By CRAIG POTTER
The Rochester Americans top the Binghamton Senators, 5-2, for their 6th win in the last 7 games.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Americans captured their sixth victory in their last seven games with a 5-2 triumph over the Binghamton Senators in the make-up game on Wednesday night before 3,227 fans at the Blue Cross Arena. The game originally was slated to be played on March 15 but the snowstorm postponed it until tonight.
Rookie goalie Jonas Johansson recorded his third win in his fourth American Hockey League start as he made 31 saves in notching the victory.
“I think he’s been solid,” said Amerks head coach Dan Lambert of the 6-foot-4, 210-pound, 21-year-old netminder. “The fact that he’s been playing in Sweden, he was playing with men in a professional league there certainly helps him. You can tell he improves and is a student of the game, willing to learn.”
Veteran Tim Kennedy paced the offense with 3 assists as Nick Baptiste continued his fine season with a goal and one assist.
“When you look at (Baptiste’s) season, he’s scored in spurts earlier on and now it seems he’s scoring in spurts again,” Lambert said. “That’s what a lot of goal-scorers do…They get comfortable, they get confident, and they bury their chances and that seems where he’s at right now.”
Defenseman Patrick Mullen opened the scoring in the first period with a rebound shot past B-Sens goalie Marcus Hogberg, who was making his AHL debut for Binghamton. Alex Kile and Brady Austin received assists on the play.
The Amerks made it 2-0 midway through the stanza when Hudson Fasching scored off assists from Kennedy and Justin Bailey.
“Tonight, we were able to get an early lead,” Kennedy said. “That is huge any night you can do that, especially against a young goaltender like they had. We have been on the other side of that score unfortunately too many times this year, but tonight it was us out in front. When you are able to get a one or two-nothing lead, it makes the game much easier as the opponents have to try to push more in order to get back into the game.”
Rochester opened up a 3-0 advantage when Cole Schneider netted his 22nd goal of the season. Casey Nelson and Baptiste received assists.
The B-Sens got on the scoreboard when Brandon Gormley fed Nick Paul, who split the defense and beat Johansson cleanly to cut the margin to 3-1.
However, in the final minute of the period, Baptiste registered his team-high 25th goal, and team-high 11th coming on the power play. Derek Grant and Kennedy each earned an assist on the tally.
“I thought our power-play late in the period was very crucial,” said Lambert. “I think it pretty much finished off any thought and any hopes they had, but first and foremost, it is nice to see the power-play unit get rewarded.”
Daniel Muzito-Bagenda tipped a pass from Kennedy into an open right side of the net for Rochester’s fifth goal in the third period.
Paul netted his second goal for the B-Sens less than 3 minutes later to complete the scoring.
Rochester conclude the weekend with their final 3-in-3 of the season as the Amerks are home Friday and Saturday nights to the Hershey Bears and Utica Comets, respectively, before closing out the weekend with a game in Toronto against the Marlies on Sunday.
*NOTES – The Buffalo Sabres recalled goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Rochester Americans on Wednesday. Ullmark (23, 6-foot-4, 221 lbs.) joins the team for his sixth recall of the 2016-17 season. Through 53 games in his second AHL season, Buffalo’s sixth-round pick (163rd overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft is 25-26-2 with a .909 save percentage. The Lugnvik, Sweden native played 20 games for the Sabres as a rookie during the 2015-16 season, posting a .913 save percentage and a 2.60 goals-against average, but has not yet appeared in an NHL game this season. His 8-10-2 record in 2015-16 included wins in each of his last three NHL appearances…Former Amerks Phil Varone and Jason Akeson lead Binghamton in scoring this season with 49 and 48 points, respectively. Varone leads the B-Sens with 35 assists, and Akeson comes entered the game on a 7-game scoring streak (5g+3a)…Cole Schneider leads the Amerks with 57 points (21g+36a) and entered the game on a 6-game point streak (2g+6a)…Nick Baptiste is Rochester’s leading goal scorer with 24.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Nick Baptiste scores pp goal – https://youtu.be/nMiuYgu0S44
Cole Schneider celebrates goal – https://youtu.be/z1dd1DsQZjg
Jonas Johansson makes save – https://youtu.be/fb_sdYYZyIQ
Jonas Johansson interview – https://youtu.be/pSnW2JqZ55s
Tim Kennedy interview – https://youtu.be/cZO4Hk-s6sE
Dan Lambert interview – https://youtu.be/jk5ZFTQYQI8