By CRAIG POTTER
Rochester scores 10 goals in a game for the first time since Dec. 16, 2006.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Whenever the Rochester Americans happen to amass 10 goals, it has come against a team that calls Binghamton home.
On Friday night at the Blue Cross Arena, the Amerks crushed the Binghamton Devils, 10-3.
Evan Rodrigues paced Rochester with a 4-point night on 2 goals and 2 assists.
“I felt good,” Rodrigues said. “I felt I was controlling the puck, playing with my head up and felt comfortable with the puck. It was nice to get that big win.”
Steve Moses and Hudson Fasching each collected 2 goals.
“It’s fun to score goals as a team,” Moses said. “Obviously you can’t expect that but it’s a good effort.”
Sean Malone, Alex Nylander, Brendan Guhle, and C.J. Smith scored one goal apiece.
“It was an awesome game,” said Fasching. “The fans were into the game as they were loud and it is not that often you get that many goals in a game. As a team, we have a lot of positive energy and are feeling pretty good about our game, but we have to just keep working on getting better and better each day.”
An Amerks team last tallied 10 goals in a game on Dec. 16, 2006 against the Binghamton Senators (Ottawa), and the time before that it happened in 1994 against the Binghamton Whalers (Hartford). Binghamton became the new affiliate of the New Jersey Devils this season.
Nylander scored just 52 seconds in to the contest, which sparked a 5-goal period for Rochester.
“We had great first period, but after the second, despite having the lead, we were not happy how we played,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor. “We sort of got away from our game plan during the period, but I was happy the way we came out in the third.”
Binghamton starting goalie Mackenzie Blackwood played just over 5 minutes as the Amerks built a 3-0 margin. He was replaced by Ken Appleby. He yielded 2 more goals in the stanza, but his teammates also netted 2 goals against Rochester netminder Linus Ullmark. Rochester led 5-2 and outshot the Devils, 17-9 in the period.
Each team scored a goal in the second period, but the Amerks tallied 3 goals in 1:39 early in the third stanza that chased Appleby back to the bench as Blackwood returned between the pipes. The Amerks netted the 10th goal off him less than 2 minutes later.
Ullmark finished the game with 29 saves.
Binghamton shut out Rochester, 5-0, just 6 days ago, and the two teams resume their battle Saturday night in the Southern Tier city. This will be their fourth meeting in 10 days.
“It definitely builds a rivalry,” Fasching said. “There’s a lot of tension between the two teams right now so it makes the games more intense.”
*NOTES – The Buffalo Sabres announced the team assigned defenseman Casey Nelson to the Rochester Americans on Friday…Justin Bailey, who was sent down by the Sabres on Nov. 13, missed 2 games (Nov. 15 & Nov. 17) with an injury, then played Nov. 18 at Binghamton, has not played since then. Amerks coach Chris Taylor, when asked about it said, “There is no update on Bailey.” The reason for Bailey’s not playing since is unclear as to whether he sustained another injury or is he a healthy scratch? Time will tell, apparently…The Sabres snapped a 7-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers Friday night in Buffalo…The official attendance figure given out was 4,282 but there appeared to be closer to 6,500 people in the arena.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Steve Moses celebrates goal — https://youtu.be/Tg_N8FloKls
Hudson Fasching celebrates goal – https://youtu.be/Q-pQeMA3Ufk
C.J. Smith nets 10th goal – https://youtu.be/CAUb7KdpH-g