Varone's Overtime Heroics Lift Amerks to 4-3 Win over Griffins
November 28, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release
(Rochester, NY)... Phil Varone played the role of hero once again for the Rochester Americans. The reigning Amerks MVP scored the game-winning goal with 58 seconds remaining in the 3-on-3 period of overtime as the Amerks overcame three separate one-goal deficits to defeat the Grand Rapids Griffins 4-3 in dramatic fashion Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena.
The win brings the Amerks record to 9-10-1-0 on the season and salvages the second half of a back-to-back set with Grand Rapids after Rochester fell to the Griffins 3-1 Wednesday night. The game also goes down as the Amerks first win over the Griffins since Oct. 19, 2012 and snaps a five-game losing streak to Grand Rapids dating back to last season.
Varone also added a pair of assists to lead the Amerks, while Zac Dalpe scored his fourth goal of the season and Brayden Irwin and Jake McCabe notched a goal apiece to round out the scoring. Luke Adam also finished with two assists and Andrey Makarov got the call in net for the Amerks, stopping 30 shots to earn his sixth win of the season.
Nick Jensen, Andy Miele and Teemu Pulkkinen all scored for the visitors, with Tom McCollum stopping 23 shots in a losing effort.
Grand Rapids scored its first goal just 5:44 into the first period when Jensen fired a slap-shot from the blueline that snuck through a crowd in front of the net and in.
The Amerks responded just 51 seconds into the second period after Dalpe, who was playing in his 200th AHL game, stripped former Amerk Kevin Porter of the puck and poked a shot through McCollum from close range to tie the score 1-1. The Griffins regained their one-goal lead almost eight minutes later on the power-play after Miele converted on a no-look pass from Mitch Callahan beside the net.
The Amerks would again answer with a power-play of their own. Adam led a 2-on-1 rush from the left side and delivered a saucer pass over to a crashing Irwin, who managed to slam the puck home. While the goal was initially waved off by the nearby official, further review awarded the Amerks with their second tally of the night.
With the score tied 2-2 heading into the third period, the Griffins would once again take the lead when Pulkkinen scored another power-play goal with a hard wrist shot from the top of the slot.
The Amerks rebounded with their second power-play goal of the game just 1:32 later when Adam wired a hard pass across the ice right to a waiting McCabe. The rookie defenseman gathered the puck and fired a shot past a sliding McCollum to tie the score at 3-3 early in the third period.
Neither team managed to score again during the third period, sending the game to overtime. The teams traded chances in the 4-on-4 portion of the extra session, but the score remained tied at 3-3. Following a whistle with 2:51 left in overtime, the play switched to 3-on-3 hockey.
The Amerks nearly scored on a 3-on-2 chance late in overtime that ended with McCollum flashing the glove on a wide-open Chad Ruhwedel from the slot. Rochester would take advantage on its next scoring opportunity, however, when Mikhail Grigorenko poked the puck away from a Grand Rapids forward right to Varone. Skating in all alone on a breakaway, Varone went upstairs on McCollum to seal the 4-3 victory for the Amerks.
The Amerks close out the busy holiday week on Saturday, Nov, 29 when they travel to the southern tier to take on the intrastate rival Binghamton Senators in the front-end of a home-and-home series at Veterans Memorial Arena. The 7:00 p.m. contest will be the second of just four meetings between the two teams this season and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1280 Rochester.
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