Amerks survive Wolf Pack
- Victor Menendez
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
By: Mateo Ortiz
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Americans wrapped up the penultimate weekend of March with a home matchup against the Hartford Wolf Pack. Despite major struggles defensively in the opening period, adjustments in the defensive zone as well as a strong offensive presence in the later stages of the contest, led to a 6-3 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Hartford opened up the scoring 3:38 into the match as right winger Trey Fix-Wolansky broke past the Amerks defense and snuck the puck underneath the right pad of Amerks goalie Devon Levi. This was Fix-Wolansky’s team leading 26th goal of the season. Wolf Pack forwards Brendan Brisson and Adam Sýkora each contributed assists to the opening goal.
With 12:25 remaining in the first, Rochester evened up the scoring as Amerks center Konsta Helenius went five-hole on Wolf Pack goalie Spencer Martin to net his 16th goal of the season. Left winger Anton Wahlberg contributed the primary assist to the goal with right winger Carson Meyer providing the secondary assist.
At the 9:02 mark of the first Hartford took the lead back as left winger Anton Blidh put the puck past Levi off of a cross ice pass from defenseman Scott Morrow. Defenseman Phip Waugh also contributed to the goal with his third assist of the season.
The Wolf Pack added onto their lead at the 12:49 mark of the first, as right winger Brody Lamb scored his second goal of the season in his fifth career AHL game. Morrow once again contributed to the goal with the primary assist putting him in double-digits in assists for the season. Hartford center Bryce McConell-Barker also put himself into double-digits in assists, providing the secondary assist on Lamb’s goal.
Hartford nearly created a three-goal advantage on the Amerks with 3:30 remaining the opening period, however, Blidh interfered with Levi in front of the net which ended up wiping away what would have been Blidh’s second goal of the contest.
Rochester pulled to within one with 14 seconds remaining in the opening stanza after Helenius scored his second goal of the game off of a cross-ice pass from defenseman Matteo Constantini. Shots were relatively even through one period of play with Hartford putting twelve shots on goal, while Rochester put up eleven on goal.
Just 30 seconds into the middle frame, Helenius broke away from McConell-Barker and snuck one past the left side of Spencer Martin to even the score at three apiece. This was Helenius’s first hat trick of the season, and the second of his AHL career. His lone AHL hat trick before this game came back on April 5, 2025, against the Belleville Senators.
Helenius discussed post-game what was going through his mind when he broke away from McConnell-Barker on his third goal. “It was a good stick by Wally (Wahlberg), I just took it,” Wahlberg said. “It was a fast breakaway, so I just tried to shoot it over the pad and it went in.”
Hartford had a golden opportunity to retake the lead with a five-on-three advantage midway through the second. However, they were unable to do so as the Wolf Pack struggled to keep the puck in their offensive zone despite having the two-man advantage.
The Amerks took the lead with 6:31 remaining in the second period as center Jake Leschyshyn netted his 12th goal of the season after an uncontested pass from right winger Carson Meyer.. Fellow right winger Olivier Nadeau was credited with the secondary assist on the goal which was his ninth of the season.
Through two periods of play, Hartford maintained their advantage on shots with 22, compared to Rochester’s 16 shots on goal.
Just like the previous period, Rochester opened up the scoring in quick fashion as defenseman Jagger Joshua put home his eighth goal of the season after deflecting the puck off the left skate of Spencer Martin. This gave the Amerks a 5-3 lead early on in the third period.
Hartford had two power play opportunities in the latter stages of the third period, both of which they were unable to capitalize on, despite a strong presence in their offensive zone.
Rochester sealed the outcome of the game with 3:02 remaining in regulation after defenseman Vsevolod Komarov lobbed the puck over the Wolf Pack defense into an awaiting empty net to give the Amerks a 6-3 lead, in what would eventually be the final score of the contest.
Amerks head coach Michael Leone gave a lot of credit to the resiliency of his team after not giving up after the first period. “I thought we were really resilient tonight to find a way to win a hockey game,” Leone said post-game. “I thought it was really good for the morale of the team and the sacrifice to get that win.”
Gavin McCarthy, who was the Sabres third round pick in the 2023 NHL draft made his AHL debut with the Amerks Sunday Afternoon. McCarthy mentioned what it is like for him to join a new team who is in the midst of a playoff race. “Obviously I was a little nervous going into my first pro game, trying to test the waters,” McCarthy said. “Just have to try and take it shift by shift and try to get better.”
Leone also mentioned McCarthy and how important he is to the team as an addition this late in the season.”It’s hard for any player to come in at this time of year with the high stakes of the games, but I thought he did a pretty good job.” McCarthy signed a three-year entry level contract with the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday after completing his season with Boston University.
With the win on Sunday, the Amerks completed the sweep in the season series against the Wolf Pack. Their other win took place against Hartford back on November 14th in which the Amerks were victorious 4-3. Rochester is now 10-1-1 against Hartford in the past five seasons. For goalie Devon Levi, this was his first win since February 14 which came against the Utica Comets, snapping an eight game losing streak for the Amerks netminder.
The Amerks improved to 26-24-5-4 on the season after defeating the Wolf Pack. Rochester begins a critical three-in-three next Friday night against the Toronto Marlies, at the Blue Cross Arena in an important battle for seeding in the AHL’s North division. Following that game, Rochester has a home-and-home with the Syracuse Crunch next Saturday and Sunday. Faceoff for Friday’s contest is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.