By: Lucas Vargas
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Americans dropped their third straight game as they fell 4-1 to the Laval Rocket. Following the Amerks' 2-3 loss to the Rocket the night before, Rochester looked to avenge that defeat but came up short.
The Amerks had to do so without Jiri Kulich, who was recalled to Buffalo earlier in the day. Kulich had tallied two goals and three points in his four games with Rochester.
Defenseman Jack Rathbone got the scoring started early. At 2:45 in the first period, Rathbone received a pass on the far side and found the back of the net to give the Amerks a 1-0 lead. The goal was Rathbone's second of the season and his first at home.
"We made a really good play trying to get further forward. We've been preaching a lot, trying to get to the middle and force it, getting out again. So he saw most of it. It's always nice when you can get an opportunity like that to try and get one," Rathbone said.
The first period saw both teams go back and forth with great saves from both goalies. The Amerks had a powerplay opportunity late in the period, but Laval capitalized on the man advantage.
After a roughing call that sent Rocket Florian Xhejac to the penalty box, Laval's Laurent Dauphin’s far-side shot knotted the game at 1-1 just before the end of the first.
Throughout the second frame both teams traded power play opportunities with neither team capitalizing. The Amerks had two of the three power play opportunities of the period.
Then with just 0.7 seconds remaining in the period, Dauphin struck again. His far-side shot hit the post but barely crossed the line, giving him his second goal of the night and putting Laval ahead 2-1 heading into the third.
Laval's defense was the difference-maker. Rocket goalie Conor Hughes was the seperating factor. He recorded 25 saves in the game. On the season Hughes' record is 6-1 and was the brick wall the Amerks couldn't wreck since the first.
"They have extended shifts. They're packing it real tight, and they force you to take shots from places where you're not going to score," Amerks head coach Mike Leone said. "But they do a really good job in front of them, and the goalie has always seen a lot of pucks. I look at shifts where we’ve extended the time, and we shoot a puck on goal, and the goalie saves it because we don’t have enough time."
Another successful penalty kill by Laval in the third period led to an empty-net goal by Gustav Lindström, giving the Rocket a 3-1 lead. Dauphin capped off his hat trick with another empty-net goal to make it 4-1.
"We beat ourselves, and they did a really good job capitalizing on that. That's a good team. Good teams find ways to win," Leone said.
Laval sweeps the two-game series against Rochester and improves to 12-2 on the season and sits atop the AHL North division. Rochester drops to 7-5 on the season and falls to sixth in the North conference and will travel north to face the Toronto Marlies on Sun, Nov. 17. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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