This is not the same Rochester team from 2016-17.

North Division Notebook 10/9/17

Tracey Lake

Oct 9, 2017 — 3 min read

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Welcome to the North Division Notebook!

Every week I plan to provide a quick roundup of how all seven teams fared, and what lies ahead this week.

With the exception of Binghamton, there were three two-game series within the division to open the 2017-18 AHL schedule.

Weekly Wrap Up

Let’s start with Rochester and Syracuse. The Crunch and Americans had a two game home and home series to start their campaigns and…the new look Amerks have so far come as advertised, picking up a regulation win at home on Friday night, followed by an overtime win to spoil Syracuse’s home opener on Saturday.

Rochester would kick off the season with a 3-1 win over the Crunch at Blue Cross Arena. Justin Bailey scored twice, while goaltender Linus Ullmark stopped 28 of 29 Syracuse shots. Michael Leighton took the loss in his Crunch debut, stopping 17 of 20, while rookie forward Mitchell Stephens would be the lone goal scorer for Syracuse. The two Thruway rivals would reconvene on Saturday night, this time in Syracuse, as the 2016-17 North Division and Eastern Conference championship banners were officially raised to the rafters beforehand. The Amerks would emerge victorious again, taking a 3-2 win in overtime on Kevin Porter’s game winner just 39 seconds into the extra session. C.J. Smith would add a goal and an assist, while Kyle Criscuolo scored his first as an Amerk. Cory Conacher and Kevin Lynch would each have goals for the Crunch, while Ben Thomas added two assists. Connor Ingram made his professional debut in net for the Crunch, stopping 15 of 18 shots—he did not have a shot faced until 10:33 into the first period, which turned into the Smith goal. Former Crunch netminder Adam Wilcox drew the start for Rochester and stopped 24 of 26 shots.

Up in Quebec, two new franchises, Belleville and Laval, would make their first AHL appearances against each other, with the Rocket sweeping the two game series. Friday night Laval would defeat the Senators 3-0, with goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopping all 26 Belleville shots in the win. Daniel Audette would score the first ever Rocket goal, while Michael McCarron would have one goal and one assist. Danny Taylor drew the start for Belleville, stopping 22 of 24 shots. In the rematch on Saturday, Laval would finish off the sweep with a 6-2 win. The Rocket trailed 2-0 7:27 into the second period, then scored six unanswered goals from 5 different players, lead by Peter Holland’s two goals. Lindgren would pick up his second win in as many nights, only stopping 17 of 19 Belleville shots. Taylor would get the start, but was removed in the third period after the fifth Rocket goal in favor of Andrew Hammond, who stopped 4 of 5 shots in 11 minutes. Thomas Chabot would score the first goal in Belleville’s history in the first period.

Utica and Toronto also began their seasons with a two game series, starting a month long road trip for the Comets as renovations to the Adirondack Bank Center are finishing up. Toronto, like Rochester and Laval, would sweep the weekend. On Saturday, the Marlies would find themselves down 1-0 after one, but would then score three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 win in the opener. Garret Sparks would stop 19 of 20 Utica shots in the win, while Richard Clune, Kerby Rychel, and Nikita Soshnikov all scored. Nikolay Goldobin had the lone Comets goal, while Thatcher Demko stopped 24 of 26 Marlies shots in the loss. On Sunday, Toronto finished off the Utica sweep with a 4-3 win. Sparks would pick up his second win in goal, stopping 30 of 33 Comet shots. Ben Smith and Andreas Johnsson would each have one goal and one assist, while Timothy Liljegren would score his first North American goal. Reid Boucher would have two assists for Utica, while Carter Bancks, Alexis D’Oust, and Joseph LaBate would all pick up goals.

Finally, Binghamton kicked off their third AHL chapter on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd in the Southern Tier, and the Devils would be victorious in their debut, defeating Bridgeport 2-1. Blake Pietila scored the first ever B-Devils goal, while rookie Nathan Bastian scored on a penalty shot in his professional debut in the first period. Mackenzie Blackwood would pick up the win in net, stopping 26 of 27 Sound Tiger shots.