Three power play goals key Rochester’s 5-2 victory over Toronto.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Americans posted a rare victory over the Toronto Marlies on Friday night before 5,509 fans at the Blue Cross Arena in the Community War Memorial.
The Amerks scored 3 power play goals, a breakaway goal, and an empty net goal in notching a 5-2 triumph over the defending North Division Champions.
“Special teams was a factor for us tonight,” said Amerks coach Dan Lambert as the penalty killers successfully denied the Marlies on all four of their power plays.
“It was a big test for us tonight. I think it was a gut-check time a little bit. They certainly gave us everything we could handle.
Defenseman Taylor Fedun scored his first goal as an Amerk on a power play in the second period that tied the game 1-1. He also added an assist as his shot from the left point on another power play was tipped in by Justin Bailey in the first minute of the third stanza for a 3-1 advantage.
“He was kind of near the hash mark and I just kind of floated it in from the point,” Fedun said. “It looked like he kind of just got a touch on it and put it in the top corner.”
In the second period, rookie forward Hudson Fasching broke the 1-1 draw with a breakaway tally to put Rochester in front to stay.
“I got a good bounce off the boards,” Flashing said. “I had a lot of space. I just went down, saw the top corner.”
Rochester goalie Linus Ullmark was sharp as he recorded 34 saves, including a short-handed breakaway by the Marlies Justin Holl in the third period to keep the count, 3-2, Amerks.
“That’s something that happens,” Ullmark said of the breakaways. “This time I had them.”
Ullmark also came up with key saves against Kerby Rychel on a breakaway when the score was 3-1, and smothered a shot in the crease to thwart Colin Smith, about five minutes after he robbed Holl.
“I thought Linus was really good tonight,” said Lambert. “If not our best player, he was awfully close. He did make some big save, and they’re a dangerous team…and they showed that tonight at times.
“He made huge saves at the right time and gave our team confidence.”
Rookie defenseman Casey Nelson, who reported to the Amerks on Friday from the parent Buffalo Sabres, along with Fasching and Nick Baptiste, tacked on a power play goal with 2:32 to play.
“Fasching and Nelson playing their first games in the American League, I thought both of them played a big role in our success,” Lambert said. “Nick was good. These didn’t come here not want to play. They played hard and played big minutes for us. They were a big part of our team tonight.”
The trio got into Buffalo around 6 am on Friday following an all-night flight from Vancouver. They were informed around noon that they were being re-assigned to Rochester and drove to town together.
“Actually, it was an exciting drive, to be honest,” Nelson said with a smile. “I think we were excited to play (as they only played one game on the Sabres 3-game Western Canada trip). It’s good to get in the lineup and get things going again.”
Dan Catenacci added an empty net goal, after stealing the puck, to secure the victory.
*NOTES – The Buffalo Sabres today announced the team has assigned forwards Nicholas Baptiste and Hudson Fasching, and defenseman Casey Nelson, to the Rochester Americans. In a related move, the Amerks have reassigned forward Justin Kea and defenseman Paul Geiger to the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL…Former Amerks defenseman T.J. Brennan, who spent the past couple of seasons with the Marlies and won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s top scoring defensemen, signed a multi-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers in the off-season…The Amerks were 1-6-1 against the Marlies a year ago with the lone win coming in the last meeting of the season. The teams will meet 10 times this season. “It’s certainly a rivalry that we’re going to take to heart and give them a good game every time we play them,” said Taylor Fedun. “It’s good to get off to a good start against them.”
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Taylor Fedun interview – https://youtu.be/e1MlWpEUVhA
Linus Ullmark interview – https://youtu.be/mqM9fxzYJQA
Hudson Fasching interview – https://youtu.be/vf3ScIvSX5U
Casey Nelson interview – https://youtu.be/yWHDT8MliB0
Coach Dan Lambert interview – https://youtu.be/he0-uWxX32c