Amerks edge Lehigh Valley in OT

By CRAIG POTTER

Taylor Fedun scores a power play goal in the overtime to beat the Phantoms, 4-3.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Americans played their most dominate game in a long, long time as they amassed 40 shots, but needed overtime to beat the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 4-3, on Friday night before 5,586 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.

The Amerks (13-18-0-1) avenged their 4-2 loss to Lehigh Valley (21-9-1-0) on Wednesday as they held a 31-9 advantage in shots after two periods. However, 2 additional shots by Evan Rodrigues hit the pipe as Rochester held only a 3-2 lead on the scoreboard.

“I really liked our start,” said Amerks head coach Dan Lambert. “We had four lines going and our defensive units did an exceptional job of moving pucks through the middle of the ice. Our puck retrievals were better and it was an all-around good night.”

Lehigh Valley scored a power play goal in the third period to send the game into overtime. Phantoms netminder Alex Lyon kept his team in the game as another shot hit the crossbar and another one the post in the overtime before Taylor Fedun rebound shot off the pipe was the game-winner on a power play.

“I believe we had some pretty good movement of the puck on the power-play in the overtime period,” Fedun said of his shot that earned the Amerks a two-game split with the Phantoms. “After I hit the post, it is funny how the softer shot went into the net, but it was a fun game to be a part of against one of the premier teams in the league.”

Team captain Cal O’Reilly gave the Amerks a 1-0 lead as he directed a pass from Nick Baptiste past Lyon six minutes into the game.

Tim Kennedy made it 2-0 with his first goal of the season for Rochester, off assists from Cole Schneider and Rodrigues.

The Phantoms managed just 4 shots in the second stanza, but scored on their first two to knot the count at 2-2.

The Amerks netted their first power play of the game midway through the stanza by Schneider for his 12th of the season. Jean Dupuy and Baptiste received assists.

Once again Lehigh Valley battled to even the score at 3-3 as former Amerks defenseman TJ Brennan assisted on the tying power play goal in the third period.

The Phantoms picked up a cross-checking penalty 6 seconds into the overtime as the Amerks were able to maintain control of the puck until Fedun tallied the game-winner.

“I think that is one of the most complete games we have played all season,” Fedun said. “We got off to a great start as we scored a couple goals and we were winning the puck battles.”

The Amerks finished the game with a season-high 40 shots on net while limiting the Phantoms to a season-low 18. The 18 shots were also the fewest allowed in a game this season for Rochester. Fedun and Baptiste each fired a game-high seven shots on net, the most in a game this season since Justin Bailey recorded seven on two separate occasions this year.

“I think we set the bar for our hockey team with the 40 shots tonight,” said Lambert. “Now it is only a matter of getting it out of guys on a daily basis. If we can play like we did tonight, we can also be a tough team to play against and I think tonight’s effort is a credit to our leadership in the room.”

The Amerks close out 2016 with a 5 pm game on Saturday in Utica against the Comets.

*NOTES – The Buffalo Sabres recalled forward Justin Bailey from the Rochester Amerks earlier in the day. Bailey (21, 6-foot-3, 214 lbs.,) joins the Sabres for his second recall of the season after appearing in two games with the team in November. The Buffalo native is currently tied for seventh among all AHL skaters with 13 goals in the 2016-17 season and is currently on a five-game point streak in which he has recorded seven points (5+2). The Sabres’ second-round pick (52nd overall) in the 2013 NHL Draft, Bailey has appeared in 10 NHL games in his career. His 22 points in 31 AHL games this season rank the second-year pro third among all Rochester skaters…Cole Schneider (1+1) scored his 12th goal of the season to go along with an assist for his team-leading 11th multi-point effort…Cal O’Reilly extended his point-streak to 4 games (2+3)…Nick Baptiste collected a career-high 3 assists on the night…Linus Ullmark, who played every minute of Rochester’s 5-game homestand, made 15 saves to improve his record to 12-12-1. The netminder is tied for fourth among AHL goalies with 12 wins…2 locals play for Lehigh Valley, Cole Bardreau from Fairport and Mark Zengerle from Gates Chili, in addition to former Amerk TJ Brennan.

Links

Rochester Americans – amerks.com

Videos

Taylor Fedun pp OT goal – https://youtu.be/hk0d-iDbvBs

Cole Bardreau starts – https://youtu.be/m0npYPq1VIs

Greg Carey goal – https://youtu.be/hE7grvBLbQw

Cole Schneider pp goal – https://youtu.be/bY8WPZG3ggE

Evan Rodrigues hits post – https://youtu.be/tMtEWsQSFok

Tim Kennedy shot – https://youtu.be/qqmNkZL0jnI

2 Roc guys combine – https://youtu.be/Undj66R2wdQ

Paul Geiger hits CB final minute – https://youtu.be/mmXJpMrDBA8

Taylor Fedun interview – https://youtu.be/sSsRqzdqGGw