Nathan Paetsch’s fresh legs and a newly formed line spark Rochester to a 5-1 win.
By CRAIG POTTER / C&C Worldwide Sports Director
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — With a third game in three nights, Rochester Americans coach Chris Taylor layed a couple of hunches as the moves paid off with a 5-1 victory over the Binghamton Devils on Sunday afternoon before 5,874 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
“After last night’s game in Syracuse, I decided to play (defenseman Nathan) Paetsch today,” Taylor said.
For the veteran blueliner, it was just his fifth game of the season, and first since Jan. 2.
“I was a little rusty in the first period, there were a couple reads I didn’t make properly, but then I felt fine,” he said. “I thought the forwards did a great job tracking back and made it easy on the D standing up in the neutral zone.
“I should have fresh legs — everybody just played two games in 48 hours. I was able to stay home (instead of making Saturday’s trip to Syracuse) and go to bed at 10:30.”
He added, “I’m here to help the team in any way possible. That’s my job and I love it. My whole reason for being here is to help the Rochester Americans win a Calder Cup.”
Paetsch captained the Grand Rapids Griffins to a Calder Cup Championship in the 2016-17 season.
Taylor also put together a new line of Andrew Oglevie, Taylor Leier, and Remi Elie.
“I liked their speed, their creativity, their strength,” Taylor said.
The line combined for 6 points as Oglevie and Elie each had 1 goal and 1 assist as Leier contributed 2 assists.
Wayne Simpson gave the Amerks the early lead, just 33 seconds after teammate Dalton Smith fought the Devils most penalized player, Brandon Baddock. It was his 17th goal of the season, a career high, set-up by defensemen Will Borgen and Brendan Guhle.
Late in the opening stanza, Eric Cornel came around from behind the Binghamton goal and fired the puck toward a croweded crease where it hit Amerks linemate Yannick Veileux and deflected past Devils netminder Mackenzie Blackwood for a 2-0 advantage.
The Devils got on the scoreboard early in the second period, but Oglevie and Elie answered later in the stanza for a 4-1 margin entering the third.
Oglevie’s goal came off a two-on-one fast break, after Taylor Leier won a puck battle on the wall near but the blue line in the Amerks zone to spring Oglevie and Elie. Oglevie looked to pass but instead fired a perfect shot high on the short side.
“What he did on his goal isn’t easy,” Paetsch said. “Leier-sie fired it to him, on his strong side, and he went top shelf. That’s impressive.”
“It was a good team win and I’m just excited I got to contribute a little bit,” said Oglevie, who recently returned to the lineup following an injury.
Defenseman Andrew MacWilliam closed out the scoring blast from the right point that chased Blackwood from the game.
Both teams were playing their third game of the weekend.
“A veteran (Chris Conner) told me (early in his career in the Philadelphia Flyers organization) that the best players in the league know how to play well on Sundays (in the third weekend game), because nobody wants to be playing,” said Leier.
“You pretty much get undressed (on Saturday) and then you’re right back at the rink.”
Rochester goalie Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves to improve his record to 18-9-2-3 on the season.
*NOTES — The Amerks have scrapped the annual game in Buffalo and will play all 38 regular-season home games in downtown Rochester in 2019-20….The Sabres on Sunday announced defenseman Casey Nelson had completed his conditioning assignment and was recalled from the Amerks. Nelson (26, 6-foot-1, 185 lbs.) returned to the Sabres after completing a 5-game stint with treeeeeer-body injury. Nelson registered 5 points (1+4) and a plus-6 rating in 22 games for Buffalo this season…The win gave Rochester a 3-point lead (67-64) over the Syracuse Crunch for first place in the North Division. However, the Crunch have 3 games in hand, one which will be played Monday in Toronto against the Marlies…The Amerks are home Wednesday night to the Cleveland Monsters at 7:05 pm.
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The Rochester Americans goalie Scott Wedgewood makes a couple of saves while killing a penalty against the Binghamton Devils in the first period Sunday afternoon (2/17/19) before 5,874 fans at the Blue Cross Arena. The Amerks won 5-1.
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Brought to you by C&C Worldwide, supporting greecenylive.com, irondequoitlive.com, penfieldlive.com, websterlive.com and rochesternylive.com. Video by Craig Potter.
The Rochester Americans forward Remi Elie (40) scores in the second period against the Binghamton Devils in the first period Sunday afternoon (2/17/19) before 5,874 fans at the Blue Cross Arena. The Amerks won 5-1.
Discover the Healthy Living Mall where you will find the Healthy Living Resources for you to attain your health goals. Check it out at: http://digijunction.com/health/potter10