The third time was the charm this week for the Rochester Americans to clinch a spot in the 2019 Calder Cup playoffs.
After failing to clinch a playoff berth on both Wednesday and Friday night, the Amerks officially punched their ticket to the postseason on Saturday after a 6-4 win over the Binghamton Devils at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton, New York.
With a 6-4 road win tonight in Binghamton, we've officially clinched a spot in the 2019 Calder Cup Playoffs‼️‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/Mhe9VEx28Y
— x - Rochester Americans (@AmerksHockey) March 31, 2019The scenario was a simple task for the Amerks on Saturday: just earn a point in Binghamton and they clinch a playoff spot for the second consecutive season.
Rochester got out to a slow start to the Devils, getting out-shot 5-1 through the first seven-plus minutes of the contest. Penalty issues were also a problem for the Amerks on Saturday, giving up a power play goal to the Devils just 4:10 into the contest.
The Amerks responded at the 11:46 mark when Tage Thompson knocked down a breakout pass in front of the Devils net and out-waited goalie Cam Johnson to slide the puck past him and into the net.
-- TAGE -- THOMPSON -- pic.twitter.com/sKHTWek3Vc
— x - Rochester Americans (@AmerksHockey) March 30, 2019After the Amerks got out to a 14-6 shot advantage with 5:24 remaining in the period, the Devils scored two more goals, another one on the power play, to take a 3-1 lead heading into the intermission. Rochester out-shot the Devils in the period 21-9.
C.J. Smith pulled the Amerks to within a goal just 5:08 into the second period as he broke down the left wing and into the zone, then let go of a weak shot that managed to find its way through Johnson and in over the line. That was all the Amerks could muster in the second period with the team, once again, out-shooting the Devils 11-5.
Smith got the Amerks even with the Devils at 3-3 halfway through the third period. He circled off the corner boards and found another way to beat Johnson with a low shot between his left leg and the post.
Shortly after, the Devils thought they had re-taken the lead as a shot from John Quenneville rang off the corner of the post and crossbar and stayed out of the net. Moments later, Remi Elie gave the Amerks their first lead of the night with a nice wrist shot over the blocker, short side of Johnson
-- REMI -- ELIE -- pic.twitter.com/3Zhry1ElOQ
— x - Rochester Americans (@AmerksHockey) March 31, 2019The Devils tied the hockey game at 4-4 less than two minutes later as Buffalo native Ryan Schmelzer found a loose puck next to a sprawled out Scott Wedgewood and raised it over his leg and in.
At this point, Rochester was set to earn that single point they needed to secure their spot in the playoffs.
With 1:36 remaining in regulation, Rochester took the lead 5-4 as Eric Cornel got a piece of a Kyle Criscuolo shot from the boards that went through the five-hole of Johnson. The shot appeared to have been going wide of the net until Cornel re-directed it with the shaft of his stick and in.
BIG-- GOAL-- FOR @ecornel10 ‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/EgWq6s6M3t
— x - Rochester Americans (@AmerksHockey) March 31, 2019The Devils put up one last push on the Amerks in the dying seconds, but Nathan Paetsch flung a puck into the empty net off a faceoff win from Kevin Porter with just 13-seconds remaining to give Rochester the 6-4 win.
With the victory, the Amerks improve their overall record this season to 43-21-4-2, and to up their point total to 92 points. Rochester currently sits second behind the Syracuse Crunch for the top spot in the North Division with six games remaining for both teams, three of which come against one another. The deficit in the North is just one point as the Crunch sit with a 43-20-4-3 record and 93 points.
With his two goals on Saturday, Smith ties Victor Olofsson for the team lead in goals this season with 27. Overall, Smith has a career-high 56 points (27+29) in 57 games played, and sits just four points back of Olofsson for the team lead in scoring.
As for Wedgewood, he earned his 27th win of the season on Saturday in his 45th appearance in goal. The 26-year-old netminder is 27-12-2-5 this season with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.
Rochester will have five days off before they get set to face the Crunch in the first game of another home-and-home series with Syracuse. Both teams are set to drop the puck at 7:05 p.m. at the Blue Cross Arena, and the game can be heard on our sister station, 950 AM and 95.7 FM ESPN Rochester.
