Rochester Americans Weekend Recap
The Rochester Americans won two of three games this weekend in a trio of games that saw the Amerks face all the Texas AHL teams to cap off a five-game road trip.
The Amerks came into the weekend off a 3-2 victory over the Oklahoma City Barons on March 19 and began the three-in-three with a Friday evening meeting in Cedar Park against the Texas Stars.
Scott Glennie opened the scoring for the Stars with a goal just 3:24 into the first period.
Rochester’s Mark Mancari scored his team-leading 20th goal of the season with just six seconds remaining in the first period to tie the game at one. Mancari’s goal came shorthanded after an interference minor was served to defenseman Adam Pardy. Phil Varone and Nick Crawford notched assists for the Americans on the goal.
Texas left winger Luke Gazdic gave the Stars the lead less than halfway into the middle frame, and that’s all she wrote as Texas went on to a 2-1 victory.
The Stars had 41 shots in the game and went 0/7 on the power play, while the Americans had 30 shots and were 0/3 with the extra man. Rochester netminder David Leggio had 39 saves in the loss.
The Amerks entered Saturday’s game two men down, as both Phil Varone and Shawn Szydlowski suffered injuries during Friday’s game.
Despite being shorthanded, the Americans managed to take a 3-2 shootout win over the Houston Aeros. Teams exchanged goals, with Houston talies from Chad Rau and Zack Phillips.
Colin Jacobs scored his first professional goal and Nick Tarnasky added his 14th goal of the season to tie the game at two at the end of regulation.
Alex Biega had the game-winning tally in the shootout, with Rick Schofield and Mark Mancari also scoring in the extra time. Houston put up 40 shots against the Americans, while Rochester once again tallied 30 shots.
The Americans ended the weekend with a visit to the San Antonio Rampage on Sunday evening. Nathan Lieuwen got his first AHL win – and his first AHL shutout – en route to a 3-0 victory over the Rampage.
Maxime Legault, Matt Ellis and Nick Tarnasky scored for Rochester in the win. Tarnasky’s goal was his career-high 15th of the season, while center Luke Adam had a pair of assists.
Rochester’s Jon Parker and San Antonio’s Evan Barlow were served majors after Parker was served a checking to the head penalty. He was also given five for fighting, while Barlow was served an instigating minor, five for fighting and a misconduct.
Nathan Lieuwen stopped 39 shots in the victory.
Next up for the Americans are a pair of home games, starting off with the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday and then the Toronto Marlies on Friday.