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Rochester Americans

Griffins double up Amerks; drop fourth straight

January 8, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY)... The Rochester Americans were doubled up by the Grand Rapids Griffins 6-3 tonight at The Blue Cross Arena. With the loss, Rochester (23-14-2-0, 46 points) extended its losing streak to four games.

Francis Lemieux (2+1), Logan Pyett and Francis Pare (0+3) led Grand Rapids with three points each, while Mattias Ritola (1+1), Tomas Tatar (1+1) also chipped in two points (1+1). Jordan Pearce earned the win in a 32-save effort. With the win, Grand Rapids (20-18-0-1, 41 points) evened the season series at 1-1-0-0.

Rochester's Daniel Steiner led Rochester with a two-assist effort. Alexander Salak made 29 saves in his return to the ice. The game also featured the return of defenseman Luke Beaverson and Rory Fitzpatrick. The game was Salak's first since December 20th, as the netminder missed six straight games. Beaverson is back after missing the most time, having spent the last 25 games on the IR, while Fitzpatrick was not far behind with 23 games missed due to injury. Salak has been sidelined for the past six games.

Chris Taylor opened the scoring at 2:59 of the first period with a power-play goal from Jamie Johnson and Clay Wilson. The point was Taylor's 400th as an Amerk and extended point streaks to three games for Johnson and Wilson. Grand Rapids wasted little time tying the game at one as Ritola's screen shot eluded Alexander Salak at 5:19. Pyett and Tatar assisted on the goal.

Francis Lemieux netted the second straight Grand Rapids goal at 1:53 of the second to give the Griffins a 2-1 advantage. Pyett earned his second assist of the game and Travis Ehrhardt. Jamie Johnson evened the game at two with a snap shot past the glove hand of Pearce. Daniel Steiner earned the assist as he fed Johnson with a drop pass on the right wing.

In the third period, Pyett earned his third assist of the night as he helped set up Tatar's power-play goal at 1:07. Ritola earned his second point of the game (1+1) on the go-ahead goal. Rochester, however, quickly countered at 3:06 with a goal by Jordan Henry to tie the contest at three. Steiner collected his second assist and Jeff Taffe picked up his first point of the night. The Griffins regained the lead at 9:02 with a slap shot from the low slot by Jan Mursak. Michael Nylander and Pare earned assists on the goal. Grand Rapids built a 5-3 lead on a goal by Jamie Tardif from Lemieux and Pare at 10:31. The Griffins notched their fourth goal of the period at 13:44 as Lemieux scored his second of the night ripped a shot from the left point past Salak. Pare earned his third assist of the night.

Rochester remains home on Saturday, January 9th as it hosts the Lake Erie Monsters in a 2:00 p.m. afternoon matinee at The Blue Cross Arena. Fans can tune in for the live broadcast on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester's Sports Talk. The game will also be shown live on Channel 98. The Amerks are 1-2-1-0 this season and 7-8-1 lifetime against the Monsters.

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