Amerks Hammer B-Sens
By: Thad Brown
Updated: March 11, 2012
The Rochester Americans
extended their home winning streak to six games with a decisive 6-1 win
over the defending Calder Cup champion Binghamton Senators in front
of 6,052 fans at The Blue Cross Arena on Saturday. The victory was
Rochester's fourth straight overall and seventh in the last eight games.
"We
have talked about it all year, building a consistency in our team and
the way we play," said Head Coach Ron Rolston. "I think if you play the
right way over the course of
time you can build some momentum and I am certainly happy with the
progress, but every night is a critical game for us."
Rochester
was led offensively by the line of Travis Turnbull (1+2), Mark Voakes
(0+3) and Maxime Legault (1+1), as the trio combined for eight points on
the night. Paul Szczechura
added a goal and an assist while Shaone Morrisonn, Derek Whitmore and
Alex Biega each scored a goal as well.
Netminder David Leggio, making his eighth consecutive start, stopped 17 of 18 shots to earn his 22nd
win of the season, matching the career-high he set last year with Portland.
Jack
Downing contributed the lone goal for Binghamton, while Robin Lehner
and Mike McKenna combined to make 21 saves between the pipes.
The
Amerks opened the scoring 5:16 into the contest as a result of a
perfectly executed forecheck. Voakes and Turnbull tracked down a
dump-in to the right of the net and Voakes
got the puck to Turnbull, who centered it to Legault in the slot for a
one-timed snapshot that found its way past Lehner.
Rochester
doubled its lead to 2-0 at 14:16 of the opening period, as the trio of
Turnbull, Legault and Voakes went to work once again. Off the rush,
Voakes fed a streaking Turnbull
just inside the offensive blueline, who immediately set up Morrisonn
trailing in the high slot to beat Lehner with a blocker-side wrister.
Turnbull
got on the board 4:58 into the middle frame to build a three-goal
cushion for the Amerks. Voakes curled into the high slot with the puck
and released a slapper that
Turnbull tipped before it trickled through the legs of Lehner.
Whitmore scored for the second consecutive night following a net-mouth scramble at 8:26 of the second for his team-leading 25th
of the season, and Biega snapped a shot top shelf less than three minutes later to increase the Amerks' advantage to 5-0.
Szczechura
added a shorthanded goal to cap off a four-goal second period for
Rochester, burying a two-on-one feed from Legault.
The Senators got on the board with 5:11 remaining in regulation when Downing deposited a wrister from the right circle.
The
Amerks hit the road on Friday, March 16 when they journey to Central
New York to take on the Syracuse Crunch at the War Memorial at Oncenter.
The 7:30 p.m. matchup will be
the seventh of 10 get-togethers between the longtime intrastate rivals.
