By: Ryan Oleksyn
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Rochester Americans shut out the Belleville Senators 4-0 on Friday night. Amerks goalie Devon Levi made 29 saves to pick up his third shutout of the year.
"When the game gets hard, you need to find ways to dig in," Amerks head coach Michael Leone said. "You find ways to win games when you're not at your best."
Levi locked it down for the full 60 minutes. This notched him his third shutout of the season and improved his overall record with Rochester to 15-4-2-2 this season.
"We all miss hockey, we feel a little bit of hunger going into it," Levi said about the all-star break. "I wanted to win tonight, I was excited to play."
The Amerks were on the power play just over one minute into the game. They not only did not score on that power play but they could not muster even a shot on goal.
Just over the halfway mark into the first period, Rochester struck first thanks to forward Konsta Helenius scoring his seventh goal of the season. Helenius, the 18-year-old from Ylojarvi, Finland was selected 14th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2024 NHL Draft. Helenius ended his 16-game scoring drought with the goal.
"I don't even know how many games it was," Helenius said. "But it was a good feeling [to score the goal]."
The Amerks scored once again, with 2:37 remaining in the first period. Defenseman Kale Clague scored his ninth goal of the season to extend the Amerks lead to two over the Senators. This momentum carried the Amerks into the locker room leading 2-0 despite getting outshot by the Senators eight-to-seven.
The Senators came out aggressive to begin the second frame by laying some heavy hits to Rochester players. This physicality did not lead to any goals for the Senators, but they kept the Amerks scoreless in the second period. Belleville once again led the period in shots over Rochester 10-7. Through two periods, the score remained 2-0 in favor of the Amerks. The Senators still led in overall shots on goal 18-to-14.
Rochester and Belleville traded penalties in the first few minutes of the third period. This would lead to the Amerks and Senators combining for five penalties in the third period. None of those power plays resulted in a score for either side. The Amerks finally put the nail in the coffin by scoring consecutive empty-net goals from Graham Slaggert and Anton Wahlberg to seal the win for Rochester.
Video Credit: @AmerksHockey on X
With the win, Rochester improves to 28-12-3-1 on the season. They remain in second place in the North Division. Belleville falls to 18-16-1-4 and remains sixth in the division.
The Amerks next contest will be Tuesday when they travel to Cleveland to take on the Monsters. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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