AMERKS EARN POINT IN 4-3 SHOOTOUT LOSS TO ROCKET
Rochester scores three power-play goals, Jones tallies two assists as winless streak reaches eight games
Mar 7, 2026The Rochester Americans (24-21-5-4) scored three power-play goals in the second period before coming up on the wrong side of a 4-3 shootout loss to the North Division-leading Laval Rocket (36-18-2-3) Saturday afternoon at Place Bell.
The back-and-forth game was the second in less than 24 hours between the two clubs and was the fourth meeting since Feb. 20. The Amerks, who won the first two games of the season series with the Rocket, finished with a 2-5-1-0 mark for the second consecutive year against Laval.
Forwards Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Konsta Helenius and Quebec native Olivier Nadeau all scored on the man-advantage in the second period for Rochester. Zac Jones led all Amerk skaters with a pair of assists while Jagger Joshua, Carson Meyer, Jack Rathbone, and Anton Wahlberg capped off the scoring for the Amerks by registering an assist.
Helenius and Rathbone each scored during the breakaway challenge whereas Vsevolod Komarov, Nadeau, Jones, Wahlberg, Fiddler-Schultz, and Meyer were all unsuccessful.
Rookie netminder Scott Ratzlaff, who turns 21 years old on Sunday, made 30 saves plus five more in the shootout but was dealt the defeat in his first AHL appearance since Feb. 15.
Florian Xhekaj (1+1) recorded a multi-point game while Samuel Blais and Marc Del Gaizo each scored in regulation.
Goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen earned his fourth straight win versus Rochester after starting the slate with a pair of defeats. Kähkönen finished with 25 saves, which included six in the shootout.
FIRST PERIOD
Five minutes after Alex Belzile nearly gave Laval a 1-0 lead in the opening period of the contest, Xhekaj redirected a shot from in-between the circles from Sean Farrell and David Reinbacher.
Both teams traded heavy hits over the course of the period, and each drew a penalty towards the end of the frame.
Rochester had 44 seconds of work on the power-play before the horn sounded the completion of the first frame.
The shot ended up being one of four through the next eight minutes between the two clubs despite the Amerks generating some offensive zone time.
SECOND PERIOD
After being held off the scoreboard in the first period, the Amerks needed only 59 seconds to even the score as Fiddler-Schultz steered in Jones’ centering feed from the left point.
While Laval restored its lead with a power-play goal of its own, Rochester netted two more markers with the extra skater nearly three minutes apart.
As a Rocket tripping infraction almost expired, Meyer dug the puck out of bodies at the left wing. He gave a small feed to Rathbone atop the point, however, the Boston native returned it back to the wing for Meyer to fire towards the cage. As Nadeau had positioning atop the crease, he redirected Meyer’s shot for his seventh goal of the season.
The Amerks continued to ride the momentum as they drew a pair of holding penalties to gain a 5-on-3 advantage for 75 seconds.
On the ensuing face-off win to the left of the Laval net, Meyer just missed on his blast between the dots, but Helenius scooped up the rebound behind the net. The Finnish forward slid a pass to the point for Jones and Wahlberg to trade passes before Helenius and Jones did the same. As Helenius received the puck back from his blueliner, he hammered a one-timer past the Laval goaltender for Rochester’s first lead of the contest.
THIRD PERIOD
Looking to even the score as they trailed to start the third period, Laval registered four of the first six shots on goal before Del Gaizo knotted the score at the 6:17 mark.
The Rocket continued to mount energy over the final 14 minutes but neither Ratzlaff or Kähkönen flinched as they combined to make 20 saves to send the game into overtime as it was tied at 3-3.
OVERTIME
Both clubs generated a pair of scoring chances in the back-and-forth sudden-death period, however, the netminders again stood tall and kept the contest even.
SHOOTOUT
During the eight-round shootout, Helenius scored only to have Belzile answer in the top of the next round. Joshua Roy and Rathbone successfully converted on their chances during the fourth before Laurent Dauphin put the finishing touches on the 4-3 win to complete the weekend sweep for Laval.
UP NEXT
The Amerks return home on Wednesday, March 11 as they close out their season-series with the Utica Comets with a 7:05 p.m. puck drop. All the action from The Blue Cross Arena will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM WGR Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
Goal Scorers
ROC: R. Fiddler-Schultz (18), O. Nadeau (7), K. Helenius (14)
LAV: F. Xhekaj (12), S. Blais (8), M. Del Gaizo (8)
Goaltenders
ROC: D. Ratzlaff – 30/33 (SOL)
LAV: K. Kähkönen – 19/22 (W)
Shots
ROC: 22
LAV: 34
Special Teams
ROC: PP (3/5) | PK (2/3)
LAV: PP (1/3) | PK (2/5)
Three Stars:
1. LAV - F. Xhekaj
2. LAV - S. Blais
3. LAV - L. Dauphin