Fiddler-Schultz's Hat Trick Not Enough in Loss to Comets
AHL Rochester Americans

Fiddler-Schultz's Hat Trick Not Enough in Loss to Comets

Published on February 15, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY) - Riley Fiddler-Schultz completed his first professional hat trick in the waning seconds of regulation, but a five-goal run by the Utica Comets (14-23-5-3) was enough to hand the Rochester Americans (24-17-4-2) a 7-4 loss in what was the third straight meeting between the intrastate rivals Sunday afternoon The Blue Cross Arena on Sunday.

Despite the loss, Rochester has won three of the last four games against the Comets, while outscoring them 16-9 in that span.

Along with Fiddler-Schultz, Trevor Kuntar (1+1), Zac Jones (0+2) both logged a multi-point outing for the Amerks, who had won three straight games entering Sunday's game. Jagger Joshua, Gavin Bayreuther, Ryan Johnson and Nikita Novikov all added an assist in the contest to close out the scoring.

Goaltender Scott Ratzlaff (3-2-0) suffered the loss while making a season-high 34 saves in his sixth appearance of the campaign.

FIRST PERIOD

A back-and-forth opening period saw the teams combine for 25 shots while going goal for goal, totaling four in seven minutes.

Utica drew the game's first power-play of the day 6:57 into the frame and capitalized on the man-advantage to take a 1-0 lead as Shane Lachance redirected Calen Addison's shot in-between the circles.

Rochester answered the goal by scoring twice 3:07 apart to flip a one-goal deficit into a 2-1 lead.

Kuntar carried the puck into the offensive zone and left it for Jones just inside the blue line. The Buffalo native continued his way towards the top of the crease while Jones fired a shot from the right point. The initial offering was redirected by Kuntar before reaching Daws' leg and then stuffed back across the goal line for his 13th of the season.

Moments later, Fiddler-Schultz won a face-off to the right of Daws back to Novikov. As the rugged defenseman skated towards the high slot, he snapped a shot for Fiddler-Schultz to redirect from the inside edge of the dot for his second tally in as many nights.

Utica evened the score prior to the end of the period as newcomer Marc McLaughlin, making his season debut having just been assigned to Utica, steered in Topias Vilen's shot for his first goal in the AHL since Nov. 17, 2024.

SECOND PERIOD

Midway through the second period and while on its first man-advantage of the game, Rochester kept the puck inside the Comets' end of the ice. A Utica defender attempted to clear the puck out of the zone, but Jones intercepted it and he made a dash toward the net. After eluding a Utica defender, the two-time AHL All-Star fired a shot for Fiddler-Schultz to redirect again for his second of the afternoon.

Trailing for the first time in the contest at the 8:07 mark, Utica rattled off three straight goals in five minutes to take a 5-3 cushion into the intermission break.

THIRD PERIOD

Carrying a two-goal lead, Utica extended its lead 48 seconds into the third before Ethan Edwards added his second marker of the game eight minutes later.

In the final seconds of regulation, Fiddler-Schultz finished off his three-goal game from the left corner at the 19:40 mark.

UP NEXT

The Amerks continue their three-game homestand on Wednesday, Feb. 18 when they host the Charlotte Checkers at 7:05 p.m. All the action from The Blue Cross Arena will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.

Goal Scorers

UTC: S. Lachance (9), M. McLaughlin (1), B. Halonen (15), A. Crookshank (12, 13), E. Edwards (7, 8)

ROC: T. Kuntar (13), R. Fiddler-Schultz (13, 14, 15)

Goaltenders

UTC: N. Daws - 32/36 (W)

ROC: S. Ratzlaff - 34/41 (L)

Shots

UTC: 41

ROC: 36

Special Teams

UTC: PP (1/3) | PK (1/2)

ROC: PP (1/2) | PK (2/3)

Three Stars:

1. UTC - B. Halonen

2. UTC - A. Crookshank

3. ROC - R. Fiddler-Schultz

Check out the Rochester Americans Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from February 15, 2026


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