The first two frames were relatively quiet on the offensive front. Sandis Vilmanis opened the scoring with a power-play strike from a low angle late in the first, but Rochester responded 38 seconds later and then tallied the lone goal of the second to hold a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes of play.
Things ramped up in the third, as the Amerks tallied back-to-back goals within the first four minutes of the third to push their lead to a substantial 4-1 mark. The Checkers had some fight left in them, though, as Ben Steeves threaded two shots past the Rochester netminder to pull the home side back within one as the period crossed its halfway mark.
The Checkers continued to push hard down the stretch but the equalizer evaded them, and two empty-net strikes for the Amerks put a halt to their comeback attempt and sealed the 6-3 final.
QUOTES
Coach Geordie Kinnear on the gameI just didn’t think we were that great or connected as a group. We really didn’t get to our agenda, gave up too many chances on our power play and asked Louis to come up with some Grade A’s. It wasn’t good enough tonight.
Kinnear on Rochester defensemen joining the rush
They’re a good team, that’s what they do and that’s what they’re good at. Again, we have to get to our agenda. You’ve got to talk about the opponent a little bit, but we weren’t close tonight in my opinion.
Just repeating myself, I didn’t think we were very good tonight or connected as a group. Obviously you add some new guys to the lineup and that takes time, but I think overall, individually and collectively, it wasn’t our best. You’re asking a lot of young guys to carry the load a little bit, but those reps are important moving forward for those guys. One, to help the group move the needle and for them to continue their development.
Kinnear on Louis Domingue
The power play, he kept us in there. They had some Grade A chances and obviously breakaways. He stopped probably three and then the fourth one ended up in the back of the net. It just can’t happen. If you want to be a really good hockey team you can’t beat yourselves. That would include when you’re on the power play, not giving up breakaways to the other team. That would fall in that category of beating yourself.
Kinnear on Ben Steeves in the third period
I thought the third period was real good. We talked after the second period a little bit that I thought we had a lot of zone time. Again, I’m going to give Rochester a lot of credit because they blocked a lot of shots. I thought their skill guys were very good, I thought their D were very good. We can do a much better job being in sync as a group of five in the offensive zone. It’s kind of just one guy shooting a puck and allowing those guys to block it.
