ROSÉN, RATZLAFF SHINE IN SHUTOUT WIN OVER SPRINGFIELD
Rosén scores second hat trick in eight games, Ratzlaff flawless in 4-0 win over Thunderbirds
Feb 7, 2026On the strength of a natural hat trick by Isak Rosén (3+0), a multi-point effort by Konsta Helenius (0+2) and a 25-save shutout from Scott Ratzlaff, the Rochester Americans (22-16-4-2) soared to a 4-0 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds (16-23-4-2) to close out their season-long six-game homestand Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POST-GAME REPORT
With the win, Rochester, which has points in 18 of its last 26 games dating back to Nov. 22, 2025, have won each of its last four games against Springfield dating back to Jan. 20, 2024. The Amerks, who began their homestand with a 3-0 shutout, went 3-3-0-0 while two of the wins came against Atlantic Division teams in Hershey and Springfield.
Rosén (3+0) notched his second three-goal outing in his last eight AHL games – and first natural hat trick of his career – while Helenius notched his 13th career multi-point effort with the Amerks. Both forwards returned to Rochester’s lineup after being reassigned by the Buffalo Sabres alongside Zac Jones, who also finished with an assist.
Anton Wahlberg, Gavin Bayreuther, Nikita Novikov, and Jagger Joshua all turned in an assist while Trevor Kuntar capped off the victory with his 12th goal of the season.
Ratzlaff (3-1-0) made his first home start and fifth overall of his young AHL career, stopping all 25 shots he faced. The contest was first his appearance since Jan. 17, 2025. With the shutout, Ratzlaff became the first Amerks rookie goaltender to blank an opponent since rookie Andrey Markarov did so on Mar. 28, 2015.
FIRST PERIOD
Rochester registered the first four shots of the game before opening the scoring to take a 1-0 lead midway through the initial period.
Helenius entered the zone after being given a pass from Jones near center ice. The second-year forward returned the puck to Jones at the right point before the blueliner fired a shot towards the net. Prior to the shot getting through to Springfield netminder Georgi Romanov, it was partially redirected by Wahlberg then fired into the net from the left face-off dot by Rosén at the 8:04 mark.
The Amerks successfully cleared off a slashing infraction two minutes after Rosén’s 21st of the year before both teams were whistled for coincidental penalties.
As they were skating four aside, Bayreuther poked the puck off his man's stick inside the Rochester blueline for Helenius, who was skating down the left wing. As the Finnish forward reached the top of the left dot, he lobbed a one-time feed for Rosén to blast inside the right post for his second of the period.
SECOND PERIOD
Early into the second frame, it appeared the Thunderbirds had a chance to generate some offense as they skated it to the offensive zone.
The puck, however, slipped under a Thunderbirds stick, allowing Rosén to push it ahead for Helenius at the far blueline. After gaining the Springfield zone, Helenius made a return pass to Rosén, who joined the rush in time to complete his natural hat trick just 5:34 into the period.
Nine minutes later and with the puck inside the offensive zone, Joshua banked a pass off the side boards to the left point for Novikov from below the extended goal line. The rugged defenseman quickly snapped a shot that was going wide, but Kuntar used a chest-high redirection to push the Amerks’ cushion to 4-0 with over six minutes left in the stanza.
Rochester carried the lead along with a 33-15 shot advantage into the break, which included 20 in the second period to match a season-high.
THIRD PERIOD
While Springfield came out in the final 20 minutes looking to spoil Ratzlaff’s bid for his first professional shutout, the Alberta native and company not only limited the Thunderbirds to 10 shots, they held them without one for the final four-plus minutes.
STARS AND STRIPES
Isak Rosén scored Rochester's first home hat trick since Jiri Kulich netted a three-goal, four-point game on April 13, 2024 versus Belleville … The Amerks improved to 12-0-2-0 when Konsta Helenius has a multi-point game while also outscoring the opposition 64-29 over that span … With goaltenders Scott Ratzlaff and Devon Levi each having at least one shutout this season, it marks the first time the Amerks have had two different netminders done so since the 2022-23 campaign (Malcolm Subban-2, Michael Houser-1).
UP NEXT
The Amerks begin a three-game series against the Utica Comets on Saturday, Feb. 7 with a 6:00 p.m. intrastate showdown. All the action from Adirondack Bank Center will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
Goal Scorers
SPR: None
ROC: I. Rosén (21 – GWG, 22, 23), T. Kuntar (12)
Goaltenders
SPR: G. Romanov – 38/42 (L)
ROC: S. Ratzlaff – 25/25 (W)
Shots
SPR: 25
ROC: 42
Special Teams
SPR: PP (0/2) | PK (2/2)
ROC: PP (0/2) | PK (2/2)
Three Stars:
1. ROC - I. Rosén
2. ROC - S. Ratzlaff
3. ROC - K. Helenius