ROCHESTER, N.Y.--- Coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday, The Rochester Americans look to get back to winning on Friday evening. The Amerks were down early but didn't have enough to come back and win against the Comets at Blue Cross Arena.
In the first period, scoring didn't being until late in the first where the Comets struck first on a powerplay which was a downfall for the Amerks letting up goals on the powerplay throughout the game. With it being the goalie Billy Christopoulos first AHL start he let up 7 goals but had 27 saves,
However, in the second period, there was even more scoring with both the Amerks and the Comets scoring 3 goals in the second period. The scoring for the Amerks was started by Murry and then continued by Warren and then the first of his 2 goals for Mersch. The Comets also scored 3 goals to extend their lead at the end of the second by a score of 5-3. Goals for the Comets were scored by Lockwood, Anas, and Focht.
Mersch had 2 goals and 1 assist in the game today for the Amerks and the goal was his 6th and 7th goals of the season.
Trying to keep the momentum up the 3rd period the Amerks started off hot staying in the Comet's zone to begin the period but couldn't score in the beginning. The penalty kill was a major issue for the Americans giving up another 2 goals on the penalty kill in Friday night's game. In the last 2 minutes of this game, there were 3 goals scored combined between the Amerks and the Comets.
With the loss, the Amerks losing streak extends to 5 games which bring their record to 8-10-2-1 while with the win the Comets improve to 10-6-0-1 on the season. The Amerks also fall to 3-7-2 at home at the Blue Cross Arena.
The Amerks are on the road Saturday against the Syracuse Crunch at 7:00 PM then Friday against these same Utica Comets, then back to Syracuse on Saturday, May 1st.