Amerks Fall To Barons... Again
By: Thad Brown
Updated: January 20, 2012
The
Rochester Americans and Oklahoma City Barons closed out their season
series on Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena as the teams met for the
second straight
night, and despite battling back on two separate occasions in the third
period to pull within a goal, the Amerks dropped a 4-2 decision to the
Barons. With the loss, the Amerks move to 17-15-5-3 on the season as
they prepare to close out the weekend with a
road game against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday.
"The
effort was there," said forward Travis Turnbull, who scored a goal for
the second straight night, giving him three goals in the last four
games. "It's just disappointing
to lose two games in a row to (Oklahoma City) after we beat them twice
in their barn."
Defenseman
Dylan Yeo notched a pair of goals for Oklahoma City, with Curtis
Hamilton and Hunter Tremblay also finding the back of the net.
Netminder Yann Danis finished with
22 saves to earn the win.
Jacob Lagace rounded out the goal scoring for Rochester with his 10th
of the season in front of a crowd of 6,281. Goaltender Drew MacIntyre
turned away 19 of 23 shots between the pipes in his first action since
Jan. 6.
The
Barons took advantage of a fortunate bounce at 6:19 of the opening
period to jump out to a 1-0 lead. An attempted shot just inside the
offensive blueline by Teemu Hartikainen
was partially blocked and made its way right to Yeo in the slot, where
he out-waited MacIntyre and slid a backhand into the vacant net.
Yeo
tallied his second straight goal of the period just 1:41 later to make
it 2-0 in favor of Oklahoma City, beating MacIntyre with a slapper from
the top of the left face-off
circle through a screen.
After
more than 33 minutes of scoreless play, the Amerks got on the board to
cut their deficit in half at 1:08 of the third period and make the score
2-1. Paul Szczechura pick-pocketed
an Oklahoma City defender on the left half-boards, allowing Lagace to
make his way to the high slot with the loose puck and beat Danis with a
wrister high to the blocker side.
The
Barons restored their two-goal cushion at 12:40, capitalizing on a
turnover high in the defensive zone by Rochester as Hamilton netted his
fourth of the season.
Turnbull
put home a loose rebound off a shot by Szczechura with 2:11 remaining
in regulation to bring the Amerks back to within one, but Oklahoma
City's Tremblay responded less
than a minute later, beating MacIntyre off the rush with a wrister from
the left circle to make the score 4-2.
Rochester
takes to the road for the first of four straight away from The Blue
Cross Arena on Saturday, as they visit the North Division rival Grand
Rapids Griffins at Van Andel
Arena to finish of a three-in-three weekend. The 7 p.m. contest will
also be the first of two straight against the Griffins, who the Amerks
meet again on Wednesday.
