ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Springfield Thunderbirds (16-23-4-2) were on the business end of a hat trick from one of the top scorers in the AHL in a 4-0 loss to the Rochester Americans (22-16-4-2) on Friday night inside Blue Cross Arena.
The Amerks leaned on their most lethal offensive weapon in the opening period, and Isak Rosen provided a boost, opening the scoring at 8:04 of the first, beating Georgi Romanov from deep on the left-wing side for his 21st goal in just 29 games.
After each team traded failed power-play chances, a set of matching minors set the stage for 4-on-4 play, and Rosen struck again, this time one-timing a pass from Konsta Helenius past Romanov on a 2-on-1 at 17:02, giving Rochester the 2-0 cushion into the intermission. The home team outpaced Springfield in shots, 13-7, in the first.
Rosen picked up right where he left off at 5:34 of the second, as he once again found himself alone in the right circle on an odd-man rush, and he snapped another one-time feed home from Helenius, completing his natural hat trick and giving his team the 3-0 advantage.
The T-Birds tried to quell the heavy momentum, but Rochester still added another at 14:49 when Trevor Kuntar deflected a Nikita Novikov shot past Romanov to make it 4-0. Neither team would find the net in the final 20 minutes, and Rochester rookie netminder Scott Ratzlaff recorded his first AHL shutout with 25 saves.
The T-Birds play their final game before the AHL All-Star Classic break on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. inside Coca-Cola Col. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. at Blue Cross Arena.
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