Amerks win OT thriller
By: John Kucko
Updated: November 6, 2011
(Rochester, NY)... An overtime goal off the stick of defenseman Brayden McNabb lifted the Rochester Americans to a 6-5 victory over the Syracuse Crunch tonight in dramatic fashion in the second-half of the home-and-home series between the two clubs on Sunday evening at The Blue Cross Arena. McNabb's tally less than a minute into the sudden-death period came after Paul Szczechura converted the game-tying goal with just 2:04 remaining in regulation.
"There is a lot of pride in that room, and we weren't happy with the way things went last night," said Amerks head coach Ron Rolston, whose club has now won two of its last three games. "We had a nice win in Binghamton (on Friday night) and were flat last night, so we wanted to come back and finish the weekend off. We also wanted to be sure to play with a lot of energy in our building and be physical, and I thought for the most part we did a better job tonight than yesterday."
Rochester was paced offensively by Szczechura, who celebrated his 300th professional game with a two-point effort (1+1). McNabb (1+1), Mark Voakes (2+0), and Zack Kassian (1+1) also contributed two points in the win, while 10 different players recorded at least one point. Travis Turnbull (1+0) also scored for the Amerks and David Leggio finished with 28 saves between the pipes.
For Syracuse, Dan Sexton had a four-point night (1+3) to cap-off a nine point weekend, while Patrick Maroon (1+1) and Mark Bell (0+2) contributed a pair of points apiece. Nicholas Deschamps (1+0) and John Mitchell (1+0) also found the back of the net in the loss. Goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers turned aside 21 of 27 Rochester shots.
The Amerks jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead 50 seconds into the contest as Voakes buried his first goal of the season on a breakaway. After a quick transition pass out of the defensive zone by Alex Biega, Derek Whitmore hit Voakes with a short pass just inside the Syracuse blueline. Voakes then split the defense to go in alone and beat Deslauriers high to the glove side.
"There is a lot of pride in that room, and we weren't happy with the way things went last night," said Amerks head coach Ron Rolston, whose club has now won two of its last three games. "We had a nice win in Binghamton (on Friday night) and were flat last night, so we wanted to come back and finish the weekend off. We also wanted to be sure to play with a lot of energy in our building and be physical, and I thought for the most part we did a better job tonight than yesterday."
Rochester was paced offensively by Szczechura, who celebrated his 300th professional game with a two-point effort (1+1). McNabb (1+1), Mark Voakes (2+0), and Zack Kassian (1+1) also contributed two points in the win, while 10 different players recorded at least one point. Travis Turnbull (1+0) also scored for the Amerks and David Leggio finished with 28 saves between the pipes.
For Syracuse, Dan Sexton had a four-point night (1+3) to cap-off a nine point weekend, while Patrick Maroon (1+1) and Mark Bell (0+2) contributed a pair of points apiece. Nicholas Deschamps (1+0) and John Mitchell (1+0) also found the back of the net in the loss. Goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers turned aside 21 of 27 Rochester shots.
The Amerks jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead 50 seconds into the contest as Voakes buried his first goal of the season on a breakaway. After a quick transition pass out of the defensive zone by Alex Biega, Derek Whitmore hit Voakes with a short pass just inside the Syracuse blueline. Voakes then split the defense to go in alone and beat Deslauriers high to the glove side.
