(Hartford, CT) – A two-goal comeback attempt fell short for the Rochester Americans on Sunday as they dropped a 4-2 decision to the Hartford Wolf Pack at XL Center to close out a three-game weekend. Trailing 2-0, Rochester tied the game in the third period, but Hartford came back and scored the eventual game-winner less than a minute later. With the loss, the Amerks’ record moves to 23-24-2-1 on the season.
Chad Ruhwedel and Evan Rodrigues each scored a goal for the Amerks while goaltender Linus Ullmark stopped 16 of 19 shots in the loss. Nick Baptiste and William Carrier each collected an assist while Rodrigues finished with a game-high six shots on goal as the Amerks had a 33-20 edge in that category for the game.
Hartford netminder Magnus Hellberg earned first star honors with a strong performance in goal, making 31 saves on 33 shots. Adam Tambellini, Marek Hrivik, Travis Oleksuk and Chad Nehring were the Hartford goal-scorers while Jayson Megna collected two assists.
Hartford took an early 1-0 lead on a blast from Tambellini. Megna gained control in the corner and curled up the left wing boards before spotting an open man across the ice. He then fed a pass through the slot to Tambellini, who one-timed it from the right circle past Ullmark for the goal at the 3:52 mark of the opening period.
After several high-quality scoring chances by the Amerks were stymied by Hellberg, Hartford took a 2-0 lead at 16:44 of the first when Hrivik swept in a rebound after Ullmark had made the initial save on a slap-shot from the point by Mat Bodie.
The Amerks broke through just before the midway point of the second period as Ruhwedel put Rochester on the board. Ruhwedel, who led the team in shots in each of the two previous games, took a low slap-shot from the point. Hellberg made the initial save, but the puck popped into the air and trickled over the goal line. The goal was Ruhwedel’s first point since Dec. 26, as the defenseman missed 15 games with an injury before returning this weekend.
A 53-second span in the third period saw Rochester tie the game and Hartford come back to score the eventual game-winner. Rodrigues evened things up at two when he raced into the Hartford zone to chase down the rebound off a long shot. He dove at the puck in an attempt to stuff it past Hellberg and the puck was tipped in by a Hartford defenseman to knot the game at two apiece.
The tie was short-lived, however, as the Wolf Pack regained its lead less than a minute later. A point shot by Chris Summers was tipped in front by Oleksuk and re-directed past Ullmark.
Rochester went to the power play for the first time in the game with less than three minutes to play, but was unable to convert. Nehring added an empty-net goal inside of 10 seconds to play to secure the 4-2 win for the Wolf Pack.
The Amerks return to action on Friday, Feb. 19 when they welcome the Portland Pirates back to The Blue Cross Arena for the only time this season. Rochester will host the first visit from Portland since Feb. 21, 2010, when the Amerks captured their 2,000th franchise victory with a 3-2 shootout win over the Pirates. The 7:05 p.m. matchup will be the second and final meeting between the two teams this season and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1280 Rochester.
Goal Scorers
RCH: Ruhwedel (4), Rodrigues (7)
HFD: Tambellini (13), Hrivik (7), Oleksuk (5), Nehring (16)
Shots
RCH: 33
HFD: 20
Goaltenders
RCH: Ullmark – L (16/19)
HFD: Hellberg – W (31/33)
Special Teams
Amerks Power Play: 0-1
Amerks Penalty Kill: 2-2
