Amerks Blanked by Devils in Regular Season Home Finale
April 15, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release
(Rochester, NY) - After jumping out to a 1-0 lead on a first-period goal from Jim O'Brien, the Albany Devils added four more in the third on their way to a 5-0 victory over the Rochester Americans Friday in the regular season home finale at The Blue Cross Arena.
Ryan Kujawinski (1+1) and Vojtech Mozik (0+2) led the Devils with two points each while Ben Thomson, Joseph Blandisi and Pavel Zacha rounded out the scoring for the Albany. Yann Danis stopped all 27 shots he faced to pick up his 28th win of the season while earning his eighth shutout of the year.
Tim Schaller returned to the lineup after the missing the last 15 games due to injury and finished with a team-high three shots. Linus Ullmark made 38 saves in the losing effort.
O'Brien scored the lone goal of the first period to put the Devils on the board at 12:29 into the contest. On the 2-on-1 advantage, O'Brien kept the puck and skated hard along the far right board, fighting off contact until he snuck a wrister inside the far left post. The goal, O'Brien's 19th of the year, was assisted by Kujawinski.
Rochester's offense created multiple opportunities to tie the game up during the second period, but each attempt came up just short. The string of unlucky attempts began after Schaller's shot went wide of the net on a 2-on-1 opportunity. Only moments later on a 3-on-2, some impressive tic-tac-toe passing by Rochester's shooter set up a scoring chance, but again the puck slide just outside of the post.
A four-goal third period was kicked off just 29 seconds in after Kujawinski bested Ullmark to bring the Devils advantage to a pair. Five minutes later, Thomson scored after his quick-release from in front zipped by a screened Ullmark and bounced in off the left post.
Blandisi added to the scoring frenzy after be tapped in Mozik's rebound before Zacha, the New Jersey Devils' sixth-overall pick in last year's NHL Draft, closed out the night with the fifth and final goal.
The Amerks play their final two games of the season on the road beginning on Saturday, Apr. 16 when they head north of the border for the first of back-to-back meetings with the league-leading Toronto Marlies at Ricoh Coliseum. The 5:00 p.m. contest will be the seventh of eight meetings between the two teams this season and will be carried live on 107.3 FM The Bull.
Goal Scorers
RCH: None
ALB: O'Brien (19), Kujawinski (6), Thomson (6), Blandisi (9), Zacha (1)
Shots
RCH: 27
ALB: 43
Goaltenders
RCH: Ullmark - L (38/43)
ALB: Danis - W (27/27)
Special Teams
Amerks Power Play: 0-4
Amerks Penalty Kill: 3-4
End-of-Year Amerks Award Winners
Most Valuable Player - Tim Schaller
Most Improved Player - William Carrier
Most Popular Player - Tim Schaller
Fairand/O'Neil Sportsmanship Award - Justin Bailey
Rob Zabelny Unsung Hero Award - Brady Austin
Rookie of the Year - Justin Bailey
McCulloch Community Service Award - Patrick Kaleta
AHL Man of the Year Award - Patrick Kaleta
Game-Winning Goals Award - Dan Catenacci
McDonald's 7th Man - Fan of the Year - Joe Capeluppo
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