AMERKS LAY DOWN THE HAMMER IN RETURN TO HAMILTON
Villalta delivers another near-perfect performance in 4-1 win over Hammers
Oct 16, 2026Forward JASON POLIN recorded a multi-point (1+1) effort and goaltender MATTHEW VILLALTA delivered yet another sensational, near-perfect performance between the pipes to propel the Rochester Americans (3-1-0-1) to a 4-1 win over the Hamilton Hammers (1-3-0-1) in the inaugural meeting between the two teams Friday night at TD Coliseum.
| GAME SUMMARY | PHOTO GALLERY |
With the victory, Rochester has now won each of its first three Friday contests of the season while outscoring its opponents 14-3 in that span. Additionally, the contest marked the Amerks’ first game against a Hamilton-based team since the 2014-15 season.
While Polin registered a pair of points (1+1), rookie JAKE RICHARD opened the scoring with his second goal of the season at the 11:06 mark of the first period. ZAC FUNK doubled the advantage with another first-period goal before the buzzer, his first as a member of the Amerks. TREVOR KUNTAR, who tallied a career-best 21 goals during the 2025-26 season, netted his third goal of the campaign while also appearing in his 200th professional game.
CARSON MEYER, CONOR SHEARY and GAVIN McCARTHY each recorded an assist, as did CALEB JONES, who made his Amerks debut after being acquired by the Buffalo Sabres earlier this week.
Villalta (2-1-1) improved to 3-1-1 through his first five starts as an Amerk after turning aside 24 of the 25 shots he faced. The Godfrey, Ontario, native carried a shutout into the final five minutes of regulation and has allowed only three goals in his three victories and seven goals overall this season, good for a 1.39 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage to start the season.
Daniil Prokhorov recorded his first North American goal in the third period for Hamilton, which has gone winless in its last four contests (0-3-0-1) after winning its season opener. Ethan Bear and Quinn Finley assisted on Prokhorov’s power-play goal at the 16:27 mark.
Netminder Vítek Vaněček (1-0-1) made his third start of the season for the Hammers, recording 38 saves. The Czechia native entered the contest with a 3-0-0 record in three appearances against Rochester, all as a member of the Hershey Bears. He had allowed only four goals in those three contests while making 69 saves.
UP NEXT
The Amerks close out their road swing on Saturday, Oct. 17 when they face the Syracuse Crunch at Upstate Medical University Arena for the first of six meetings in downtown Syracuse. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on The Sports Leader, WGR Rochester (95.7 FM/950 AM), and streamed on AHLTV on FloHockey.