ROCHESTER, NY – Jeff Malcolm made 24 saves for his first career AHL shutout, and Chad Nehring’s third-period goal was the only score of the game, in a 1-0 Hartford Wolf Pack win over the Rochester Americans Sunday at the Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester War Memorial.
The game was the last of a stretch of five straight and eight out of nine on the road for the Wolf Pack, who start a run of six in a row at home this Tuesday night, December 29 vs. the Portland Pirates. It was also the second visit to Rochester in ten days for the Wolf Pack, who had been drubbed 7-1 by the Americans last Friday night.
“We changed some systems stuff from last night (a 4-2 loss at Binghamton), and the boys bought in right from the first shift,” Malcolm said. “It was definitely a better performance than last night, and definitely the last time we were in here (Rochester). I thought the guys just battled extremely hard, especially on the penalty kill. Guys were blocking shots, doing the little things, and obviously got a couple of bounces here and there.”
The first 40 minutes were scoreless, and could hardly have been more even, with Rochester outshooting the Wolf Pack 8-7 in the first period and the Pack with an 8-7 edge in the second. Hartford was unsuccessful on a pair of power plays and successfully killed their only man disadvantage.
The Wolf Pack had an 11-9 shots advantage in the third period, and finally broke the scoreless standoff at 5:51 of the third, on Nehring’s team-best ninth goal of the season. Ryan Bourque carried the puck down the right side into the Rochester end and backhanded a pass across the middle to Nehring. American goaltender Nathan Lieuwen (25 saves) nearly stopped Nehring’s shot, but it slid just past him and over the goal line.
On putting up his first AHL zero, Malcolm said, “It’s a great feeling, it took me long enough, I guess you could say. It’s good to get that, and hopefully moving forward I can get us a couple more.”
With Hartford game report
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