Amerks Nip Toronto
By: Thad Brown
Updated: March 4, 2012
A
power-play goal off the stick of Paul Szczechura midway through the
third period helped the Rochester Americans
skate to a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Marlies on Saturday evening at
Ricoh Coliseum. The win marked the Amerks' fourth victory in the last
five outings and brought them back to within seven points of Toronto for
the top spot in the North Division with another
meeting between the teams on tap for Sunday in Rochester.
Evan
Rankin also scored for the Amerks in Saturday's win while Phil Varone,
Colin Stuart and Brayden McNabb each collected an assist. Netminder
David Leggio's performance earned him first
star honors, as he turned away 21 of 22 shots for his 19th win of the season and earned an assist on Szczechura's game-winning goal.
Greg
Scott tallied the lone goal for Toronto in the contest, with the
assists going to Jesse Blacker and Joe Colborne. Goaltender Ben
Scrivens finished with 31 saves in the losing effort.
The
Amerks jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 4:04 into the contest as Rankin
scored his eighth goal of the season. Stationed at the top of the
crease, Rankin was able to jam home the rebound
of a shot by Varone from the left half-wall. The result saw both
players extend their point streaks to three games. For Rankin, who
missed several weeks due to injury before returning to the lineup last
weekend, it was his first goal since Dec. 21. Stuart,
meanwhile, picked up his third assist in the last two games on the goal.
Toronto
responded less than three minutes later to even the score at one when
Blacker set up Scott at the bottom of the right circle to net his 16th
of the season.
After
more than 40 minutes of scoreless play, the Amerks took a 2-1 lead with
a power-play goal at 8:57 of the final frame. Szczechura broke through
the Toronto defense off the rush and
beat Scrivens with a high shot to the blocker side from the slot for a
highlight-reel goal. McNabb and Leggio were awarded the assists on the
play.
Leggio
and the Rochester defense held down the fort over the final half of the
third period to preserve the one-goal victory. The Amerks killed off
all four Toronto power plays on the night
and out-shot the Marlies by a 33-22 margin.
The same two teams meet again on Sunday at The Blue Cross Arena in the back-end of the home-and-home series. Faceoff is at 6:05pm. 
