AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks Tame Wolves with 3-2 Win in Chicago

Published on February 3, 2015 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rosemont, IL)... The Rochester Americans scored once in each period and held off a late comeback by the Chicago Wolves as the Amerks snapped a three-game skid with a 3-2 victory over the Wolves in a Tuesday morning matchup at Allstate Arena. The win is Rochester's first on its season-long eight-game road swing and improves the Amerks to 19-26-1-0 on the season.

Today's win also marks Rochester's first regular season victory in Chicago since Feb. 11, 2009 and guarantees a season split with the Wolves for the second straight year.

William Carrier and Phil Varone each recorded a goal and an assist to lead the Amerks while second-year forward Dan Catenacci scored the eventual game-winner early on in the third period to keep his hot streak intact. Johan Larsson, Jake McCabe, Joel Armia and Jerome Leduc all picked up assists and Andrey Makarov finished the day with 23 saves to improve to 14-13-1. With two more points today, Varone has six points (3+3) over his last five games since returning from his latest stint in the NHL with the parent Buffalo Sabres prior to the All-Star break.

Magnus Paajarvi and Jeremy Welsh both provided third period goals for the Wolves while the goaltending tandem of Jordan Binnington and Niklas Lundstrom combined to make 24 saves in the losing effort.

Rochester took a 1-0 lead on Carrier's fifth goal of the season after the rookie forward steered in a nifty centering feed from Varone at 15:05 of the first period. Armia gathered a loose puck outside the Rochester blueline and weaved his way through the neutral zone before moving it up to Varone cruising up the right wing boards. Varone continued the rush, gained the Chicago zone and made a quick pass to a streaking Carrier, who finished the play with a perfect redirection under the crossbar to put the Amerks in front.

Varone increased Rochester's lead to a pair at 7:08 of the middle frame when he pounced on Leduc's rebound and fired it past Binnington for his second point of the day. Varone initially set up Leduc for a one-timer from the high slot only to have the shot blocked by a Wolves defenseman. The rebound, however, would carom back out to Varone at the near circle, where he snapped it by the unsuspecting Chicago netminder for his 11th of the season to make it a 2-0 contest. Carrier also recorded his second point of the day with the secondary assist.

The Amerks widened the gap with their third straight goal after Catenacci swatted in a rebound off McCabe's point shot just 3:32 into the third period. Binnington made the initial save on McCabe, but the rebound bounced right to Catenacci, who tucked it inside the right post to give Rochester its largest lead of the day. The goal gives Catenacci 11 points (4+7) over his last 15 games, including four points (2+2) in his last six appearances.

Chicago trimmed the lead to 3-1 at 10:23 of the third with a power-play goal from Paajarvi, who connected on a no-look, behind-the-back pass from Shane Harper that ruined Makarov's shutout bid. With just 2:09 remaining and the Wolves skating 6-on-5, Welsh brought the Wolves to within a goal on the man-advantage, but it's as close as Chicago would get as the Amerks were able to hold on for the 3-2 win.

Rochester continues its season-long eight-game road swing on Friday, Feb. 6 when the Amerks travel to Grand Rapids for the first of back-to-back tilts against the Griffins at Van Andel Arena. The 7:00 p.m. matchup will be the third of four meetings between the former North Division rivals this season and will be carried live on FOX Sports 1280 Rochester. The Amerks and Griffins have already met twice this season, splitting a two-game set back in November at The Blue Cross Arena, and are slated to exchange pleasantries one final time when the teams face-off again for a rematch on Saturday.

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