Louis Leblanc once again played hero with two goals including the OT winner, and Magnus Nygren notched his first AHL goal to give the Dogs a win in their fourth overtime game of this young season.
The game was a sloppy one for both teams but in a shocking twist it was Rochester who took the lion’s share of the undisciplined penalties.
Nick Tarnasky opened the scoring on the powerplay with his fourth goal of the season, Erik Nystrom and Joel Chouinard had the assists.
It was Leblanc who gave the Bulldogs their first two goal lead of the season with a snipe from the circle past Americans’ goalie Nathan Lieuwen.
Luke Adam managed to get one back for Rochester on a pretty passing play on the man advantage. but Nygren restored the two goal advantage just a minute later with a bomb from the point.
The lead wouldn’t last though, as Frederick Roy and Brayden McNabb scored before the end of the second to even the score.
The third would be scoreless with sloppy play by the Bulldogs but a pair of huge saves from Robert Mayer kept the score knotted at three.
In overtime it was Leblanc who scored for the second straight game with a seeing eye backhand to the top corner.
The two points were crucial for the Dogs as this was the first of a three games in three nights stretch.
Leblanc understood the implications of getting the two points in the first of three.
“It’s huge,” said Leblanc. “If you lose the first game then your momentum’s not there for the second.”
However, in addition to the sloppy play, special mention has to be made of the fact that the Bulldogs twice held two goal leads and gave them up.
Coach Lefebvre mentioned the fact that the team played poorly with the lead.
“When it’s 3-1 early in the second we gotta close the deal,” said Lefebvre. “We gave it to them, we took penalties.”
In addition, while Mayer made big saves in the third period to keep it tied, he did allow a pair of soft goals to put himself in position to need to make those saves.
Once again the attendance was poor in Hamilton with an announced crowd of 2,940 attending the game.
The Bulldogs swept the three stars, Nick Tarnasky was named third star, Magnus Nygren second and Louis Leblanc first.
The Bulldogs next game is Saturday in Utica, their next home game comes Sunday in their first home date with the Toronto Marlies.
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- Canadiens vs Ducks – Top Six Minutes – Second Homecoming Edition
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