The Rochester Americans pulled together for a great comeback on the road Saturday afternoon in Toronto. They were down 3-0 after the first period and it sounded like it was going to be a horrible game. The Amerks gave the Marlies five, yes five power play opportunities in the first period. The Marlies scored on two of them. The Amerks battled back with two goals by Repik in the span of 1:05 in the second period, a short handed goal by Wilson in the third, and David Brine scored the game winner short handed in overtime.
I wasn’t able to watch or listen to the game so here’s the recap from the Amerks:
( Rochester, NY)… David Brine found the back of the net just three minutes into overtime to lift the Rochester Americans to a 4-3 win over the Toronto Marlies this afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum. The win was Rochester’s third straight and the first on the road this season for the Amerks (4-1-1-0) who now have nine points through just six games into the young season. The win also puts the Amerks into second place in the North Division, just one point behind the Manitoba Moose.
Brine’s shorthanded game-winner capped an incredible comeback for the Amerks who found themselves down 3-0 early in the opening frame. The Amerks rallied using four straight unanswered tallies, including two back-to-back shorthanded, to earn the win. The goal was the second shorthanded tally in as many nights for Brine, who presently leads the American Hockey League in that very category.
The Amerks were led offensively by second-year forward Michal Repik who supplied a pair of goals to take over the team lead in that category. Repik is now currently tied for first in the AHL with five goals. Kenndal McArdle chipped in with three assists as third-year netminder Tyler Plante backstopped Rochester with a season-high 40-save performance to pick up his second win between the pipes this season. His counterpart, Toronto’s Adam Munro, would finish the game with 20 saves in the losing effort.
The Marlies took a 3-0 lead heading into the dressing room at the end of the first period with goals from Ryan Hamilton, Andre Deveaux and Alex Foster. Hamilton and Deveaux each converted on power play opportunities before Foster’s first of the season a minute-and-a-half later put the hometown Marlies up by three. Toronto outshot Rochester 18-9 in the first period alone and 25-15 through the remainder of the contest, but was unable to score for the next 43:05 of the matchup thanks to Plante.
Repik quickly made it a 3-2 game, scoring two in the second period (his fourth and team-high fifth) within just over a minute of each other. McArdle picked up an assist on the back-to-back markers that put Rochester within one. Jason Garrison and Jamie Johnson each received assists on the goals, respectively.
Defenseman Clay Wilson put in the shorthanded equalizer in the closing minutes of the third period to force overtime and it was Brine’s clincher, also on the man-down, that would complete the come-from-behind rally to give the Amerks the win.
Rochester returns to home ice on Wednesday, October 21st to host the Binghamton Senators at 7:05 p.m. at The Blue Cross Arena. The game features the return of goaltender Mike Brodeur, who signed with Ottawa during the offseason after playing the second half of last season with the Amerks. Fans can tune into the contest on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester’s Sports Talk. The game will also be televised live on Time Warner SportsNet Channel 26.
