Hudson Fasching scores the lone goal for Rochester.
BRIDGEPORT, CT. — After picking up a 3-1 victory last night, the Rochester Americans (18-23-0-1) had a role reversal Sunday when they fell 3-1 to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (22-15-1-1) at Webster Bank Arena Sunday to conclude their weekend trek through the Atlantic Division.
Hudson Fasching tallied the lone goal for Amerks in the contest, marking his second of the season and first since Oct. 21, while goaltender Linus Ullmark suffered just his second loss in the last seven games for the Amerks, dropping his record to 16-14-1. The Swedish netminder made 26 saves on the night of the 28 he faced.
Josh Ho-Sang led the Sound Tigers as the rookie forward recorded his sixth multi-point outing of the campaign and first career two-goal game while former Buffalo Sabre Steve Bernier added an empty-net goal late in the contest to seal the win. Bridgeport netminder Stephon Williams improved his record to 6-12-0 after stopping 29 of the 30 shots he saw throughout the contest. It was the third win in as many nights and the fourth straight for the Sound Tigers.
The game started well for Amerks as they came out firing in the first period, leading the Sound Tigers 10-5 in shots with 7:35 left in the period, but Williams kept Rochester off the scoreboard until the 15:06 mark of the opening frame.
Scooping up a loose puck below the red line in the offensive zone, Evan Rodrigues looped around the side of the boards and found defensemen Tyson Strachan at the opposite side of the ice along the half-boards. The veteran defenseman fired a shot towards the cage that Fasching redirected behind Williams to give the Amerks a 1-0 lead.
However, for the visiting Amerks, their lead would stand only 35 seconds as Ho-Sang deposited his first of two behind Ullmark to tie the contest at 1-1 with 4:19 left in the opening period.
The Sound Tigers carried the momentum after the intermission break and once again Ho-Sang was able to beat Ullmark with 12:27 left in the middle stanza. The tally, assisted by Michael Dal Cole, held up as the game-winning goal.
Rochester attempted to even the game by pulling Ullmark with less than two minutes left in regulation, but Bernier ended any thought of a comeback when he slipped the puck into the vacant net to seal the game in favor of the Sound Tigers.
For the first time in eight games, Amerks forward Justin Bailey failed to find the back of the net as he was held off the scoresheet. The 21-year-old saw his career-long seven goal scoring streak come to an end the longest in the AHL this season and as well as his eight-game point streak. Dating back to Dec. 16, Bailey had recorded 12 points (9+3).
The Amerks return home following their four-game road swing for a pair of contests at The Blue Cross Arena, beginning Wednesday night against the Toronto Marlies before hosting the intrastate rival Albany Devils in the front-end of a home-and-home series on Hometown Heroes Night Friday. Both contests are slated to begin at 7:05 p.m. and can be heard live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester.