By CRAIG POTTER
The Toronto Marlies score 3 times in the final 5 minutes to beat Rochester, 5-3.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Toronto Marlies scored 3 times in the final 5 minutes to pull out a 5-3 victory over the Rochester Americans on Friday night before 6,388 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
For 55 minutes it appeared the Amerks were going to knock off the team with the best record in the American Hockey League as they established a 3-1 advantage, and led 3-2 entering the final 5 minutes of regulation.
However, the Marlies took advantage of a couple of mistakes to tie, then pull ahead. The visitors iced the victory with an empty net tally.
“It gets old,” Amerks team captain Kevin Porter said of the loss to the Marlies, who have won four of five games against Rochester this season. “They’re a good team; we hang with them for 55 minutes and then they got a couple late goals.
“We made a couple mistakes, especially by my line, so this one’s on me. I’m going to take the blame for this one.”
Rochester opened the scoring 4:22 into the first period when Seth Griffith took a feed from Kyle Criscuolo and broke in alone and beat Toronto goalie Garrett Sparks.
However, the Marlies evened the count with a power play tally with 2:47 left in the first period.
The Amerks regained the advantage early in the second stanza when third-year winger Justin Bailey scored on a breakaway off a pass from Zach Redmond.
Alex Nylander made it a 2-goal margin with 6:52 remaining in the period as Bailey and Sean Malone picked up assists.
“That was definitely his game,” Amerks coach Chris Taylor said of Bailey. “He’s hard to stop (when he’s doing all of those things).
“That was one of his best games I’ve seen in a long time. He’s a big part of our team and a big part of this organization.”
The goal was just the third of the campaign for Bailey, who has struggled in part because of an ankle injury. He entered Friday’s game with just 2 goals and 3 assists in 22 AHL games. He produced 2-1-3 in seven games with the Buffalo Sabres. After back-to-back 20-goal campaigns with the Amerks, this season has been frustrating for the Williamsville native.
“The last couple weeks I have been starting to feel like myself again,” Bailey said. “I am feeling more confident in my game lately and I feel I am also starting to do the little things and paying attention to the little things, so now it is beginning to pay off.”
However, mistakes continue to plague the Amerks in the new year. They were a juggernaut in November and December, but have struggled to put wins together the past couple of months.
Linus Ullmark made 30 saves as he suffered another heartbreaking defeat.
The two teams travelled to Toronto after the game as they face one another again at 4 pm Saturday north of the border.
*NOTES –The Amerks 3-game win streak at the KeyBank Center, the home of the Buffalo Sabres, came to an end Wednesday on their annual visit with the 2-1 loss to the Syracuse Crunch…Rookie Sean Malone scored his career-first shorthanded goal, and his 6th of the season…With the loss, the Amerks dropped to fourth place in the North Division as Syracuse leap-frogged them into third place…Coming into tonight’s game, Rochester leads the AHL in games decided after regulation at 23, showing a 7-8 mark in overtime and 2-6 in shootouts.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Justin Bailey goal – https://youtu.be/i9sEsRbakKk
Alex Nylander goal – https://youtu.be/85MVIQlyv0Q
Linus Ullmark pk save – https://youtu.be/BNJEoahZuVg