Rochester Americans – November in review

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The first two months of the season are in the books and Rochester is currently sitting in 2nd place in the North Division, leaving them in the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The organization underwent some massive changes in the month of November and it will surely have an immediate and lasting impact on the Americans. Luke Adam, the then league leading scorer, as well as the Americans best defense man Brayden McNabb both earned their shots with the big club. The Americans had their share of struggle in dealing with these changes yet managed to piece together a decent run at the end of the month. Here is a look at the individual games;

November 1st, 2013 –   Rochester Americans vs. Syracuse Crunch

Syracuse 5     Rochester 4

Coming off a red hot opening month, Luke Adam and the Amerks were right back to it in November. Luke Adam opened the scoring with his 8th goal of the year just over three minutes into the game on the power play. With assists going to Brayden McNabb and Alexander Sulzer. Syracuse responded almost immediately when Kucherov netted his 9th of the year. Rochester regained their lead roughly 5 minutes later on the power play when Jamie Tardif slammed home a rebound off of a Phil Varone shot. Brayden McNabb drew the secondary assist on the play. Minutes later McNabb rifled a shot past the Crunch’s goaltender to take a 3-1 lead. Midway through the second period, McNabb would once again find himself on the score sheet after feeding a pass to Jamie Tardiff who then placed a perfect saucer pass on the back post for Kevin Sundher to send home. Although McNabb had a career-high 4 points in the affair, the Amerks found themselves surrendering 2 power play goals in the final 8 minutes of the game which brought the tilt into overtime and eventually to a shootout. Colin Jacobs was the only Amerk to get on the board while Kucherov and Paquette scored for the crunch. Matt Hacket finished the night with 36 saves on 40 shots, while stopping 3 out of 5 in the shootout.

November 6th, 2013 – Hamilton Bulldogs vs. Rochester Americans

Rochester 5     Hamilton 3

 Much like their other outings earlier this season the Amerks were able to strike early into the game, with Mike Zigomanis netting his 4th of the year just four minutes into the opening frame. The period remained fairly uneventful until Matt Ellis was able to put one past Tokarski for a power play goal with only minutes remaining in the period. Midway through the second period the Amerks once again found themselves on the power play. Chad Ruhwedel found himself wide open in the high slot after a nifty backhand pass by Brayden McNabb and made no mistake on firing one past the catching glove of Tokarski. Brayden McNabb and Jamie Tardif drew the assists on Chad Ruhwedel’s first professional goal. Despite going down 3-0 early, the Bulldogs made it clear they were not going down without a fight as they banged home a rebound to bring themselves within two goals midway through the second period. Riding the high of his first professional goal, Ruhwedel skated strong through the neutral zone and into the high slot where he fired one past the blocker of Tokarski. The Bulldogs would make a surge in the third period, scoring back to back goals to come within one. In the end this effort went unrewarded as Roy buried an empty netter to seal the victory for Rochester.

November 8th, 2013 – Binghamton Senators vs. Rochester Americans

Rochester 2    Binghamton 3

After being waived by the Buffalo Sabres earlier in the week Patrick Kaleta was ready to make is 2nd debut as an Amerk. The night was very uneventful for the newly returned Amerk as he was held off the score sheet completely while only skating a few minutes of ice time. Although Rochester would take the early lead with Phil Varone’s third goal of the year, they would fall behind early in the second period with two quick goals from Binghamton’s Hoffman. 40 seconds later Matt MacKenzie would find himself recording his first goal as an Amerk as he found himself as the beneficiary of a Nick Crawford backhand pass. Neither team would score in the third period and the Amerks would be headed to overtime. Although they would eventually fall to a Cody Ceci goal, the Amerks have now had points in 7 straight games, and find themselves atop the North division.

November 9th, 2013 – Rochester Americans vs. Binghamton Senators

Bignhamton 7    Rochester 3

 Coming off a big win the previous night the Amerks looked to continue their winning ways as they traveled to Binghamton. This however was not the case. Tim Schaller, Luke Adam, and Matt Ellis scored for the Amerks. While Sdao, Da Costa, Wideman, Stone, Da Costa (2), Hoffman, and Puempel all scored for the Senators. Nathan Lieuwen ended the night with 37 saves on 44 shots, further proving that you will rarely win games when you give up such a high number of shots.

November 11th, 2013 – Lake Erie Monsters vs. Rochester Americans

Rochester 1     Lake Erie 2

Compared to the previous games, this matinee match up between the Americans and Monsters was a slow, uneventful affair. Patrick Kaleta scored the lone goal for the Americans midway through the first period. He was deep in on the fore check while killing a penalty and found himself the beneficiary of a horrible pass play by a Monster d-man. Agozzino rifled the puck through the slot from below his own goal line, however managed to hit Patrick Kaleta on the tape. Kaleta made no mistakes in giving the goaltender the ‘ole 1-2, backhand – forehand as he buried his first goal after being returned to the Americans. The game way very uneventful until Lake Erie found the back of the net midway through the second period. Despite a number of power plays for both sides, no one else would find the back of the net during regulation or overtime, leaving this game to be decided in the shootout. Lake Erie shooters: Barrie, Lerg, and Smith all found the back of the net in the shootout while none of the Rochester Americans shooters could match. Matt Hackett finished the night making 28 saves on 29 shots through the overtime period, and only managed to stop one (a wide shot) in the shootout.

