Comets lose at Rochester
February 15, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release
The Rochester Americans went 4-for-7 on the power play, en route to a 7-3 victory over the Utica Comets, Friday night at the Blue Cross Arena.
Jamie Tardif (2-1-3), Brayden McNabb (1-2-3), and Johan Larsson (0-3-3) led the way with three points apiece, while Chad Ruhwedel (0-2-2), Rasmus Ristolainen (2-0-2) and Luke Adam (1-1-2) each added two points.
Rochester capitalized on their lone power play of the first period, 10:23 into the game. Jamie Tardiff redirected a Chad Ruhwedel blast from the point in front of the Comets bench past Joacim Eriksson to give the Amerks an early lead. Brayden McNabb picked up as assist on the play.
A tic-tac-toe play starting at the point put the Amerks up 2-0, 5:23 into second period. From just inside the blue line Phil Varone found Ruhwedel on the back door, Ruhwedel knocked the puck down and immediately hit Tardif with a pass across the top of the crease for the tap-in goal.
Just a minute later Rochester struck again. Johan Larsson dug the puck out of a scrum from behind the net and passed it out to Rasmus Ristolainen at the point. A bullet from Ristolainen beat Eriksson high stick side to extend the lead to 3-0. Former Comets player, Brayden Irwin recorded the secondary assist.
A goal just 2:14 later capped off Rochester's three goals in 3:16 run. Frederick Roy found Tim Schaller streaking down the center of the ice to set-up a one-on-one against Benn Ferriero. Schaller beat the Utica defender to the outside and beat Eriksson through the legs with a backhand. Kevin Porter was credited with an assist on the goal.
Tardif found his third point of the night on the Amerks fifth goal. Off a feed from Tardif, McNabb skated across the high slot unharassed and let loose a wrist shot that extended the Amerks lead to 5-0. Luke Adam picked up his first point of the night with the assist.
The Amerks continued to add to their scoring 7:55 into the third period. Larsson fired a shot on goal off a feed from McNabb. The rebound found Adam's stick in the slot for the Amerks sixth goal.
The Comets finally got on the board 12:07 into the third. From a step inside the blue line, Colin Stuart one-timed a Guillaume Lepine feed that Brandon DeFazio redirected past Lieuwen for his seventh goal of the game.
A funky bounce gave the Comets their second goal of the evening. Kent Huskins, from his own blue line, fired a shot that was intended to go off the glass and deep into the Amerks zone, but instead kicked off a stanchion and into the Amerks net while Lieuwen was behind the net awaiting the dumped in puck. Benn Ferriero was credited with the assist.
A fourth power-play goal was added by the Amerks with 2:03 to play. A quick wrist shot from Ristolainen, from the face-off dot beat Joe Cannata down low to the far side. Larsson and Mark Pysyk recorded assists on the goals.
The Comets concluded the scoring for the night with 5.7 seconds to play in the game. Frank Corrado put home a rebound off of a shot from Alex Friesen. Alex Biega recorded his 12th assist on the goal.
With the loss the Comets slip to 18-23-3-4, while the Amerks improved to 24-17-3-3. The Amerks converted on 4 of 7 power play opportunities, while the Comets failed to score on six power plays.
The Comets look for retribution tomorrow night at The AUD against the Rochester Americans. Game time is set for 7 pm.
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