AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks rage Grand Rapids for 5-3 win

Published on February 26, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY)... The Rochester Americans defeated the Grand Rapids Griffins 5-3 tonight at The Blue Cross Arena. With the win, the Amerks improve to 33-25-2-0, while the Griffins fall to 25-31-2-1. Rochester also snaps an eight-game Friday losing streak at home with the win.

Mike York (0+2), who was the first star in tonight's game and Evgeny Dadonov (1+1) had two points each to lead the Amerks' offense. Maxime Gratchev also added a goal in his Amerks debut and John De Gray picked up an assist and the third star of the game.

Rochester's offense was led behind netminder Alexander Salak who picked up his 25th win by stopping 32 of 35 shots.

Mattias Ritola (1+1) and Justin Abdelkader (0+2) both had two points each for Grand Rapids in the loss. Griffins' goaltender Thomas McCollum made 21 saves on 26 shots in the losing effort.

Rochester was first to score on the power-play at 3:26 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead. York took the initial shot from the point and was then rebounded by Michael Duco who slipped the puck past Griffins' McCollum, scoring his eighth goal of the season. With the assist, York extends his point-streak to four games.

Grand Rapids answered back less than three minutes later at 6:13 of the period when Ritola scored his 14th goal of the season on the power-play. Abdelkader and Jamie Tardif both had assists on the play.

The Amerks came out firing in the second period with Victor Oreskovich scoring his third goal of the season and the first goal of the period at 35 seconds to give Rochester a 2-1 lead over the Griffins. Oreskovich tipped in a shot that was hammered from the point by Garrison, also assisting on the play was winger Dadonov.

Jordan Henry netted the second goal of the second period at 11:51 to give the Amerks a 3-1 advantage over Grand Rapids. York made a sweeping pass across the face of the net to Henry who sailed the puck past McCollum. Jamie Johnson added his 58th point of the season with an assist on the play.

At 17:22 in the second period, Grand Rapids' winger Mike Vigilante netted his tenth goal of the season past Salak to make the score 3-2. Assisting on the play was center Abdelkader and Ritola.

Gratchev added another tally for Rochester in his Amerk's debut to put them on top 4-2 at 2:32 of the third period. After De Gray took the initial shot from the point, Gratchev capitalized on the play by tipping in the loose puck. Steve MacIntyre also had his first assist as an Amerk on the play.

Grand Rapids started to creep back when Kris Newbury found the net at 10:48 of the third period to shrink Rochester's lead to 4-3. Forward Jeremy Williams set up the shot with a pass to Andy Delmore, who placed the puck in front of the goal for Newbury, scoring his 10th goal of the season.

Dadonov sealed the win at 19:47 in the third period for the Amerks with a long-shot from Rochester's zone into an empty net to make the score 5-3.

Rochester heads north of the border on Saturday, February 27th to take on the surging first-place Hamilton Bulldogs for a 7:00 p.m. North Division tilt at Copps Coliseum. Fans can tune into the live broadcasts on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester's Sports Talk.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 26, 2010


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