By CRAIG POTTER
Sahir Gill scores in OT as Rochester rallies to beat the Toronto Marlies, 6-5.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – In what looked like it was going to be another blown lead, Hudson Fasching scored the tying goal, then Sahir Gill ripped home the game-winner in overtime to propel the Rochester Americans to a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Marlies on “Pink the Rink” Night Saturday before 6,194 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
The North Division game was a seesaw contest with 4 ties and 4 lead changes.
“I liked our resiliency tonight,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor. “I thought we had a lot of good chances throughout the game. It was a playoff-style game with a lot of highs and lows, but I thought we played well for the most part, excluding their three goals in the third.”
With the victory, the Amerks (35-21-11-6 for 87 points) moved 2 points ahead of the Utica Comets (37-25-7-4 for 85 points), who lost 1-0 to the Syracuse Crunch. Both teams have 3 games remaining, including 2 meetings against the Crunch for the Amerks.
Rochester also will gain 8 players back from the Buffalo Sabres, who ended their season Saturday with a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers. Coming back to the Amerks are goalies Linus Ullmark and Adam Wilcox; forwards Kevin Porter, Alex Nylander, and Nick Baptiste; and defenseman Brendan Guhle, Casey Nelson, and Matt Tennyson.
Rochester scored first against the first place Marlies, who suffered just their second overtime loss all season.
Sahir Gill tallied just 50 seconds in to the contest.
However, the visitors from North of the border evened the count just 24 seconds later, then took the lead less than 3 minutes later against Rochester rookie goalie Jonas Johansson. He was making his fourth straight start after Wilcox got called up the Sabres. Johansson finished with 30 saves despite some shaky goals allowed in the third period.
“He stopped last puck and (Calvin) Pickard did not,” said Taylor. “In the end that’s all I care about.”
Hudson Fasching tied the game in the second period when he picked up a turnover in the Toronto slot and blasted a shot past Pickard.
Justin Bailey put Rochester back in front and Colin Blackwell added an unassisted marker for a 4-2 advantage entering the third stanza.
The Marlies scored 3 goals during an 8-minute stretch to forge ahead, 5-4.
“After Toronto scored a few goals during the third period, we talked on the bench and said this is how playoffs are going to be,” said Blackwell. “We have to win the next shift and I think that is something we did tonight. It attributed to our success to coming back tonight.”
With less than 2 minutes remaining in regulation, Blackwell won a faceoff in the Toronto zone. Danny O’Regan gained control and found Fasching alone to the left of Pickard. He lofted a shot over the netminder to tie the game once again.
“It was a great play by Blackwell,” said Fasching. “O’Regan had a nice, clean shot and I just went to the crease looking for the rebound. I saw the puck and just whacked at it and that is pretty much it. Creating commotion in front of goaltenders is something I have been working on and I have been trying to take away their vision in the process.”
In the overtime, Taylor decided not to call a timeout after an icing.
“There’s a reason I didn’t call time out (right before the goal),” he said. “They iced it and I had the guys out there I wanted.”
Gill took a pass from Stuart Percy and beat Pickard for the game-winner.
“It’s getting near the playoffs — we don’t like each other,” Taylor added of the rivalry. “And that’s good. It means we want to win.”
Blackwell added, “This was a definite statement game for us.”
Electrical meltdown
*NOTES – The start of the game was delayed one hour due to an electrical meltdown with the lights over the Exchange St. end of the rink…The Marlies captured the MacGregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL’s regular-season champions Friday night for the second time in the last 3 years…Toronto also wrapped up its 5th North Division title for the 5th time in 7 years…For the 9th time in the last 12 meetings, between the two teams dating back to last season, the team that scored first has gone on to come away with the victory.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Sahir Gill OT winner – https://youtu.be/s0wPP66yINE
Colin Blackwell 4-on-4 goal – https://youtu.be/VxeZcYeaEho