Rochester squanders a 2-0 lead, now heads to Toronto down 2-0 in games.
By CRAIG POTTER / C&C Worldwide Sports Director
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After squandering a 2-0 lead, the Rochester Americans find themselves on the brink of elimination from the Calder Cup playoffs with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Toronto Marlies on Sunday afternoon before 4,092 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
Once again it was the Amerks inability to capitalize on scoring chances, as well as the fine play of Marlies goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo, who finished with 40 saves, many of the spectacular variety.
“They should be in the back of the net,” said Amerks coach Chris Taylor. “We’re down two-nothing because we haven’t executed (on scoring chances).”
After a scoreless first period, in which the Amerks outshot the Marlies, 18-7, Rochester finally got on the scoreboard 5 minutes into the second stanza. Wayne Simpson poke-checked the puck away from a Marlie defender. C.J. Smith rushed down the left wing ahead of the defender and first the puck past Kaskisuo.
Rochester scored again in the final 2 minutes of the stanza off another turnover when team captain Kevin Porter scored from the slot. Simpson and Kurt Gosselin picked up assists.
The Marlies, however, tallied twice within 57 seconds early in the third period to tie the game. The first goal came on a power play as Porter was whistled for slashing.
“They said it was (a penalty) because he turned the puck over,” Porter said.
Chris Mueller scored just 8 seconds later to get Toronto on the scoreboard.
“We talked about it with our team, we cannot take penalties as they thrive on the power-play,” said Taylor. “Right off the bat in the third we take a penalty and they capitalized on it then we were on our heels a little bit during the next goal.”
Jeremy Bracco tied the game as he took advantage of some poor defensive play by the Amerks to fire the puck past Scott Wedgewood, who ended with 20 saves.
Toronto secured the win just 2:20 into the overtime period as Bracco received an outlet pass and patiently waited to avoided sliding Amerk defender Zach Redmond, then he backhanded the puck into an empty net while Wedgewood was tangled up with another teammate at the top of his crease.
“It’s disappointing,” said Simpson. “To lose in overtime, and the special teams battle, and that sticks out. I think when we look back at the game, their power-play goal was the turning point in the game. We had chances on our power-play but we did not capitalize on it.”
The series continues at 7 pm Wednesday in Toronto where the Marlies can complete the sweep and advance to Round 2 with a victory.
“I’m upset, I’m mad,” said Taylor. “I know the guys are upset. We need results. We’ve got to find more.”
Porter added, “It’s one game at a time. We have to win three straight but we will not be able to do that without winning the first one. We need to win one before we can worry about what is next.”
*NOTES — In the opinion of this writer, who also is a Veteran, the Amerks owe an apology, if they have not done so already, to the Marlies, the Canadians in attendance and/or viewing or listening to the anthem, for the poor rendition of O Canada by the acappella soloist they had sing it. The singer apparently did not even know the melody of the Canadian National Anthem as after the first verse she made up her own tune while signing the words off the ribbon board. To be frank, it was embarrassing for everyone. She has a nice-sounding voice and she did fine with the American anthem, but there is no excuse for what happened…The Amerks have not won a playoff series since Round 1 in 2005. They’ve never defeated the Marlies in a playoff game, including 3-0 sweeps in 2012 and 2013…Not since 1967 have the Amerks lost the first two games of a series at home and still advanced. That was in the first round against the Cleveland Barons, also a best-of-5 series.