Friday, October 24, 2014

European trio guides Amerks to victory

Mikhail Grigorenko (1st star) scored the game-winning goal and added an assist as Rochester earned their third straight victory Friday with a 4-1 decision over Adirondack. Andrey Makarov (2nd star) made 34 saves to earn the win in his first start of the year, while Joel Armia (3rd star) produced a goal and an assist for his second multi-point game of the young season.

After a Markus Granlund power play tally put the Flames up 1-0 early, the Amerks got one back with a man advantage of their own at 12:38 when Phil Varone swatted at a rebound for his third goal of the year. A hard-working Luke Adam and Chad Ruhwedel drew assists on the play.



Grigorenko added his third goal of the year less than a minute later when he drilled an Armia pass to give the Amerks the 2-1 lead at 13:11. Mark Pysyk earned the second helper.



The teams would play a scoreless middle frame before Grigorenko returned the favor, assisting on Armia's second goal of the season in the 51st minute to make it a 3-1 Amerks advantage.



Johan Larsson put the icing on the cake with an empty-net goal with 1:46 left on the clock. Jake McCabe was credited with an assist for his first point of the season. Tim Schaller was given the other to give him points in two straight games.

Makarov was excellent all game, shaking off the early goal against to shut the door the rest of the way. He was especially sharp in the final period with the Flames applying plenty of late-game pressure.


The two squads will square off again Saturday in Glens Falls.