By CRAIG POTTER
A Rochester win in Syracuse Saturday will secure the opening round matchup vs. the Crunch.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Americans can secure the No. 3 seed in the North Division with a victory Saturday night against No. 2 Syracuse Crunch in the Salt City.
The Amerks rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Belleville Senators, 6-4, on Fan Appreciation Night Friday before 7,846 fans at the Blue Cross Arena. The contest was the home regular season finale as the Amerks close out the regular season Saturday in Syracuse.
“It was a big win, considering the start we had,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor. “We came in during the first intermission and talked about needing to win our shift and take it shift by shift. During the playoffs, we might be down a goal or two, so I liked how we responded tonight. Guys fed off each other’s energy and the crowd. It was a great crowd tonight, too.”
Rochester leads No. 4 Utica Comets by 3 points (89-86) with one game to play. The Comets have 2 games left, but a Rochester win Saturday will secure the No. 3 seed for the Amerks.
If the Amerks and Comets end the season tied with 89 points, Rochester wins the tie-breaker. However, if the teams finish with 90 points apiece, it would depend on how Utica wins its final 2 games as to which team would win the tie-breaker.
The No. 4 team will face North Division winner Toronto Marlies in the opening round of the Calder Cup playoffs next week.
The Senators jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period on Amerks goalie Linus Ullmark, who was named the team’s MVP for the second straight season in pre-game ceremonies.
However, Justin Bailey got the Amerks on the scoreboard late in the stanza with a blast from inside the blue line off a nice pass from Stuart Percy.
“Tonight’s win was big for us,” Bailey said. “We didn’t want to be trailing in the game, but coming back and learning how to win will be big for us going into the playoffs. We were facing a 3-0 deficit and I think that is something about this team; we never really feel we’re out of the game.”
Early in the second period, Bailey stole the puck at the top of slot in the Belleville zone and ripped a shot past netminder Filip Gustavsson, who was making just his sixth appearance for the Senators.
“This was the best crowd I’ve heard in the three years I’ve been here,” Bailey said. “Even when we were down 3-0, there were lots of ‘Let’s go Amerks’ chants.”
The visitors from Canada regained a 2-goal advantage with less than 6 minutes to play in period two.
But Hudson Fasching cut the margin back to one with 21 remaining in the period.
Danny O’Regan evened the count just 9 seconds in to the third period as he got in behind the defense off the faceoff and took a pass from Porter went top-shelf to score the equalizer.
Team captain Kevin Porter put the Amerks in front with 8:11 left in regulation.
“It wasn’t a good start,” said Porter. “We just stuck with the game plan tonight. We kept it simple and pucks started going in for us. It’s always good to get a win on home ice. The fans have been great in supporting us all season, so to get the win here it was something they deserved.”
Coliln Blackwell, who received the Unsung Hero Award, scored an empty-netter to secure the victory.
*NOTES – Rochester Americans General Manager Randy Sexton announced on Friday that the team has re-assigned goaltender Jonas Johansson to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Justin Bailey goal – https://youtu.be/rI7BjqpJSdc
Linus Ullmark SH save – https://youtu.be/5w8eNdEGMoY
Colin Blackwell EN goal – https://youtu.be/YRYajV9ECn4