Rochester tops Lake Erie in AHL outdoor game

The Rochester Americans defeated the Lake Erie Monsters 5-4 in a shootout Friday night before a packed house at Frontier Field in the sixth outdoor game in American Hockey League history.

The 11,015 fans at the "Frozen Frontier" game in Rochester saw Mike Zigomanis, Johan Larsson and Matt Ellis score on the Americans' final three shootout attempts for the win after Lake Erie forced overtime on Matt Hunwick's power-play goal with one second left in regulation.

Ellis opened the scoring for Rochester 3:36 into the game, but goals by Mark Olver, Hunwick and Garrett Meurs gave the Monsters a 3-1 lead midway through the second period. Jerome Gauthier-Leduc and Phil Varone scored for Rochester to make it 3-3 after two.

Colton Gillies gave the Americans their second lead of the night when he scored 3:07 into the third period.

Matt Hackett made 26 saves for the Americans, the Buffalo Sabres' AHL affiliate. Calvin Pickard stopped 25 shots for Lake Erie, the top farm team of the Colorado Avalanche.

The game was re-aired Saturday on NHL Network in the United States.