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AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks Head into All-Star Break with 4-2 Loss to Comets

January 30, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Utica, NY) - Despite scoring twice in the opening five minutes of the contest, the Rochester Americans were unable to hold the lead as the Utica Comets exploded for four straight unanswered goals, including two from Mike Zalewski, on their way to a 4-2 victory Saturday at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The Amerks enter the break with back-to-back losses while falling to 21-21-2-1 on the season.

Rookies Matt Prapavessis and Justin Bailey provided the offense for Rochester while Jean Dupuy, Matt Ellis, Dan Catenacci and Tim Schaller all recorded assists in the loss. Linus Ullmark earned his second start in three nights and posted 28 saves on 31 shots.

Back from a two-game stint with the parent Vancouver Canucks, Mike Zalewski factored in on three of Utica's four goals, scoring the game-tying and game-winning tallies while also assisting on Hunter Shinkaruk's team-leading 17th goal of the season in the first period. Jon Landry also finished with three points (1+2), including the empty net goal that sealed the victory, and Joe Cannata registered 20 saves in the win for the Comets.

Rochester came out of the gate flying and jumped on the Comets early, scoring on its first two shots of the game to take a 2-0 advantage just 4:51 after the opening face-off. For the second straight night, the Amerks found themselves leading before the contest was three minutes old as Prapavessis connected on a one-timer from a step inside the blueline for his first professional goal. Dupuy and Ellis each collected the assists on the tally, which came just 2:43 in.

Bailey pushed Rochester's lead to a pair 2:08 later with the rookie forward on the finishing end of a perfectly executed 3-on-2 fast break. The play began on a rush from Schaller, who powered into the Utica zone along the left wing boards before advancing the puck up to Catenacci. Catenacci wasted no time in continuing the rush, taking two more strides and sending a pass through the slot to Bailey for his seventh of the season. Bailey now has six points (2+4) in his last six games while Catenacci and Schaller each stretched their point streaks to five and six games, respectively.

The Comets cut the deficit in half with 4:09 remaining in the opening frame when Landry let loose a shot from the point that was tipped from close range by Shinkaruk.

Utica pulled even just beyond the midway point of the second period as Zalewski found open ice and buried a shorthanded breakaway for his first of two on the night. After Matt Donovan missed wide of the net on a chance from the point, the rebound zipped around the boards and beyond center ice. Zalewski and Catenacci gave chase, but Zalewski eventually caught up with it in the Amerks zone and whipped a shot past Ullmark to make it a 2-2 game.

Zalewski struck again 1:47 into the third period off a centering feed from Brendan Gaunce and Landry added an empty-netter from in between his own hash marks to close out the 4-2 win.

The Amerks head into the All-Star break following tonight's game before continuing their push to the playoffs on Friday, Feb. 5 when they travel to Syracuse to take on the Crunch at the War Memorial Arena. The 7:00 p.m. contest marks the first of five straight between the teams in Syracuse after playing the first half of the season series in Rochester. Friday's matchup will air live on FOX Sports 1280 Rochester and can be seen on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.

Goal Scorers

RCH: Prapavessis (1), Bailey (7)

UTI: Shinkaruk (17), Zalewski (11, 12), Landry (4)

Shots

RCH: 22

UTI: 32

Goaltenders

RCH: Ullmark - L (28/31)

UTI: Cannata - W (20/22)

Special Teams

Amerks Power Play: 0-2

Amerks Penalty Kill: 2-2

Check out the Rochester Americans Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from January 30, 2016


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