Amerks Give One Away

The Rochester Americans dropped a 4-1 decision to the Hamilton Bulldogs despite out shooting the Bulldogs 34-22 tonight at The Blue Cross Arena. With the loss the Amerks drop to 16-33-4-4 on the year and have now lost two straight. Special teams made all the difference in the game as the Bulldogs scored twice on the powerplay and killed off all eight shorthanded opportunities. Mikhail Grabovski had a four point night (1+3) for the Bulldogs, earning him first star honors. Goalie Jaroslav Halak got the second star of the game stopping 33 of 34 shots. The Bulldogs took the 1-0 lead on Marvin Degon’s power-play goal at 7:23. He slammed a cross-crease pass from Daniel Corso into the right-side of the net. Rochester’s Stefan Meyer nearly tied the game up with two minutes to go in the first, but he hit the right post and was then denied by a sprawling Halak. Rochester tied the game at one on a deflection by Dylan Hunter at 1:39 of the second period. Marc-Andre Gragnani and Peter Aston assisted on the goal. Hamilton regained the lead as Mikhail Grabovski netted his fifth goal of the season on a great individual effort to give the defending champs a 2-1 lead. Grabovski slipped his way past the Rochester defense and slid a low backhand past Dennis just inside the far post. The unassisted tally came at the 15:22 mark of the period. Eric Manlow made it 3-1 with a goal with just five seconds to play in the second. The Bulldogs made it 4-1 when Duncan Milroy scored on an empty-net with just over two minutes left to go in the game. Rochester remains at home on Wednesday, February 20th as it hosts the Albany River Rats at 7:05 p.m. at The Blue Cross Arena.