Amerks drop 3rd straight home game

Hartford completes the sweep of the weekend series with a 5-1 victory.

By CRAIG POTTER

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Americans dropped their third straight home game on Saturday, 5-1, to the Hartford Wolf Pack before 4,658 fans at the Blue Cross Arena. The 3-game losing skid is the longest of the season for Rochester.

Rochester dominated the first period, taking 23 shots on the Hartford net, but goalie Marek Mazanec turned aside each and every one.

“It just didn’t seem to be our night,” said Amerks assistant captain and defenseman Nathan Paetsch. “We came out swinging with 23 shots in the first period. It might have been one of our best periods of the season, but for whatever reason, things just did not go our way.”

The Amerks fired their most shots of the season in a game with 91 as 41 were on the cage. Mazanec finished with 40 saves to earn the No. 1 Star of the Game honors.

“We started off really well,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor. “Our whole game, we had 91 shot attempts, our most of the year, but we missed a lot of empty-nets, hit four posts. We are in one of those slumps right now, and it happens in hockey and we just have to find our way out of it.”

Former Amerk and Buffalo native Cole Schneider scored 2 goals and added 1 assist for the Wolf Pack. The Hartford team captain leads his squad with 11 goals.

Adam Wilcox started in net for Rochester. He allowed 3 goals, including one with 16 seconds left in the second stanza. Scott Wedgewood played the third period and gave up 2 goals.

The Amerks averted a shutout when Yannick Veilleux scored midway through the third period with assists going to Eric Cornel and Tyler Randell.

Rochester had many excellent scoring chances as in the first 5 minutes of the second stanza, Danny O’Regan got a turnover in the Hartford slot, but his shot went wide of the net. A couple of minutes later, rookie Victor Olofsson hit the pipe with a shot.

Mazanec robbed Rochester defenseman Zach Redmond’s backhand shot with a great glove save.

The Amerks go on Christmas break as their next game is on the road in Cleveland Wednesday night against the Monsters.

“It will be good for the guys to get away from hockey,” Paetsch said. “It’s a long season. There are ups and downs over the year and I thought we played the right way despite the score.”

“The break will be huge to take our minds off hockey,” Veilleux added. “It will be a time to enjoy time with our families and come back refreshed.”

*NOTES — The Buffalo Sabres on Saturday announced the team has assigned defenseman Brendan Guhle to the Rochester Americans…Alex Nylander returned to the lineup following an injury and Matt Tennyson sat out the game with an injury…Hartford won its third straight game following a 5-game losing streak.

Videos