By CRAIG POTTER
Rochester outshoots the Senators, 48-18, but fall in the shootout, 3-2.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Americans dominated the Binghamton as they outshot the Senators, 48-18, but lost 3-2 in the shootout on Wednesday night before 3,531 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
Binghamton goalie Chris Dredger faced a career-high 48 shots as he made 46 saves.
“We had opportunities throughout the game to score but their goaltender made some big saves,” said Amerks head coach Dan Lambert. “There were times where we did not go to the net as hard as we’d liked and there were roughly 20 shots we did not hit the net. When you have that many chances, we have to bury one of those chances.”
The B-Sens grabbed a 1-0 lead early in the first period when Max McCormick slammed a rebound past Amerks rookie netminder Jonas Johansson. McCormick ended up leaving the game early in the third period when he went down to block a shot by Rochester defenseman Patrick Mullen.
The Amerks tied the game 1-1 with 2.5 seconds left in the stanza when rookie Alex Kile received a crossing pass from Jean Dupuy and poke it into the empty right side of the net.
Binghamton regained the advantage midway through the third period on a tally by defenseman Jordan Murray.
Rochester took advantage of a power play when Derek Grant knocked home a rebound off a shot by Mullen with 2:36 remaining in regulation.
“It was good to tie the game,” Grant said. “Our power-play was not good early in the game but we just stuck with it and it was good to tie the game late and give ourselves a chance to win it.”
The Amerks successfully killed off a tripping penalty to Mat Bodie in the 5-minute overtime period. They also had a couple of excellent scoring chances, missing an open net twice by Evan Rodrigues and Alex Nylander.
“Overtime got kind of wild,” said Evan Rodrigues, who was eligible to return to the Amerks following the Buffalo’s season where he was named the Sabres Rookie of the Year.
“On my breakaway, I was able to get a good shot but Driedger was able to get the knob of his stick on the puck and then it rang off the post. Then they had a three-on-one until Brady Austin made a great play and then we hit the post on another shot. Tonight, we just ran into a hot goalie who stole the game for them.”
The Amerks elected to shoot first in the shootout but Alexander Nylander, Nick Baptiste, and Justin Bailey were all stopped by Dredger. However, Binghamton’s Nick Paul scored the lone tally to earn the extra point.
*NOTES – The Amerks conclude their home schedule with Fan Appreciation Night on Friday against the Albany Devils. Rochester ends the season on Saturday against the Devils in Albany, which will be the final AHL game to be played in the Capital City as New Jersey is moving the franchise to Binghamton next season…Rookie forward Alex Nylander, along with goalie Linus Ullmark, also were returned to the Amerks to conclude their seasons here.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Alex Kile goal – https://youtu.be/YWrkj7rqgZ8
Jean Dupuy fight – https://youtu.be/GzdxWQn237c
Derek Grant pp goal – https://youtu.be/kC8ShRmhVO4
Patrick Mullen shot blocked – https://youtu.be/gbPUZRMGiJ0
PK and missed open nets OT – https://youtu.be/SmQoeFmEx84
Evan Rodrigues interview – https://youtu.be/kQJCLh8Kkx0
Derek Grant interview – https://youtu.be/cGTcpP6CNYY
Dan Lambert interview – https://youtu.be/abWQoDePVLU