Amerks look to rebound after tough weekend

The Rochester Americans picked up just one point over three games last week. The winless weekend drops the Amerks to 7-8-0-1 on the year and to fifth place in the North Division standings, but have a chance to bounce back with three more games this week.

ALB 3 - RCH 1

Tyson Strachan scored Buffalo's lone goal in the loss on home ice on Wednesday. Linus Ullmark made 28 saves on the 30 shots.
Albany got out to a 2-0 lead before Stachan's power-play tally late in the second period made it a one-goal game.
"We were fortunate to be trailing by a goal after looking at the shot count in first period," Amerks head coach Dan Lambert said. "We put ourselves behind the eight-ball after the first period and we could not dig ourselves out of the hole."
As Don Stevens says, we should probably just forget about this one.
2 In The Box

STJ 4 - RCH 3 (SO)

A two-goal first period and multi-point efforts from both Justin Bailey and Casey Nelson were not enough as the Rochester Americans took a 4-3 shootout loss to the St. John's IceCaps Friday at Blue Cross Arena. Nicholas Baptiste posted the Amerks' lone goal in the shootout while Bailey, Nelson and Alexander Nylander scored in regulation.
The Amerks held a two-goal edge early on and were ahead 3-1 in the second before the IceCaps scored twice to tie the game. Stefan Matteau scored the deciding goal in the shootout's fourth round.
"We had a really good first period," Bailey said. "While there were penalties for both team, it slowed the game down, but both teams had to play through that. During the first period, we showed ourselves what can happen when we get pucks deep and we execute offensively.
"Unfortunately, we let them back in the game by taking the penalties and St. John's was able to gain some momentum from it to climb back into the game."

RCH 2 - UTI 1

A shorthanded tally by the Utica Comets (4-9-1-0) midway through the second period was the difference in Saturday night's game at the Utica Memorial Auditorium as the Amerks fell by a 2-1 score.
Baptiste added his sixth goal of the season. Ullmark, in his fourth-straight start, stopped 25 of 27 in the defeat, moving his record to 6-5-1.
Baptiste's goal tied the game at the 10:04 mark of the second period before Cole Cassels scored a few minutes later while down a man to give the Comets the lead for good.

Up next

The Amerks return home to Blue Cross Arena for a pre-Thanksgiving Day matchup as they host the Providence Bruins for the first and only time this season. Puck drop is slated for 7:05 p.m. and all of the action will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester.
Rochester will also be in action again at home on Saturday for a 7:05 game against Utica. They'll head out for Albany after the game for a 5 p.m. match against the Devils on Saturday.

Scoring leaders

1. Cal O'Reily 3G - 15A - 18 PTS
   2. Cole Schneider 7G - 10A - 17 PTS
   3. Taylor Fedun 2G - 10A - 12 PTS
   4. Justin Bailey 6G - 4A - 10 PTS
   5. Alexander Nylander 4G - 6A - 10 PTS

Goaltending leaders

1. Linus Ullmark 6-5-1-0; 2.59 GAA; .920 SV%
   2. John Muse 1-0-0-0; 2.00 GAA; .941 SV%
   3. Jason Kasdorf 0-3-0-0; 3.23 GAA; .900 SV%