at the end of the second period alone, and a grand total of 160 in the game, with 11 power-plays being handed out.
SATURDAYS ARE FOR POWER-PLAYS
The Amerks accrued a season high-70 penalty minutes in Saturday’s affair with Hartford, but the Wolf Pack racked up an additional 20 on top of that. The end result was eight Amerk power-plays, and for a second straight Saturday, the team would not waste their opportunities.
Mason Jobst opened the scoring with a goal on the man -advantage in the first period, then Isak Rosén and Brett Murray connected 2:10 apart during the early stages of period three, giving the Amerks three power-play goals for a second straight Saturday.
Rochester’s power-play has climbed to sixth-best on the road in the AHL. It was the fourth game this season the Amerks had scored three or more power-play goals, with each of those performances coming as the visitors.
Rosén now has three power-play goals over the last two weekends, while Murray scored his team-leading and AHL-best 10th power-play goal of the season.
Murray’s 10 man-advantage goals are a personal best for the sixth-year pro. The Bolton, Ontario native had a four-point night (1+3), tying a career-high Saturday. With the three helpers, Murray needs just one more assist for 100 as an Amerk. His next game with the team will also mark his 300th in the red, white, and blue.
KALE CAN’T FAIL
With his goal Saturday, defenseman Kale Clague continued his impressive season with the Amerks. The veteran blueliner has 23 points (8+15) to rank second on Rochester’s blueline in scoring, as well as games played for the team with 39.
Clague added an assist to his night in Hartford, registering his sixth multi-point game of the season and has a plus-five on-ice rating on the month. Dating back to last season, Rochester has gone 9-1-1-0 in games Clague scores.
UP NEXT
The Amerks return home for two games this week on Wednesday and Friday against Utica and Syracuse, respectively. After five straight games against Atlantic Division opponents, Rochester plays 11 straight against adversaries within its division, with eight taking place at Blue Cross Arena.