AMERKS EDGED BY COMETS IN OVERTIME

Savoie extends point streak to five games, Tokarski appears in 400th AHL game in 4-3 overtime loss to Utica

Nov 3, 2023

The Rochester Americans (5-2-2-0) scored a pair of goals in the third period but were unable to hold the lead before suffering a 4-3 overtime loss to the Utica Comets (3-2-2-0) Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.

                                                    GAME SUMMARY     PHOTO GALLERY      POST-GAME REPORT

Despite the overtime defeat, the Amerks remain in first place in the AHL’s North Division standings with 12 points. In addition to earning at least a point in three of its first five home games to start the season, Rochester owns a 1-0-1-0 mark in the head-to-head series with Utica.

Rookie forward Matt Savoie extended his point streak to five games as he redirected Kale Clague’s shot in the first period for his second goal of the season. Mason Jobst netted his fifth of the season before Jiri Kulich notched his team-leading eighth in the final period. Along with Clague, Filip Cederqvist, Tyson Kozak, Justin Richards, and Jeremy Davies all were credited with an assist for the Amerks.

Goaltender Dustin Tokarski (0-1-0) made his season debut after missing the first eight games of the season. In addition to becoming the 18^th goaltender in league history to make his 400^th appearance, the two-time Calder Cup winner surpassed the 12,000-save mark for his pro career as he stopped 16 of the 20 shots he faced.

Xavier Parent, Shane Bowers, Max Willman, and Tyler Wotherspoon all scored for Utica, which won back-to-back games for the first time all season. Goaltender Isaac Poulter improved to 3-0-1 on the season as he made 29 saves in the victory.

After seeing Rochester erase its lead with a pair of goals in a span of 41 seconds, Utica evened the contest at the 16:22 mark to force overtime.

In the first minute of the extra frame, Simon Nemec broke up a potential shot in-between the face-off circles before gathering the puck to his right. The forward eventually provided a pass to Parent, who was streaking up the left side of the ice, and the forward sprinted towards Tokarski and converted just 45 seconds into overtime.

While Rochester drew the game’s first power-play in the opening period, Utica opened the scoring at the 6:40 mark.

With the puck inside the Utica blueline, former Amerk Kyle Criscuolo…