By CRAIG POTTER
Rochester loses in overtime, 2-1, after Sahir Gill’s late tying goal.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Though the Rochester Americans and Providence Bruins have not faced each other often over the past 5 years, the visitors from Rhode Island once again prevailed with a 2-1 overtime victory on Friday night before 5,576 fans at the Blue Cross Arena on Irish Night. The win was the fifth straight for Providence over that stretch.
Injuries to Buffalo Sabres have resulted in numerous call-ups from the Amerks, plus the team’s leading scorer, rookie C.J. Smith, also is sidelined with an injury. The Amerks were able to suit up just 7 of their top 14 forwards.
As the game was winding down, Gill blasted a one-time feed from Eric Cornel to even the count at 1-1 late in the third period.
“I think we didn’t have the start we had liked,” said Cornel, who was moved up from the fourth line to the first line. “We had a strong second and third periods, and I think we deserved the point, but we would have preferred two points.”
Several players have been called up from the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones as a result of all the call-ups to the Sabres.
“I liked our resilience as a group against a really good team,” said Amerks head coach Chris Taylor. “I thought we stuck with the game plan, had good chances on the power-play, had strong penalty-killing, but unfortunately it was one of those games that just did not go our way.”
With defenders Casey Nelson and Brendan Guhle also on recall to Buffalo, the Amerks only allowed one goal in regulation, and that came on a twice-deflected Paul Postma shot from the point that last hit the stick of Ryan Fitzgerald at 3:10 of the second period.
The defense was solid with Nathan Paetsch, Matt Tennyson, Andrew MacWilliam, Zach Redmond, Stuart Percy, and Taylor Fedun patrolling the blue line.
“I thought our D played really, really well tonight,” Taylor said.
“We played a strong defensive game,” added goalie Linus Ullmark, who finished with 27 saves. “We stuck with the plan and guys did a great job tonight boxing out and allowing me to see a lot of their shots. They are good team, so to come out with one point is a good thing, but tomorrow we will look to get the extra point.”
“This is one of the good points,” said Taylor. “They’re a really good team, a veteran team with skilled forwards, big D.”
*NOTES –The Buffalo Sabres on Friday announced the team recalled forward Justin Bailey from the Rochester Americans. Bailey (22,6-foot-4, 214 lbs.) joins the Sabres for his second recall this season after scoring two goals and adding an assist in seven games for the club in October. Currently in his third professional season, the Buffalo native has recorded seven points (4+3) in 47 career NHL games for the Sabres. Drafted by Buffalo in the second round (52nd overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft, Bailey has five points (4+1) in his last five games for the Amerks and has posted 91 points (49+42) in 149 career AHL contests… Bailey joined forwards Nick Baptiste, Seth Griffith, Kyle Criscuolo, and Danny O’Regan on recall. However, Criscuolo is out with an injury…The Amerks played the Bruins for just the 5th time over the last 5 years, going 0-4-0-0 in the previous 4 meetings. The last time Rochester defeated Providence was Jan. 18, 2009…The Amerks continue the 3-in-3 weekend with a home-and-home series against the Syracuse Crunch, starting Saturday night in the Salt City with a 3 pm faceoff on Sunday at the BCA.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Overtime winner – https://youtu.be/9rW_o5HO_Fg
Hudson Fasching pp shot – https://youtu.be/TqK_sjEZGus