November 13th, 2013 – Rochester Americans vs. Hamilton Bulldogs

Hamilton 1     Rochester 3

 The Rochester Americans opened up the scoring early in the game, as they have a habit of doing. Phil Varone powered his way through two defenders and rifled home a shot through Tokarski’s five-hole at the 5 minute mark of the first period. Their lead would not last for long as Andrighetto would find the back of Rochester’s net on a juicy rebound left by Matt Hackett. The second period would come and go without any markings on the score sheet. 23 seconds into the third period Luke Adam would make no mistake in burying a beauty of a pass from Kevin Sundher score the lead-taking, eventual game winning goal. Luke Adam would once again find his name on the score sheet when putting the puck into the empty net to ensure an Amerk victory.

November 15th, 2013 – Rochester Americans vs. Utica Comets

Utica 2     Rochester 4

I feel that this is getting incredibly repetitive, however Rochester once again took the lead early in the game. This goal courtesy of Matt Ellis at the 4 minute and 15 second mark of the first period. Roughly 7 minutes later on the power play, Luke Adam found himself in perfect position in front of the net to bang home a rebound off of a Nick Crawford shot. Although they found themselves down early, the Comets were not going to go down easily. Late in the first period, Ferriero netted his fifth of the year for the Comets to bring them within 1. Scoring would not open back up until mid way through the second period, when Luke Adam once again found himself in the goal column. He scored his (then) league leading 13th goal of the year after banging home a rebound off of a Kevin Sundher shot. Late in the second frame Zigomanis would put the Amerks up by 3 after burying a feed from Joel Armia. Armia earned his first ‘North American’ point on the play. Although Utica would score with just under 2 minutes on the clock, they were unable to overcome the early deficit. Nathan Lieuwen ended the night with 33 saves on 35 shots.

November 16th, 2013 – Rochester Americans vs. Binghamton Senators

Binghamton 7     Rochester 3

 The Amerks looked to continue their two game winning streak against the Baby Sens, however were once again foiled by their high octane offence. Mike Zigomanis scored two, while Joel Armia recorded his first goal as an Amerk, however that was not enough as Cowick (2), Robinson (2), Da Costa, Hoffman, and Prince would all score for the Senators. Matt Hackett would surrender 6 goals on 37 shots, with the seventh going into an empty net.

 November 20th, 2013 – Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins vs. Rochester Americans

Rochester 1    Wilkes-Barre Scranton 3

Coming with the sweeping regime changes in Buffalo, Luke Adam and Brayden McNabb were called up to the big show. Rasmus Ristolainen and Johan Larsson would be coming in from Buffalo to replace the massive holes that Adam and McNabb left. Kevin Porter would record his first goal of the season after being returned from the Sabres roster, however the Americans were unable to get any other offense going. On the other hand the Penguins were able to net 3 goals on 24 shots. Kosopoulos, Sylvester, and Megna would score the goals as the Penguins would down the Americans.

November 22nd, 2013 – Utica Comets vs. Rochester Americans

Rochester 2     Utica 3

 The Americans would once again find themselves on the score sheet early with Dan Catenacci’s third goal of the year at the 5 minute mark. Minutes later the Amerks took the 2-0 lead over Utica with a Chad Ruhwedel power play goal. Although they pulled away early in the game, Utica sustained pressure and scored three straight goals for the win over Rochester.

November 23rd, 2013 – Rochester Americans vs. Utica Comets

Utica 2     Rochester 0

 The Americans looked to finish their home and home series with the Comets with a win. This however was not the case. Utica held the Americans off of the score sheet completely while scoring two goals of their own. Yannick Weber and Darren Archibald scored the goals for Utica. Joacim Eriksson stopped 33 American shots to earn the shootout win for Utica.

November 27th, 2013 – Hamilton Bulldogs vs. Rochester Americans

Rochester 6     Hamilton 3

 The Americans came into the game looking to end a three game losing streak. The Americans once again found themselves on the board first after Kevin Porter buried his second of the year, with assists going to Tardif and Gillies, late in the first period. Early in the second period Jamie Tardif found himself on a short handed breakaway early in the second where he buried his third of the year.  Hamilton would find themselves within one midway through the second, however would quickly fall behind by two again when Rasmus Ristolainen would net his first goal as a Rochester American. Porter, Larsson, and Ristolainen all scored in the third period to outlast the Bulldogs.

November 29th, 2013 – Lake Erie Monsters vs. Rochester Americans

Rochester 5     Lake Erie 3

Unlike most other Amerks games, Rochester found themselves trailing within the first two minutes of play with a goal from Agozzino. Minutes later Joel Armia found himself camped in front of the net to knock home a deflection at the five and a half minute mark. The second period saw goals coming from Lake Erie and Rochester, with the Amerks coming from Roy. Rochester and Lake Erie would then again both score in the third period, to keep the tie alive at 3. With just under two minutes to go Phil Varone netted his 5th of the year to break the tie and put the Amerks in the lead. Jamie Tardif added the empty netter with a minute remaining to secure the Americans win.

November 30th, 2013 – Rochester Americans vs. Toronto Marlies

Toronto 3     Rochester 2

 The Americans closed out the month of November north of the border, in a matinee game versus the Toronto Marlies. Again, the Americans were off to an early lead with Jamie Tardif scoring his fifth of the year. The lead was not long lived as the Marlies were quick to respond with a short handed goal, the first was surrendered by the Americans this year, later in the first period. Including the short handed goal, Toronto scored three straight giving them the 3-1 lead heading into the third period. Despite scoring a late goal courtesy of Matt Mackenzie the Americans were unable to overcome the deficit and ultimately fell to the Marlies.

For more coverage on the Rochester Americans give me a follow on Twitter; @JustinTBanker and as always make sure you are following @SHCdotcom for all of the latest Buffalo Sabres information.

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