Amerks Blow 4-0 Lead, Still Win

The Rochester Americans defeated the Manitoba Moose 5-4 in the shootout. Drew Larman scored the loan goal in the shootout and Tyler Plante was perfect in goal stopping all five shots to improve the Amerks record to 21-40-6-4 on the year. The contest was the 4,000th regular season game in Amerks history. In the shootout Greece native Derek Whitmore playing in his first professional game had the opportunity to shoot and put the game away but was denied. The Amerks win avoids the season sweep by the Moose. Jordan Henry and Dylan Hunter both had two point nights with one goal and one assist each earning them first and third star honors. The Amerks power-play capitalized two times on five chances. The Moose also capitalized twice but they had nine opportunities with the man advantage. Plante’s shootout effort earned him his fourth victory of the season. The Amerks got on the board first when Henry deflected the puck past Moose goaltender Cory Schneider at the 10:04 mark of the first. Henry’s first goal of the season was helped by rookie defenseman/forward Marc-Andre Gragnani and Dylan Hunter on the power-play. Gragnani’s assist ties him for the team led in points with 48 points (12+36). Just over one minute later the Amerks extended their lead to two when Tanner Glass put his fifth of the season in the back of the net. Glass’ goal was assisted by Anthony Stewart and Marek Zagrapan. The Amerks took the 3-0 at the 14:27 mark of the first on a shot taken by Larman. Larman’s ninth goal of the season was helped by Franklin MacDonald and Henry. In the second period the Amerks kept the goals coming when Hunter put his team leading 19th goal of the season past Schneider on the power-play. The Amerks fourth goal was assisted by Mike Funk and Clarke MacArthur at the 2:59 mark of the first. The Moose quickly responded with back to back goal from Shaun Heshka and Brad Moran to cut the Amerks lead in half. Moran’s goal puts him at 70 points on the season which leads the team. Later Moran added an assist to give him 71 points. The Moose pulled with in one with 12.5 seconds left to play in the second. The Moose’s third goal of the night was knocked in by Jannik Hansen on a pass from Moran on the team’s second power-play goal of the night. The Moose tied the game at the 7:22 mark of the third when Mike Keane got the puck to dribble past Amerks rookie goaltender Plante. Keane’s eighth goal of the season came from Nolan Baumgartner and Kevin Estrada who recorded his first professional point. In the shootout Plante took over stopping all five Moose opportunities. Larman made a nice deke to make Schneider move and Larman fired the puck low stick side for the Amerks game winner. Rochester travels to Van Andel Arena to face the Grand Rapids Griffins in the seventh of eight meetings between the two teams this season.