BDevils Can’t Hold Late Lead, Lose In OT To Amerks

Binghamton saw a 3-1 third period lead disappear halfway into the third period as Rochester scored the next three, including the game winner in overtime, to beat the slumping Devils 4-3 on Saturday at The Floyd.

Amerks’ forward Kevin Porter fed a cross ice pass to Casey Nelson on a two-on-one rush and his wrister went high, far corner past Devils’ goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood at 2:04 in the overtime period to complete Rochester’s comeback for the sweep of the weekend series.

Photo provided by Alicia Strauch

Zach Redmond got the Amerks on board a little more than two minutes in with a backhanded swoop of the puck under Blackwood’s glove, as this one already looks to be on pace after Friday night’s 10-3 debacle. However, Blake Speers has other ideas when he tied it on a shorthanded odd man rush with Bracken Kearns on his hard wrister past Rochester netminder Adam Wilcox for his second goal of the season.

Midway through the middle frame defenseman Yaroslav Dyblenko scored with a shot from the point that fluttered off of Wilcox’s arm and into the back of the cage for his first North American goal giving the Devils a 2-1 lead. Kevin Rooney increased the lead to two with his third of the season on another shorthanded goal with Speers finding a loose puck before sliding it over to Rooney who simply deposited it into an open net.

Photo provided by Alicia Strauch

Binghamton couldn’t hold onto the 3-1 lead in the third as Rochester began their comeback with rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle scoring his fifth on a one-time slapper from the blueline through traffic on the power play. Blackwood came up with a sensational save, one of several, as he got a leg pad on a rebound shot in close by Alexander Nylander for one of his 28 saves on the night.

Unfortunately though, the Amerks tied it four minutes later at 15:45 on a wicked snipe by another rookie in C.J. Smith for his team leading 19th point, as he burned Devils’ defenseman Josh Jacobs through the wickets before letting go a laser from the circle, short side of Blackwood.

The Devils started out the extra session with a carry over penalty applied to the Amerks, but didn’t come through like the parent club did in Detroit. Rochester skated to a odd-man rush when forward Kevin Porter found Casey Nelson with a cross ice pass and into the net the puck would carry, top far corner past Blackwood for the game winner.

Line-Ups

Forwards; Blandisi-Kearns-Lappin, Quenneville-Pietila-Bastian, Gignac-Rooney-Speers, Thomson-Cangelosi-Mandat. Defensemen; Strait-Jacobs, White-Loov, MacDonald-Dyblenko, White. In Goal; Mackenzie Blackwood Back up; Ken Appleby Scratches; Michael Kapla, Tim Kennedy, (inj.) Brandon Baddock (inj.) and Ryan Kujawinski (inj.).

Post Game Notes

• The effort was there but not the full 60 minutes once again with a let down in the third period that led to the Amerks comeback.
• This team is lacking experience and mental toughness to close it out after a late lead. Everyone in the building knew what was going to happen when Rochester started their comeback. Confidence is no where to be found within the players right now.
• A conditioning issue was brought up by one of the fans as the team looks gassed towards the end. I’ve mentioned the same thing in previous recaps only to blame the schedule, which the team is in the middle of a 6 week run of 3 games in 4 days.
• Penalties were once again not an issue, but the shots were, with a 32-19 Amerk advantage.

Three Stars

1st; Zach Redmond (1g, 1a), 2nd; Casey Nelson (1g), 3rd Blake Speers (1g, 1a).

Video Highlights

N/A

Upcoming Games

Binghamton hits the road for the next four games starting on Wednesday in Allentown, PA to take on the Phantoms.