AMERKS OPEN FINAL WEEKEND WITH 7-4 LOSS TO BELLEVILLE
Weissbach reaches 20-goal mark, Murray scores for second straight game
Apr 14, 2023The Rochester Americans (35-26-5-3) led 4-3 entering the final frame after a back-and-forth start, but the Belleville Senators (30-30-6-4) pulled away in the third period with four straight unanswered goals to take a 7-4 win in the season series finale between the two teams Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POST-GAME REPORT
The defeat snapped Rochester’s season-long 10-game point streak dating back to Mar. 21. The Amerks have earned 20 points out of a possible 28 over their last 14 games and remain in third place in the North Division ahead of the final two games of the regular season.
Forwards Linus Weissbach (1+1) and Michael Mersch (0+2) each recorded a multi-point game while Kohen Olischefski, Jiri Kulich and Brett Murray all scored. Matej Pekar, Sean Malone, Lawrence Pilut, Mason Jobst, and Isak Rosen each notched an assist.
Goaltender Malcolm Subban (19-14-5) made 18 saves in his 38th appearance of the season. His 38 games and 19 wins, both of which are career-highs, are tied for 14th and 12th in the AHL, respectively. Over his last 10 appearances, the Toronto, Ontario, native shows a 5-1-4 record along with one shutout.
Belleville’s Rourke Chartier notched his first career AHL hat trick for his second straight multi-point performance. Cole Cassels (1+2), Egor Sokolov (1+2), John Quenneville (0+2), Roby Jarventie (1+1) and Angus Crookshank (1+1) all registered multi-point efforts.
Goaltender Leevi Merilainen (3-0-0) improved to 3-0-0 as he stopped 22 shots in his third appearance with the Senators.
Facing a 4-3 deficit to start the final 20 minutes of regulation, the Senators drew a tripping infraction followed by a delay of game penalty four seconds apart.
With two additional skaters, Belleville drew another penalty while the puck was in play. As Merilainen was pulled for an extra skater on the delayed infratction, Sokolov rifled a one-time feed to even the score at four.
Following the goal, the Amerks were docked with another penalty, keeping them two skaters short.
Just 36 seconds after Sokolov’s one-timer, Jarventie blasted a shot to restore Belleville’s lead just 3:30 into the third period.
The score remained unchanged until Belleville added two more in 16 seconds, one of which included an empty-netter to cap the 7-4 win.
While the Amerks opened the scoring with Olischefski and Weissbach scoring six minutes apart, Belleville responded with three straight to take a 3-2 lead after the first period.
In the second stanza, Murray knotted the score at three with his 23rd of the season before Kulich added his team-leading 24th at the 16:20 mark.
Belleville scored four unanswered tallies, two of which were on the man-advantage to complete the 7-4 contest.
The playoff-bound Amerks are back in action on Saturday, April 15 in the front-end of a home-and-home with the Cleveland Monsters at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 5:05 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV. Additionally, the matchup will be televised live locally on CW Rochester.
Storyline Stripes:
Coming into tonight, the Amerks had not allowed a power-play goal in 11 straight games, successfully killing off 26 consecutive penalties to the opposition ... By Rochester going two-for-six on power-play tonight, it marked the 11th time this season the club scored multiple goals on the man-advantage, four of which have been against Belleville ... The Amerks finished the season-series with three regulation wins and earned points in four of the eight games versus the Senators.
Goal Scorers
BEL: R. Chartier (16, 17 ,18), C. Cassels (12), E. Sokolov (20), R. Jarventie (15), A. Crookshank (26)
ROC: K. Olischefski (2), L. Weissbach (20), B. Murray (23), J. Kulich (24)
Goaltenders
BEL: L. Merilainen – 22/26 (W)
ROC: M. Subban – 18/24 (L)
Shots
BEL: 25
ROC: 26
Special Teams
BEL: PP (2/8) | PK (4/6)
ROC: PP (2/6) | PK (6/8)
Three Stars
1. BEL - R. Chartier
2. BEL - C. Cassels
3. BEL - E. Sokolov