ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Wednesday at Blue Cross Arena was host to the home team, Rochester Americans, taking on the Toronto Marlies. These two teams have been neck and neck in the North Division standings. The Americans would come out on top with a score of 3-1, and move up in the standings.
A somewhat mellow first period would produce a goal from Juri Kulich, with his linemates Isak Rosen and Aleksander Kisakov getting the assists. Lukas Rousek took a minor penalty for holding, but the penalty kill for the Amerks proved strong.
A thrilling second period saw numerous goals, and penalties. Roni Hirvonen scored for the Marlies on the power play, thanks to a minor penalty from Kulich for holding. Brandon Biro scored shorthanded for the Amerks a few minutes later, Rosen getting the assist again. A minute later, Kulich scored another even strength goal, with Jeremy Davies, and Lukas Rousek getting the assist. As the period came to a close, Kyle Clifford of the Marlies received a minor for slashing, and a 10 minute unsportsmanlike misconduct.
The third period was scoreless, but there were numerous penalties, which kept the fans engaged the whole period. Cameron Gaunce of the Marlies dropped the gloves with Justin Richards of the Amerks – Gaunce seemed to get the better of Richards, but it didn’t seem like Richards wanted to fight in the first place.
The Amerks won 3-1, and climbed higher in the rankings, now tied with the Syracuse Crunch with 85 points. Devon Levi stopped 34 of 35 shots faced, and was awarded second star of the night. Matt Murry stopped 24 of 27 shots faced for the Marlies.
Checkout this photo gallery from Inside The Rink’s photographer, Brett Ballachino, for highlights from the game.
