By CRAIG POTTER
Rochester falls to Utica, 5-2, as the scoring drought continues.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Americans continue to try and find a way to get into the ‘Win’ column following a 5-2 setback to the Utica Comets on Friday night before 5,647 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
The loss was the fifth straight for Rochester (7-10-0-1), and sixth in their last 7 games.
Kyle Bonis gave the Amerks an early 1-0 lead , off assists from Erik Burgdoerfer and Mac Bennett.
Irondequoit native and Comets defenseman David Shields took a slapshot from the right point that Wacey Hamilton redirected past Amerks goalie Linus Ullmark to tie the game with 6:38 to play in the first period.
Nick Baptiste regained the lead for Rochester on a power play goal with just under 3 minutes left in the stanza. Justin Bailey and Alex Nylander assisted on the play.
“Our power-play unit has been red hot lately,” said Baptiste. “Despite the outcome, the power-play success is a positive we are able to take from the last few defeats.”
The Comets knotted the count 2-2 six minutes into the second period, and forged ahead 3-2 late in the stanza.
Utica added a power play goal in the third, and sealed the victory with an empty net tally in the final minute of play.
“I thought their power-play goal really hurt us,” said Amerks head coach Dan Lambert. “I felt if we could have been able to successfully kill that penalty, the game would have been a one goal game and potentially a one-shot game. However, that was not the case.”
The Amerks travel to Albany for a 5 pm. faceoff against the Devils on Saturday.
*NOTES – The Amerks announced that the team reassigned forwards Matthew Lane and Vaclav Karabacek to the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL…Nick Baptiste extended his point streak to 6 games (8+1) with the power play goal…Rookie Alex Nylander pushed his point streak to a career-best 4 games with his assist (1+4)…Linus Ullmark made his 10th start in the last 11 games, and he recorded 27 saves…Justin Bailey’s assist kept him tied with Alex Nylander for the team leadership in points with 13. Nick Baptiste is one behind with 12. Currently they are the only three in double digits points…Two players who saw action for the Amerks last season, defenseman Colby Robak and center Allan McPherson, play for the Comets this season.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Nick Baptiste interview – https://youtu.be/4agyrOpMsTY
Kyle Bonis interview – https://youtu.be/_2Z5aEiBdIk
Dan Lambert interview – https://youtu.be/K9w9nN6ABdY