AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks ice Heat

Published on April 17, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, April 17)... The Rochester Americans defeated the Abbotsford Heat, 4-1, tonight at The Blue Cross Arena to even the best-of-seven first-round playoff series at one game apiece.

"We knew we had to come out and play physical and put pucks on the net. We did that tonight," said Amerks forward Michael Duco, who had one goal in Game 2.

Rochester was led by Mike York's three assists, which gave him five points in two games (1+4). Jeff Taffe and Jason Garrison both picked up a goal and an assist in the contest. Tyler Plante made 30 saves for his first playoff victory this season.

Abbotsford's John Lammers scored the lone first-period goal with assists credited to Mark Mitera and Mikael Backlund. Mitera unleashed a shot from the point, which hit Amerk Mathieu Roy in the chest only to land at the feet of Lammers. The puck was pushed past Rochester goaltender Plante for Lammers' first goal of the postseason.

After almost 25 minutes of play, the Amerks added their first tally to even the score 1-1 in the second period on the power play. A Brett Sutter hooking penalty at 3:33 of the period led to a 4-on-3 advantage for Rochester. Less than 30 seconds into the man advantage at 3:53 of the second, York fed the puck to Garrison from behind the net. Garrison then drilled the one-timer past netminder David Shantz to score his first goal and second point of the playoffs. Taffe also assisted on the play.

Rochester added its second goal at 9:00 of the second to take a 2-1 lead. Shantz left the crease to grab a rebound, but Jamie Johnson managed to scoop the puck from under him. Duco then came up with the rebound and capitalized on the play. Also adding a helper on the score was Carl Hudson.

The Amerks added their third goal of the second stanza on the power play to increase their lead to 3-1 at 17:40. Shawn Weller took a delay of game penalty and less than 20 seconds later, Shantz thought he came up with Graham Mink's shot from the blue line, but it made its way through his legs and found the net. Assisting on the play was Garrison and York.

Taffe added an insurance goal at the 5:23 mark of the third to make the game 4-1. The goal was scored on a 2-on-1 break with Shawn Matthias. Matthias fed Taffe on the odd-man rush, which led to the tap-in goal. York also picked up another assist on the play.

The game concluded with emotion after the two fights occurred in the last two minutes. Matthias took on Carter Bancks, and 20 seconds later both teams battled in front of the Abbotsford bench. The final bout led to four misconduct penalties between the two teams.

The win was the first playoff victory for Rochester since a 4-2 win at Hamilton on April 24, 2007. It was the first postseason win at home since a 3-1 decision over the Hamilton Bulldogs on April 21, 2007.

Rochester will hit the road for Game 3 of the best-of-seven series on Monday, April 19th against the Heat at Abbotsford Sports and Entertainment Centre. The 10:00 p.m. (EST) contest will be broadcast live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester's Sports Talk.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 17, 2010


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