Rochester is shutout by the Toronto Marlies, 6-0.
TORONTO, ON. — Despite being outshot 30-18, the Toronto Marlies (34-26-4-1) exploded for 4 goals in the first period and never looked back on their way to a 6-0 win over the Rochester Americans (24-37-0-2) Tuesday night at Ricoh Coliseum.
Toronto netminder Kasimir Kaskisuo pushed Rochester’s winless streak to a season-long five games after stopping all 30 shots he faced to pick up his first AHL shutout. Meanwhile, five different goal-scorers found the back of the net for the Marlies.
Linus Ullmark and John Muse split time in goal for Rochester, combining for 12 saves on 18 shots. Veteran defenseman Tyson Strachan notched a team-high five shots on goal for the Amerks.
Seth Griffith (2+0) and Kasperi Kapanen (0+2) each finished with multi-point nights for the Marlies with Griffith recording his fifth straight multi-point game and first two-goal outing since March 26 of last season. Tobias Lindberg ignited a six-goal run just 1:50 into the contest with his sixth of the season that stood as the game-winner while Justin Holl, Mike Sislo and Trevor Moore rounded out the scoring.
A frantic first period led to four Marlies goals in a span of 15 minutes, beginning with Lindberg beating Ullmark less than two minutes in for an early 1-0 lead.
Just minutes later, Toronto doubled its lead when Holl converted a shot from the top of the slot before Sislo’s 12th of the year made it a 3-0 game with help from former Amerks captain Cal O’Reilly. The Marlies widened the gap with five minutes left in the stanza after Griffith followed up on his own rebound for his first of the two on the night.
A quiet second period saw the Amerks dominate the shot count with a 14-4 advantage but still were unable to solve Kaskisuo, who was making just his second start. Rochester would also double Toronto in shots in the third period, but a dozen more saves by Kaskisuo and two more goals from Griffith and Moore would complete a 6-0 win for the Marlies.
The Amerks return home to the Blue Cross Arena to embark on a three-game weekend on Friday, March 24 as they welcome the Springfield Thunderbirds for their first visit of the season. The 7:05 pm contest will also be the first of two meetings on the weekend between the two teams and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester.