Rochester falls 5-1 to the Senators for their 3rd straight defeat.
By CRAIG POTTER / C&C Worldwide Sports Director
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After outshooting the Belleville Senators 12-2 halfway through the first period, the Rochester Americans found themselves trailing 1-0 on Friday night before the largest crowd of the season (8,422) at the Blue Cross Arena.
The Amerks were burned twice on defensive turnovers for 2 shorthanded goals in the 5-1 loss to the B-Sens.
“I really liked our start,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor. “The first 10 minutes of the game we had 12 or 13 shots on net, and even if Belleville scored one or two goals, we are still a good team. There is a reason why we are atop the standings. We know how to score, we know how to win, but for some reason tonight, I felt we panicked.
“I was disappointed how we reacted after giving up two goals. Even if they scored on or two goals, so what? We’re a good team.”
Belleville improved to 12-3-1 on the road this season while the Amerks’ home record dropped to 11-4-1-3, including going 0-2-0-1 over their last 3 games.
The loss, combined with Utica’s win over Lehigh Valley Friday night, propelled the Comets over the Amerks into first place by a point (48 to 47) in the North Division. Rochester, however, does have 2 games-in-hand over Utica.
Amerks’ All-Star goalie Jonas Johansson had a tough as he yielded 3 goals on 16 shots before being pulled by Taylor with 4:31 to play in the second period and the Comets holding a 3-1 advantage.
“We had a lot of shots on net (36), a lot of opportunities, a lot of missed shots, but we just have to be better and find ways to finish around the net,” said Taylor. “The mistakes we’re making are uncharacteristic of a lot of different guys, especially with the experience that they have.”
Andrew Hammond came on in relief and gave up the second shorthanded tally off a second turnover by veteran defenseman John Gilmour.
“Obviously hindsight is 20/20 if I have a chance to go back, but it happens,” Gilmour said.
Taylor wasn’t sure how it could happen, at least not a second time.
“That’s the disappointing part,” the coach said. “We’ve been doing it now for a while. Those are the mistakes we’re making.”
The short-handed goals were back-breakers.
“Our power play’s definitely got to be better, we can’t give up two shorthanded goals, that just kills your momentum,” said team captain Kevin Porter. “In the second period I thought we were playing well and getting some opportunities and again, that just kills it.”
The Comets scored their final goal into the empty net as Taylor pulled the goalie with 5:57 to play in an effort to get back into the game. Utica finally capitalized when Alex Formeton completed his hat trick by finding the empty net with 2:35 remaining.
CJ Smith accounted for the lone Rochester goal midway through the second period that cut the score in half at 2-1.
“It has been a tough stretch for me personally, but it was nice to finally get a goal,” said Smith after scoring his first goal since Dec. 14. “As much as the personal accomplishments, I would like to also get some team results.”
*NOTES — Over the past 10 games, the Amerks are 3-6-0-1, with 3 of those losses to Binghamton. For the season, Rochester is 21-10-2-3 but just 3-2-0-2 against the Devils (14-17-4-0), who were on a 5-game winning streak…The Amerks close out the weekend on Saturday as they face-off against the Syracuse Crunch at the War Memorial Arena. The 7 pm contest will be the fourth between the two North Division rivals this season after Rochester took the first 3 meetings all by one-goal margins and a combined score of 14-11…Rookie defenseman Jacob Bryson is third in the AHL for all first-year players with a plus-13 on-ice rating while being the only Amerk to appear in all 35 games this season…The Belleville lineup featured two former Amerk defensemen in Jack Dougherty and Stuart Percy…Andrew Oglevie returned to the Rochester lineup following an injury and assisted on CJ Smith’s goal…Winger Taylor Leier, who suffered an upper body injury in the Jan. 3 game at Belleville, very likely will be kept out of the lineup until after the Jan. 26-27 All-Star break…Defenseman Casey Nelson missed Friday’s game with an upper body injury. He was hurt in the second period of Wednesday’s game against Binghamton but finished the game. Taylor said he gave it a test drive at Friday’s morning skate and didn’t feel right.