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AHL Rochester Americans

Ruhwedel's OT Winner Lifts Amerks to 4-3 Win over Bull

December 13, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY)... Second-year defenseman Chad Ruhwedel scored the game-winning goal on the power-play with just 1:14 left in overtime as the Rochester Americans dropped the Hamilton Bulldogs for a 4-3 win Saturday night at The Blue Cross Arena. The win ends a season-long six-game slide for the Amerks that included a loss Friday night to the Bulldogs at the FirstOntario Centre.

With the victory, the Amerks improve their season record to 10-16-1-0 on the season.

Zac Dalpe, Luke Adam and Phil Varone were the other finishers for the Amerks, with Johan Larsson and Mikhail Grigorenko each adding multi-assist outings for Rochester. After receiving the night off on Friday, Andrey Makarov improved his personal record to 7-7-1 with a 31-save effort.

Drayson Bowman, Christian Thomas and Gabriel Dumont all scored for Hamilton, while Joey MacDonald stopped 38 of Rochester's 42 shots in net.

The Amerks opened the scoring on a play that began on the stick of Grigorenko, who sent an outlet pass to Larsson down the left wing that released the forward in on a 2-on-1 with Varone. Larsson looked off the defender and slid a pass to Varone, who chipped the puck over the diving MacDonald to put Rochester ahead 1-0 6:29 into the first period.

Hamilton responded less than three minutes later after converting on an odd-man rush of its own, with T.J. Hensick delivering a pass to Bowman, who beat Makarov up high to tie the score. The tie was short-lived, however, when Thomas' slap-shot on the power-play put the Bulldogs ahead 2-1.

The visitors added insurance 1:33 into the second period after Greg Pateryn's slap-shot from the blueline was deflected in the slot by Dumont, bringing the score to 3-1.

With the Amerks now trailing by two goals, Matt Ellis held possession of the puck below the goal-line in Hamilton's zone and managed to hold off a defender before spinning a no-look pass through the crease to Adam. Adam took a few stabs at the puck before finally jamming it past MacDonald to make it a one-score game.

Rochester tied the score 3-3 on the power-play with just under 14 minutes left in regulation when Jake McCabe's shot from the point was redirected from a sharp angle by Dalpe for the veteran's fifth goal of the season.

Neither team was able to secure the winning goal prior to the end of regulation, securing a point for both clubs and sending the game to sudden-death overtime. In the extra session, the Amerks controlled the play in the Bulldogs' zone, forcing Hamilton to take a cross-checking penalty with 2:55 left. The Amerks threw a number of chances on MacDonald, but were thwarted by several blocked shots that nearly denied the man-advantage.

With 1:14 left in overtime, Rochester capitalized on a tic-tac-toe play that ended with Ruhwedel going upstairs on MacDonald to win the game for the Amerks.

The Amerks continue their season-long eight-game homestand on Wednesday, Dec. 17 as the Syracuse Crunch make their first visit of the season to The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:05 p.m. matchup will be the third of 10 meetings between the intrastate rivals this season and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1280 Rochester. The game will also be televised live on Time Warner Cable Sportschannel 26.

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