Rochester Americans: Weekend Recap

Rochester Americans forward Phil Varone had seven points in three games this weekend.

The Rochester Americans came out of a 3-in-3 weekend with five of a possible six points. The Amerks pulled out a pair of wins over the Syracuse Crunch before falling to the Oklahoma City Barons in overtime on Sunday.

Center Phil Varone led the Amerks with seven points this weekend, including one goal and two assists in each of the last two games. He has points in eight of his last ten games and leads the Rochester Americans with 51 points in 52 games this season.

Luke Adam had a busy weekend of his own. First, he was recalled to the Buffalo Sabres on Friday for a game in Tampa Bay. He had one shot and one penalty in 12:18 ice time in his first NHL game since December. Adam was returned to the AHL the following day and had goals in Saturday and Sunday’s games for the Rochester Americans.

Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel had a pair of assists in Friday’s Amerks game before being recalled to the Sabres on Saturday in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Goaltender Nathan Lieuwen played both Friday and Saturday for the Amerks, winning both games and managing 28 saves each night. Since February 14, Lieuwen has appeared in 10 of 13 Amerks games and has won seven of those.

Here’s how the weekend broke down:

CRUSH THE CRUNCH, PT. 1
The Rochester Americans hosted Syracuse on Friday night, pulling out a 4-1 victory. Rochester scored three goals within a span of 6:22 in the first period to grab a solid lead. Goals came from Johan Larsson, Jamie Tardif and Tim Schaller. Joel Armia added his sixth of the season in the second period to give Rochester a 4-0 lead. Syracuse’s Mike Angelidis broke the shutout bid in the third period, but the Amerks held on for the win. Nathan Lieuwen had an assist on Schaller’s goal, marking his first NHL point.

CRUSH THE CRUNCH, PT. 2
After Friday, the teams met in Syracuse on Saturday night. Once again, the Rochester Americans came out on top, this time by a score of 5-3. Vladimir Namestnikov opened the scoring in the second period, but then Johan Larsson and Luke Adam scored within 58 seconds of each other to tie and then give the Amerks the lead. In the third period, Syracuse’s Cedric Paquette would even things up before the Amerks’ Larsson and Varone would give Rochester a one-goal, then two-goal lead. Former Amerks forward Evan Rankin scored with 24 seconds left to close the gap to one, but Mike Zigomanis scored his 11th of the season six seconds later to seal the deal for the Amerks.

EDGED BY THE BARONS
Sunday, the Rochester Americans hosted the Oklahoma City Barons. Oklahoma City had the first two goals of the game by Steve Pinizzotto and Will Acton before Rochester scored four consecutive goals. Colton Gillies, Phil Varone, Kevin Porter and Luke Adam all scored for the Amerks, and it was 4-2 by the time the second period came to a close. The Barons managed to pull out two goals in the third period – by Roman Horak and Brad Hunt – to tie the game. Brandon Davidson had the OT winner for Oklahoma City.

LOOK AHEAD
Next up for the Rochester Americans is a home game against the Binghamton Senators on Wednesday. They’ll then host the Toronto Marlies on Friday before heading to Binghamton on Saturday.