BIRO’S FIRST HAT TRICK NOT ENOUGH IN 7-5 LOSS TO ROCKET
Biro scores once in each period, but Rochester sees its win streak snapped
Mar 1, 2023Brandon Biro scored once in each period for his first professional hat trick, but it wasn’t enough for the Rochester Americans (26-21-3-1) as they came up on the short end of a 7-5 loss in a high-scoring affair against the Laval Rocket (22-22-7-2) Wednesday at Place Bell.
Despite the defeat, Rochester has earned a point in four of its last five games, going 3-1-1-0 over that span. The contest also served as the first of two straight between the two North Division clubs and sixth overall of the season, with each team showing a 3-3-0-0 mark.
Along with Biro (3+0) extending his point streak to four games, Lukas Rousek (0+2) and Lawrence Pilut (0+1) also pushed theirs to four. Jeremy Davies (0+2) notched a pair of assists while Tyson Kozak and Mason Jobst rounded out the scoring with their fourth and ninth goals of the season, respectively. Filip Cederqvist and Brett Murray chipped in an assist.
Goaltender Malcolm Subban (13-11-1), who earned his third start in the last four games, stopped 28 of the 35 shots he faced.
Riley McKay registered his first-career three-point outing as he scored once to go with two assists while Jan Mysak (0+2) also produced his first multi-point game of the campaign. Leading point-getting Anthony Richard (0+2) added to his team-best 30 assists and 53 points with his eighth two-point game of the calendar year. Gabriel Bourque, Mitchell Stephens, Brandon Gignac, William Trudeau, Pierre Dubé and Peter Abbandonato all found the back of the net.
Goaltender Cayden Primeau improved to 10-9-1 on the season as he made his 25th appearance of the season, making 29 saves. Primeau has appeared in 12 of Laval’s last 13 games dating back to Jan. 25.
After seeing Biro put the finishing touches on his first-career hat-trick 2:01 into the third period from Murray and Rousek, Laval countered back with a pair of tallies to restore its multi-goal lead.
On the receiving end of a breakout pass from Mysak, Richard raced in all alone towards Subban less than four minutes into the period. Despite Subban stopping Richard on the initial shot, Trudeau completed the scoring play as he pushed it across the goal-line just prior to the net becoming dislodged.
Laval continued to use its quick-strike offense as 90 seconds after Trudeau’s fourth of the campaign, Corey Schueneman fired a shot from the right wall. As the puck made its way to Subban, it quickly changed direction and McKay flipped into the net to make it a 7-4 score with 13 minutes to play.
Rochester, which pulled within two goals on Jobst’s unassisted goal at the 13:57 mark, tried to spark a late comeback. After Jobst’s marker, the Amerks kept pressing, and despite pulling Subban for the final 3:30, the club ultimately fell short in the 7-5 defeat.
In the opening half of the first period, the Rocket used momentum following a big save from Primeau and then drew the game’s first penalty.
Laval was unable to capitalize on the infraction, however, three seconds after it had expired, Dubé stuffed in a loose rebound past Subban at the 7:56 mark.
Just 64 seconds after Dubé, Abbandonato made it a 2-0 score as he corralled Oliver Galipeau’s shot that bounced off Subban’s glove and shoveled it in for his 11th of the season.
Rochester flipped a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead as they scored the game’s next three goals, two of which came from Biro.
On the Amerks second and third goals of the contest, they came just 32 seconds apart as Kozak and Biro both found the back of the net to give Rochester its first lead of the night.
With the assists on Biro’s second goal of the contest, Rousek has logged nine points (1+8) over his last four games while Pilut has five assists in that same stretch. Pilut’s four-game assist-streak is his longest with the club since November 2019.
Davies, who had the secondary helper on Kozak’s fourth of the slate, gives him two goals and five assists over his last five games. Cederqvist, meanwhile, is one assist away from becoming the 14th different Amerk this season to reach double figures in assists.
The Rocket, who faced a 3-2 deficit, countered back with three goals in 4:02 to take a 5-3 cushion into the final 20 minutes of play.
During the third period, each team scored twice but Laval prevailed in the end to take the first of two meetings between the two teams.
The Amerks have a chance at retribution as they face-off with the Rocket for the final time this season inside Laval’s Place Bell on Friday, Mar. 3. All the action from 7:00 p.m. rematch will be carried on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
Storyline Stripes:
All three of the Amerks hat tricks scored this season have marked the player’s first of their careers (Malone, Jobst and Biro) ... With his three-goal outing, Brandon Biro is the first Rochester skater to record a hat trick on the road since former Amerk and current Buffalo Sabre JJ Peterka netted three on April 1, 2022 ... By scoring a third-period goal, Mason Jobst has amassed 10 points (6+4) over his previous 14 games, which included a hat trick.
Goal Scorers
ROC: B. Biro (11, 12, 13), T. Kozak (4), M. Jobst (9)
LAV: P. Dubé (5), P. Abbandonato (11), M. Stephens (10), B. Gignac (11), G. Bourque (11), W. Trudeau (4), R. McKay (2)
Goaltenders
ROC: M. Subban – 28/35 (L)
LAV: C. Primeau – 29/34 (W)
Shots
ROC: 34
LAV: 35
Special Teams
ROC: PP (1/4) | PK (1/1)
LAV: PP (0/1) | PK (3/4)
Three Stars
1. LAV - R. McKay
2. LAV - J. Mysak
3. ROC - B. Biro