Amerks win OT thriller against league leading Bruins

By: Mateo Ortiz

The Rochester Americans wrapped up their four game homestand on Saturday evening against the AHL's point leader, the Providence Bruins. The Amerks held the Bruins to just one goal on 24 shots in what was a defensive showdown. An OT goal in the final minute of play secured a big 2-1 win for the Amerks in front of a big crowd at the Blue Cross Arena.

Just 3:30 into the contest, Amerks left winger Anton Wahlberg went five-hole on Bruins goalie Michael DiPietro to give Rochester the early 1-0 advantage. Center, Konsta Helenius, was credited with his 38th assist of the season on the goal, putting himself tied for first with defenseman Zac Jones in total points for the Amerks this season at 57 apiece. Helenius also extended his points streak to seven straight games with the assist on the Wahlberg goal.

Video credit: @AmerksHockey on X

Amerks head coach Michael Leone talked about the development of Helenius postgame, especially during his recent points streak. "When you see the puck go in the net and the young kid gets points, confidence is a real thing." Leone said, "He's playing probably too much, but we need him right now and he's getting everybody's best every night."

Through the first 10 minutes of play, both teams combined for just six shots on goal, four from Providence, and two from Rochester. Both sides up through the midway point were very physical in terms of hits, although there was only one penalty called by the officiating crew, a holding penalty by Bruins defenseman Billy Sweezey.

After a tripping penalty from Amerks defenseman Vsevolod Komarov at the 11:53 mark of the first, Providence opened up their side of the scoring on the power play just nine seconds later. Defenseman Victor Söderström ripped a shot from the blue line and went top shelf on Amerks goalie Devon Levi to level the game at one apiece. James Hagens was credited with the primary assist on the goal. Hagens father, Michael, is a graduate of SUNY Brockport and played for the Golden Eagles as a defenseman for three seasons from 1997-2000. Left winger Georgil Merkulov secured the secondary assist on the goal, his 35th on the season and added to his lead in points on the team with 56, ahead of second place Riley Tufte by three.

Through one period of play, the scored remained tied at one, the period did end with another Amerks penalty, this time at the hands of Konsta Helenius who was sent to the box for holding with 1:27 left in the period. Providence dominated in the shots on goal category, leading Rochester by a 12-4 margin.

Amerks center #91 Konsta Helenius skating with the puck on April 4, 2026. Photo credit: Micheline Veluvolu/ Rochester Americans

Just like the previous frame, shots were very hard to come by, with both teams at the halfway point recording only seven shots combined, four from the Amerks, with three coming from the Bruins.

Rochester did close in on the Bruins in regard to shots at the end of the scoreless second period, closing the gap to within five. Both penalties in the middle stanza came from Bruins players. Defenseman Michael Callahan went to the box for high sticking at the 6:26 mark, and center Matthew Poitras received a penalty with 29 seconds left in the frame for hooking.

The third period once again started off slow in the shots department with Providence recording all four shots on goal in the first seven minutes of the final frame.

Rochester did not record their first shot of the third until the 9:04 mark, which was a Jagger Joshua breakaway opportunity that was stopped by DiPietro. The Amerks had a couple of open opportunities on net, but they were unable to convert on their presented chances.

No goals were scored in the final half of the third period, which sent the game into overtime, but also allowed the Amerks to claim a crucial point in the standings in their race for the final playoff spot in the AHL's North Division.

Rochester had possession of the puck for the majority of the first half of overtime but were unable to sneak one past DiPietro. Providence had a two on one break 3:30 into the frame but were caught offsides ultimately ending that opportunity.

With 42.2 seconds left in overtime, after a deflected shot from Komarov, center Matteo Costantini snuck the puck over the right pad of DiPietro and sent the crowd of 7,718 people at the Blue Cross Arena into a frenzy, to seal a 2-1 win for the Amerks and secure a huge two points in the race for the fifth and final spot in the north division. Providence did not record a single shot in the overtime period on Levi, who had a bounce back game after getting pulled just eight minutes into the contest after allowing three goals on four shots the night before against the Belleville Senators. The final shot total came out to 24-21 with the Bruins having the total advantage.

Amerks center #73 Matteo Costantini celebrating after scoring game winning goal on April 4, 2026, Photo credit: Micheline Veluvolu/ Rochester Americans

After spending the majority of the of the first half of the season in the ECHL with the Jacksonville Icemen, Costantini had solidified himself as a first line center on the Amerks. In his last six games, Matteo has scored three goals and has scored points in five of his last eight games. Costantini gave a lot of credit after the game to his teammates on the first line, Wahlberg and Helenius. "Playing with Helenius and Wahlberg has been a lot of fun." Costantini said, "They're two really good players, and I think my speed has been helping them a little bit." Costantini gave further credit to the two later on in the presser. "I just try to get open when they got the puck and they're really good at finding you."

Video credit @AmerksHockey on X

For the Amerks, they will finish the regular season with six of the final seven games coming on the road, all of which are against teams in fights for seeding in the AHL playoffs. Leone talked about how much of a confidence boost this was for this team at this moment in the season, especially heading into the upcoming four game road trip. "Really confident, because we've been playing really good hockey." Leone said, "Now that we're on the road our approach has been to take it one game at a time, focus on the next game."

The Amerks will begin the penultimate week of the AHL season on Monday night as they head to Cleveland to take on the Monsters. Despite the Amerks having a losing record against the Monsters this season, their lone two wins against them have come at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. Rochester will then head east down I-90 to Syracuse where they will meet with the Crunch for the 12th and final time this season. The Amerks will conclude the road trip against the Springfield Thunderbirds on April 10, and a rematch with the Bruins the following evening. Rochester's final home game of the regular season will be on April 17, as they take on the aforementioned Monsters at the Blue Cross Arena. Puck drop for all contests mentioned are scheduled for 7 p.m.