FLAMES TOPPLED AGAIN AT BLUE CROSS ARENA

Rochester, NY – The Adirondack Flames were defeated 7-4 by the Rochester Americans on Friday evening at Blue Cross Arena. The Flames finish the season 1-4-0-1 in Rochester.

The Flames were led offensively by Turner Elson’s two goals and also got goals from Garnet Hathaway and Emile Poirier. Joni Ortio made 44 saves in defeat, while Rochester was led offensively by two goals and an assist from Zac Dalpe and a goal and two assists from Tim Schaller.

Rochester opened a high octane first period with a goal just 22 seconds into the game, as Zac Dalpe beat Ortio to make it 1-0 for the home side. After a Jerome Leduc shot from the point went wide of Ortio, winger Jerry D’Amigo tapped the puck to Dalpe, who buried his 12th of the season on a wrap-around.

The visitors struck right back, however, as Garnet Hathaway went top shelf on Rochester netminder Matt Hackett to knot the score at one. The Brown University graduate took a feed from Markus Granlund on the right wing and put the puck into the back of the net with a blistering wrist shot from the right hand circle. Defenseman Dustin Stevenson also collected an assist on Hathaway’s tenth of the season.

Adirondack would gain its first lead of the night at the 8:48 mark of the first, as Turner Elson remained red hot with goal from the slot. Adirondack’s assistant captain tonight took a feed from winger Brian McGrattan and beat Hackett for the Flames’ first advantage of the evening. Center Mathieu Tousignant also had a point on the play with the secondary assist.

Elson remained red hot with his second tally of the game, his fifth over his last three games, with an unassisted goal just over two minutes after his first. The goal capped a three goals in 4:13 run for Adirondack. Elson capitalized on a Phil Varone turnover into his own slot and beat Hackett on the blocker side. The goal was Elson’s 11th on the season and completed his fourth multi-goal effort of the season.

The Americans would get one back less than three minutes later, as Brayden Irwin capitalized with his team up two men. With defensemen and usual Adirondack penalty killers Nolan Yonkman and Dustin Stevenson in the box, Ortio was able to deny Varone’s first bid from the slot, but Irwin poked the rebound through the five hole to close his team’s deficit to 3-2.

The home side would knot the score at three, courtesy of a nice tic-tac-toe play, finished by Johan Larsson with just 2:51 left in the opening stanza. D’Amigo collected his second assist of the night, as he dished the puck down low to Dalpe while falling to the ice, while Dalpe got the primary marker with his one touch feed to Larsson for the goal. Larsson’s tally was his tenth point (4-6-10) of the season against Adirondack, the most for any players in this head-to-head matchup.

It was Adirondack’s turn with the man advantage to open the scoring in the second period, as Emile Poirier tapped home a rebound in front of Hackett to make it 4-3 Flames. Brett Kulak one-timed a Sven Baertschi pass off of Hackett’s pads, but Poirier was on hand to finish into a gaping net to give the visitors the lead.

Rochester would not go away, however, as William Carrier brought the score back to a deadlock with a seeing-eye shot through a screened Ortio from the high slot. Forward Tim Schaller and defenseman Brady Austin had the assists on the play, Carrier’s seventh goal of the season.

The Americans would re-take the lead at the 17:29 mark of the middle stanza as Dan Catenacci knocked a loose puck into the net for the 5-4 advantage. After a long shot from defenseman Jake McCabe, Schaller got a stick on the puck to Catenacci, who slid it home past a sprawled out Ortio. The assist was Schaller’s second of the evening on Catenacci’s eighth goal of the season.

The man advantage would prove large for the Americans once again in the third period, as Dalpe added an insurance goal. The Rochester center swatted at a deflected Leduc point shot and bounced it past Ortio to make it 6-4 for the home side. The tally, Dalpe’s second of the evening, was Rochester’s second power-play goal of the evening. Schaller would end the evening’s scoring with the Americans’ third man advantage tally of the evening, with assists to Irwin and Larsson.

The Flames are back in action next weekend, with away contests at Oklahoma City on Friday and Saturday evening, both set to begin at 8:00 p.m. The team is home next on February 28 against the Toronto Marlies.

Adirondack Flames Hockey • Fired Up

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