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AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks Force Overtime, But Fall to Penguins in Shootout

March 17, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Wilkes-Barre, PA) -The Rochester Americans (28-24-4-2) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and then came back to force overtime before ultimately falling 5-4 in a shootout to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (24-26-4-5) Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

Despite the shootout loss, Rochester has earned a point in eight of its last 12 games, going 5-4-2-1 over that span, and finished the season-series with a 1-0-0-1 mark against the Penguins this season. With the exception of the 2020-21 condensed season, the Amerks have had a winning record in each of their last five seasons against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Forwards Mason Jobst (1+1) and Brett Murray (0+2) each collected a multi-point night while Jiri Kulich, Sean Malone and Jeremy Davies all scored in the contest. Isak Rosen, Michael Mersch, Lukas Rousek, Linus Weissbach, and former Penguin Matt Bartkowski all notched one assist.

Goaltender Malcolm Subban (15-13-2) stopped 31 of the 35 shots he faced in regulation and overtime before stopping two of three in the shootout.

Drake Caggiula (1+1) and Mitch Reinke helped Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to a win as they each registered a pair of points. Justin Addamo, Peter DiLiberatore and Jonathan Gruden all filled the net in regulation while Ty Glover and Valtteri Puustinen both added shootout markers.

Former Amerks netminder Dustin Tokarski (11-11-5) also finished the night with 31 saves while also stopping all three Rochester skaters in the skills competition to earn the win.

Facing a 3-0 deficit late in the opening period, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton quickly countered Rochester's third goal as Gruden tipped in Reinke's shot from atop the blueline at the 18:45 mark.

The Amerks took a 3-1 lead into the first frame before being whistled for three penalties over the course of middle period.

Rochester was able to kill off the first two, but 13 seconds into the third, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton cashed in to make it a one-goal game.

On the immediate face-off after a holding infraction, Reinke possessed the puck atop the point. The defenseman spotted Tyler Sikura at the right of the net before the latter stepped out with the puck and pushed it to Caggiula at the back post with 67 seconds remaining in the stanza.

In the third period, the first 10 minutes was relatively quiet before the teams combined to score three times in a span of 3:18.

The Penguins kicked off the scoring in the period as DiLiberatore blasted a shot past a screened Subban for his second of the season with 8:14 to play.

Just 19 seconds following DiLiberatore's goal, the Penguins grabbed their first lead of the night as Sam Houde and Addamo exchanged passes to the left of the Rochester net.

After seeing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton erase the lead and take a 4-3 advantage with just under six minutes to play in regulation, Jobst jumped up to keep the puck inside the offensive zone. After Jobst landed back on his skates, he centered a pass in-between the circles for Murray, who then sent a no-look, between-the-legs feed for Davies streaking in the from the right point.

Davies caught the pass in stride, maneuvered around a Penguins defender and picked the upper corner over the right arm of Tokarski for his 11th of the season to send the game to overtime.

In the extra session with the score was tied at 4-4, neither team generated much offensively despite the team's combining for five shots, requiring the shootout.

The Penguins elected to shoot first. Lukas Svejkovsky was denied by Subban before Glover converted. Puustinen was also stopped.

Rousek and Kulich were both stopped by Tokarski before Rosen had the puck pock-checked off his stick on Rochester's final attempt.

Shortly after successfully killing off its first penalty of the night, Rochester jumped out to a 3-0 lead in just over a six-minute span.

On the Amerks first of the frame, Kulich caught a backhanded pass from Rousek as he snuck behind a Penguins defenseman at the 8:42 mark for his 18th goal of the season.

Nearly two minutes later, Davies stepped in-front of a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton pass and carried the puck through the neutral zone. Mersch followed Davies' path, continued across the blueline, and centered a pass for Murray. As the Bolton, Ontario, native reached the hashmarks, he slid a feed for Jobst to sweep past Tokasrski.

To complete Rochester's three-goal run, Malone blocked a shot inside the Amerks zone, creating an odd-man rush along with Weissbach and Rosen. As Weissbach gained entry into the Penguins zone, he sent a diagonal pass for Rosen at the far post. Rosen neatly gathered the puck with his skate before sending it to Malone across the crease for the tap-in at 17:24.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton countered the three-goal deficit by scoring four unanswered goals before Davies sent the game into the overtime period.

Following a scoreless extra frame, the Penguins then earned the extra point in the shootout to complete the 5-4 win.

The Amerks close out their weekend swing through the Keystone State on Saturday, Mar. 18 when they faceoff with the Hershey Bears in a battle between the AHL's two oldest teams at Giant Center. The 7:00 p.m. matchup will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.

Storyline Stripes:

The Amerks show an 8-0-0-1 record in their last nine games versus Wilkes-Barre/Scranton dating back to the 2016-17 campaign ... With an assist on Jiri Kulich's first-period goal, Lukas Rousek pushed his point streak to five games, over which he's totaled four goals and five assists ... By earning two assists tonight, Brett Murray (0+2) has 10 points (3+7) in his last 14 games while Mason Jobst (1+1) has logged six goals and nine points over his previous nine games.

Goal Scorers

ROC: J. Kulich (18), M. Jobst (13), S. Malone (12), J. Davies (11)

WBS: J. Gruden (13), D. Caggiula (15), P. DiLiberatore (2), J. Addamo (3)

Goaltenders

ROC: M. Subban - 31/35 (OTL)

WBS: D. Tokarski - 31/35 (W)

Shots

ROC: 35

WBS: 36

Special Teams

ROC: PP (0/3) | PK (3/4)

WBS: PP (1/4) | PK (3/3)

Three Stars

1. WBS - T. Glover

2. WBS - D. Caggiula

3. WBS - J. Addamo

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