AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks top Marlies in battle of special teams

Published on March 27, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY)...Four players had three-point games as the Rochester Americans topped the Toronto Marlies 7-3 this afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum. With the win, the Amerks earn their 40th win of the season and improve to 40-31-2-0, while the Marlies fall to 30-32-6-5. Rochester now has a perfect 6-0-0-0 record against Toronto.

Rochester's offense outsmarted the Marlies' defense as four different Amerks contributed three points each. With Clay Wilson's (2+1) three points, he's now the American Hockey League's top scoring defenseman, edging Worcester's Danny Groulx by two points. Both goals were also part of Rochester power-plays. Mike York (2+1) also netted two goals and had an assist, while Jamie Johnson (1+2) ended his end-of-the-season slump by scoring one goal and adding two assists. Wilson, York and Johnson earned the top three stars, respectively, on the afternoon. Jeff Taffe (0+3) was the final member of the three-point club, earning his spot by assisting on three goals.

Michael Repik (0+2) also had two points on the night; the first being his 100th career point and Mike York had two goals for the offense-hungry Amerks.

Jaraj Mikus (1+1) contributed two points for the quiet Marlies' offense, with goals also coming from the sticks of Justin Hodgman and Ryan Hamilton.

Goaltender Tyler Plante had another solid outing for the Amerks and earned his first win of the team's three-game weekend. In the contest, he faced 35 shots and was solid, blocking 32 of Toronto's tries.

It was all special teams this afternoon, as the two teams combined for six power-play goals on 12 opportunities. Each team managed to sink three goals on six attempts.

Toronto's Hodgman was first to attack early for the Marlies at 2:47 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead. It was the center's seventh goal of the season with assists by defenseman Mikus and right-winger Greg Scott. The goal was also part of a power-play effort, after a Taffe holding penalty only 10 seconds before.

Rochester kept the Marlies quiet for the rest of the period after scoring three unanswered goals. The first came from York at 3:28 of the first to level-out the score 1-1. Taffe relinquished his holding minor by adding an assist. Luke Beaverson (0+1) also added a point on the goal.

Victor Oreskovich's power-play goal gave the Amerk's a 2-1 lead at 16:47. Johnson helped with an assist and York added another point, also adding an assist on the play. The Amerks capitalized on the man-advantage after Toronto's Alex Berry and Andre Deveaux mixed it up with Rochester's Michael Duco. The trio was sent to the box giving the Amerks the man-up opportunity.

Less than 20 seconds later, the Amerks took a commanding 3-1 lead when David Brine scored his 12th goal of the season and second goal in as many games. One day after making his professional debut with Rochester, John Scott Dickson earned his first professional point with an assist on Brine's goal. Defenseman Jordan Henry also contributed his second assist of the weekend.

The two teams exchanged power-play tallies in the middle-half of the second stanza as Wilson and Mikus both scored three minutes apart to make the score 4-2.

After York made it 5-2 at 9:46 of the second, the Amerks and Marlies once again exchanged power-play goals with Hamilton and Wilson each netting their 14th goal of the season.

Despite replacing Toronto's netminder Joey MacDonald with James Reimer at the beginning of the third period, the Amerks would slip another one between the pipes of the Marlies to extend their lead to 7-3. This time, Johnson outsmarted Toronto's goaltending and added his 24th goal of the season. Taffe added his third assist of the afternoon and Repik helped out with his second.

The Amerks return home to play the Toronto Marlies on Sunday, March 28th in a 3:00 p.m. matinee at The Blue Cross Arena to close out the home-and-home series. The matchup will be carried live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester's Sports Talk. Sunday afternoon's contest will also be shown live on Time Warner Cable SportsNet Channel 26. Rochester shows a flawless 3-0-0-0 mark at home against Toronto. The Amerks have outscored the Marlies 16-6 in the five previous games, including a 1-0 whitewash in the last meeting between the two teams back on March 6th. Rochester is 17-21-1- all-time against the Toronto Maple Leafs' affiliate.

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