(Rochester, NY) – The Rochester Americans welcomed four new additions to the lineup on Friday night and they all made a considerable impact in combining for eight points as the Amerks rolled to a 7-3 win over the visiting Springfield Falcons at The Blue Cross Arena. The win snaps a two-game slide for the Amerks and moves their record to 27-26-2-1 on the season.
Five different players finished with the multiple points while all four newcomers acquired in last week’s seven-player trade with the Ottawa Senators factored in the win for Rochester. Cole Schneider and Evan Rodrigues each tallied three assists with Eric O’Dell and Chad Ruhwedel each scoring twice. Mike Sdao added two assists to double his point total on the year while Bobby Sanguinetti scored for the second straight game. Matt Donovan and Alex Guptill scored in the third period to round out the scoring. Nathan Lieuwen earned the win in net, stopping 23 of 26 shots to improve his record to 14-9-1.
Greg Carey, Brendan Shinnimin and Alex Grant provided the scoring for the Falcons and Josh Robinson made 29 saves in the loss.
Springfield grabbed the early advantage, but the Amerks quickly caught fire and scored twice in less than four minutes to carry a 2-1 lead into the intermission. Carey opened the scoring just 3:58 into the contest after poking the puck off the stick of Sanguinetti between the bluelines and capitalizing on a breakaway opportunity to put the Falcons up 1-0.
Sanguinetti was quick to make amends, however, as the veteran defenseman found the back of the net for the second straight game to pull the Amerks even. Sdao, one of the four newcomers who made their Amerk debuts tonight, sent the puck to Jerry D’Amigo, who was stationed deep in the Springfield zone. The former Falcon corralled it off the end boards and slipped a pass out of the far corner that Sanguinetti wristed home for his eighth of the season.
Rochester took the lead 3:53 later off a textbook 3-on-2 rush with O’Dell on the finishing end for his first as an Amerk. Rodrigues led the rush up the right wing boards and moved it across the high slot to Schneider, who one-touched it to O’Dell driving through the circles. O’Dell caught the pass in stride and tucked a back-hander into the net for his first of two on the night.
The Falcons answered back early in the second period on the power-play when a slow-moving redirect from Shinnimin saw its way past Lieuwen and inside the left post, making it a 2-2 game.
O’Dell put the Amerks back on top exactly 13 minutes later with his second goal of the contest. After side-stepping a Springfield defender on the left wing boards, O’Dell continued toward the slot and was rewarded for it when he beat Robinson from in close for his 20th of the year.
Rochester widened the gap with four straight goals to open the third period, including back-to-back tallies from Ruhwedel just 2:18 apart. Donovan tipped in Jean Dupuy’s point shot at 9:20 and Guptill converted a centering feed from Schneider just minutes later to give the Amerks their largest lead of the night.
Grant added a power-play goal with 1:22 remaining in regulation, but it would be as close as Springfield would get.
Rochester’s homestand continues on Saturday, March 5 with yet another tough divisional showdown against the league-leading Toronto Marlies at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:35 p.m. matchup will be the sixth of eight meetings between the two teams this season and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1280 Rochester.
Goal Scorers
RCH: Sanguinetti (7), O’Dell (19, 20), Ruhwedel (4, 5), Donovan (8), Guptill (1)
SPR: Carey (25), Shinnimin (3), Grant (10)
Shots
RCH: 36
SPR: 26
Goaltenders
RCH: Lieuwen – W (23/26)
SPR: Robinson – L (29/36)
Special Teams
Amerks Power Play: 1-2
Amerks Penalty Kill: 3-6
