(Rochester, NY)… Veteran forward Matt Ellis finished with a hat trick and rookie Jean Dupuy assisted on all three goals as the Rochester Americans opened their 60th-anniverary season with a convincing 6-3 win over the Lake Erie Monsters in the team’s Home Opener Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena. The win improves the Amerks to 36-18-6 all-time in home-opening games. Rochester has now scored six or more goals in each of its last six opening nights wins dating back to the 2005-06 season.
Jerome Leduc finished with a goal and an assist while Jason Akeson and Dan Catenacci each found the back of the net for the Amerks. Rookie forwards Evan Rodrigues and Nick Baptiste earned their first pro points with assists and goaltender Nathan Lieuwen turned in a stellar 35-save effort in his first game between the pipes since Dec. 19 of last season.
Ryan Craig, Markus Hannikainen and Dean Kukan all scored for the Monsters while Alex Broadhurst recorded two assists. Anton Forsberg made 18 saves on 23 shots in the losing effort.
Rochester stormed out to an early 2-0 lead, scoring twice on its first three shots of the game following back-to-back strikes from Leduc and Akeson just 3:11 after the opening face-off.
Leduc got things going just 96 seconds in when he took a cross-ice feed from Phil Varone and wristed one by Forsberg from the top of the right circle for the first official goal of the 2015-16 American Hockey League season. With the assist, Varone has now collected at least one point in each of the last four home-openers for the Amerks.
Akeson then cushioned the lead less than two minutes later with his first goal of the campaign. The veteran forward, who’s coming off 20-goal seasons in each of the last three years, slipped by the Lake Erie defense after a long stretch pass from Chad Ruhwedel and slid a shot through Forsberg’s legs off a 2-on-0 fast break.
Craig cut Lake Erie’s deficit in half with the first of two power-play goals on the night for the Monsters at 7:08. Michael Paliotta unleashed a shot from the left point that Craig, who was providing a screen at the top of the crease, deflected past Lieuwen to make it a 2-1 game.
Ellis restored Rochester’s two-goal lead later in the first period as he converted a slick centering pass from Dupuy to put the Amerks back on top, 3-1. Dupuy, one of five rookies to make their pro debuts tonight, caught Ellis in stride at the goal-mouth and the 14-year pro swept it over the right shoulder of Forsberg to cap a three-goal first-period for Rochester.
Despite the two-goal advantage to begin the middle frame, the momentum would eventually shift to the Monsters, who answered with a pair of second-period goals to knot the score at three apiece. Hannikainen beat Lieuwen just 1:42 in after intercepting an attempted outlet pass and Kukan followed up with his first career AHL goal, picking the upper corner on the power-play at 17:48.
That would be as close as Lake Erie would get, though. Catenacci gave the Amerks the lead for good on the power-play on a perfect deflection of Colby Robak’s shot just 42 seconds into the third period.
Ellis added his second of the game at 12:27, knocking home a Leduc rebound, and ultimately iced the game into the empty with 1:18 remaining to complete the hat trick, his first since Apr. 21 during the 2007 Playoffs as a member of the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Opening weekend continues on Saturday, Oct. 10 when the Amerks host the defending Western Conference champion Utica Comets in a North Division showdown at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:35 p.m. matchup will be the first of eight meetings between the cross-town foes this season and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1280 Rochester.
