Rochester comes from behind to complete the preseason sweep of the Marlies.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Coming off a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory Friday night over the Toronto Marlies to open the 2017 preseason, the Rochester Americans concluded the exhibition slate with another 3-2 win versus the Marlies at the HarborCenter on Saturday night.
For the second straight night, Kyle Criscuolo and Hudson Fasching each found the back of the net for the Amerks. Colin Blackwell rounded out the scoring for Rochester as he netted a shorthanded tally while netminder Linus Ullmark made 22 saves in his preseason debut for the victory.
Max Novak and Tobias Lindberg scored a goal for the Marlies as Matt Hackett turned aside 12 of 14 shots he faced but suffered his second defeat in two nights for the former Rochester netminder.
Entering the final period of regulation, the Amerks trailed the Marlies 2-1 but Criscuolo tied the game at two 3:50 into the stanza as he teamed up with C.J. Smith and Steve Moses for a tic-tac-toe goal.
“I think our line {Smith and Moses} is really starting to gel,” Criscuolo said. “Steve and C.J. both made great plays to set me up for the tap-in goal, so credit goes to those two guys.”
Late in the game, Moses and Smith raced into the Marlies zone on a two-on-one rush but Hackett made the initial stop before Fasching was able to flag down the rebound. The second-year forward chipped the puck over the shoulder of the netminder to give the Amerks a 3-2 lead with 44 seconds left in contest.
The Marlies pulled their goaltender for the six-on-five advantage but Ullmark was able to hold off the Toronto attack to close out the contest for the win to complete the sweep of the Marlies.
“Sometimes we are going to find different ways to win,” Criscuolo said. “We did not have a start like we had hoped but Linus played a great game to keep us in and we were able to wear them down a little bit during the third period and that is when we were able to score some goals at the end.”
While the Amerks were able to come from behind for the win, the game did not start well for the home team as they trailed 1-0 on the scoreboard and faced 10-3 shot disadvantage after the first period.
“We started out the game very slow,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor. “We were not happy after the first two periods but we battled back and found a way to win the game in regulation.”
Blackwell opened the scoring for Rochester just 39 seconds into the middle stanza to knot the game at one while the Amerks were shorthanded. However, the Marlies reclaimed a 2-1 lead with 6:20 to play before the second intermission break.
The Amerks tallied a pair of goals during the final 20 minutes to complete the comeback as Criscuolo and Fasching recorded their second goals of the preseason.
Amerks assign pair to Cincinnati
Rochester Americans General Manager Randy Sexton announced on Saturday that the team re-assigned forward Brandon McNally and goaltender Anthony Peters to the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.