Amerks Get Shootout Win On Road
By: Thad Brown
Updated: January 21, 2012
The Rochester
Americans rallied back from a 3-1 late second period deficit and
eventually used the shootout to overcome the Grand Rapids Griffins by a
score
of 4-3 on Saturday night at Van Andel Arena. The victory was the first
for Rochester of the weekend's three-in-three and improves its record to
18-15-5-3 overall.
Nick
Crawford, Jacob Lagace, and Zack Kassian chipped in a goal apiece in
regulation for the Amerks, with Paul Szczechura, Jonathan Parker, and
Shawn Szydlowski finding
the back of the net in the skills competition. Netminder David Leggio
turned away 34 of 37 shots sent his way by the Griffins in the game,
while also denying the final three shooters in the shootout to preserve
the win.
Tomas
Tatar and Francis Pare each contributed a goal and an assist for the
Griffins, with defenseman Brian Lashoff also adding a tally of his own.
Goaltender Joey MacDonald
finished with 35 saves between the pipes in the losing effort.
The
Amerks struck first in the contest at 9:09 of the opening period to
jump out to a 1-0 advantage. Off the rush from the left-wing boards,
Marcus Foligno fed Crawford
streaking through the slot, setting him up for a quick wrister that beat
MacDonald low to the blocker side.
Grand
Rapids responded to even the score at one apiece just over two minutes
later, capitalizing on a broken play in the midst of a 3-on-2 rush.
Pare's initial shot
from the middle of the slot was blocked by a Rochester defender, but the
puck fluttered in the air and right to the stick of Tatar, who
deposited it into the vacant side of the net.
The
Griffins opened up their first lead of the evening 2-1 at 4:06 of the
second period as Tatar sent a pass through the right circle from behind
the net to Pare, who
buried his seventh goal of the season.
Grand Rapids tallied a power-play goal at 15:16 of the middle frame for a 3-1 advantage as Lashoff sent a snapshot from the high slot over the glove of Leggio, who appeared to be screened on the play.
Grand Rapids tallied a power-play goal at 15:16 of the middle frame for a 3-1 advantage as Lashoff sent a snapshot from the high slot over the glove of Leggio, who appeared to be screened on the play.
Rochester answered just over a minute later to pull-back to within one as Kassian scored his 10th
of the year from Brock Matheson and Corey Fienhage. The tally
represented Kassian's fourth in three games against the Griffins this
season and also extended his current point scoring streak to three
games.
The
Amerks lit the lamp for the second straight time 4:33 into the final
frame as Mark Voakes converted a breakaway opportunity to tie things up
at three. Alex Biega
was the beneficiary of a turnover by the Griffins defense and sent
Voakes in all alone to tuck a backhand just inside the right post.
After
a scoreless overtime in which Leggio slid post-to-post to rob Joakim
Andersson in the final minute, Rochester came out on top in the shootout
with Szydlowski netting
the game-clincher in the fourth round.
The
same two teams are idle until they resume their two-game set on
Wednesday, January 25 with a 7:00 p.m. bout at Van Andel Arena.
