The Devils post a 5-2 victory over Rochester in the tight North Division playoff race.
By CRAIG POTTER / C&C Worldwide Sports Director
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After sweeping North Division leader Belleville Senators over the weekend in Canada, the Rochester Americans left their game in the locker room Wednesday night as the surging Binghamton Devils posted a 5-2 victory over the Amerks before 3,737 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
“We know Belleville is the best team in our league and we wanted to beat that team,” said rookie defenseman Jacob Bryson. “Tonight we just didn’t bring it.”
“This was a big game for us and we blew it,” added team captain Kevin Porter.
Despite the loss, the Amerks did get help as they remained 6 points (81 to 75) behind Belleville for first place as the B-Sens were shutout by the Laval Rocket Wednesday.
Rochester (33-20-4-5) also maintained its 2-point lead (75 to 73) over Utica (34-22-3-2) for second place as the Comets lost to Syracuse Wednesday night as well. Utica, however, has 1 game-in-hand on Rochester.
The Devils (34-24-4-0) are in 4th place with 72 points. Binghamton has won 12 of its last 13 games, including 8 in a row now.
Jonas Johansson played his first game at home, after being returned on his first recall to the Buffalo Sabres. The 3rd-year goalie made 24 saves and allowed 4 goals, several of which were not his fault.
After a scoreless first period, the Devils came out firing in the second as they score 2 goals 2:18 apart early in the stanza.
Unhappy with the way things were going, Rochester coach Chris Taylor used his lone timeout at this point of the game.
“It wasn’t happening. I felt the energy wasn’t there,” Taylor said. “I felt we ere on the wrong side of the pucks and that we were swinging away at different checks and that we could have prevented some of these things.”
The Amerks got on the scoreboard with a power play tally when Casey Mittelstadt found Taylor Leier open in the slot as he rifled shot past netminder Zane MacIntyre to cut the lead in half with 1:47 to play in the second period.
Rochester pulled within 1 goal once again on another power play from the slot on a shot by Remi Elie. Rookie defenseman Jacob Bryson picked up his second assist of the contest as Scott Wilson also assisted on the play.
But the Devils got that one back just 1:07 later, then secured their 8th straight win with an empty net goal.
*NOTES — Defenseman Casey Nelson took an elbow to the head late in the first period and did not return to the game…The Amerks come into the week six points behind the Belleville Senators for the top spot in the North Division standings with a game in hand. The Amerks, who have earned 15 out of a possible 22 points in their last 11 games, also hold a two-point lead over the Comets for second place in North Division standings coming into this week…The Amerks remain at home on Friday, Mar. 13 when they host the Syracuse Crunch at 7:05 pm at the Blue Cross Arena before closing out the weekend with a 3 pm matinee with the Cleveland Monsters at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse…Anchored by the goaltending tandem of veteran Andrew Hammond and third-year pro Jonas Johansson, who returned from his first-career recall to the Buffalo Sabres last week, the Amerks own one of the top defenses in AHL having allowed only 175 goals through 61 games this season, the 10th-fewest in the AHL coming into the weekend. The duo has also combined for six shutouts and rank among the AHL’s leaders with 16 and 14 wins this season, respectively…The Amerks come into the matchup with points in 22 of the last 28 games against the Devils dating back to the start of the 2017-18 season. Rochester holds a 16-6-3-3 record during that span, which included a 10-game point streak.