Amerks rally falls short

The Rochester Americans dropped a 2-1 decision to the hands of the Rockford IceHogs tonight at The Blue Cross Arena. The loss drops the Amerks to 16-28-0-4 on the season and their second loss in a row. The Amerks were led by goalie Tyler Plante who stopped 31-of-33 shots he faced to earn himself third star honors. This was Plante’s first game with the Amerks since November 7, 2008. Rockford was led by Jake Dowell who tallied two points (1+1) tonight to earn the game’s first star. In goal for Rockford was Corey Crawford, who stopped 31-of-32 shots he faced. Crawford’s performance earned him the second star of the game. The IceHogs got on the board first when Dowell slid the puck five-hole on Plante. Dowell’s third goal of the season was assisted by Nicklas Hjalmarsson and Rob Klinkhammer at the 6:32 mark of the first. At the 10:14 mark of the first, the IceHogs had the opportunity to take a 2-0 lead as Tim Brent was awarded the penalty shot. Plante was able to stay right with Brent on the shot to keep the game at 1-0. The IceHogs took the 2-0 lead as Pascal Pelltier netted his team leading 23rd goal of the season at the 5:07 mark of the third. Pelltier got the puck in the slot from a pass by Dowell and wasted no time to deposit the puck in the back of net. With the goaltender pulled, the Amerks cut the lead in half as Michal Repik knocked in a rebound with 51 seconds remaining in regulation. Assisting on Repik’s ninth goal of the season was Michael Duco and Karl Stewart. This was as close as the Amerks got as Rockford held off the Amerks for the final seconds for their 27th victory of the season.