Bulldogs Win Matinee in OT, Defeat Amerks 5-4

By Dale Lamontagne, Hamilton Bulldogs Correspondent, Bulldogs Hockey Report

HAMILTON, ONT — The Hamilton Bulldogs entered this afternoon’s contest having snapped a three game losing streak in St. John’s to the IceCaps. But tonight, the Bulldogs defeated the Rochester Americans by a score of 5-4 in overtime and are now 6-7-2 in the young 2014-15 AHL season.

Game Rundown 

There were a lot of goal scoring in the first period, as the  Hamilton Bulldogs were able to take a comfortable  4-1 lead after the with Rene Bourque, Jacob De La Rose, Greg Pateryn and Gabriel Dumont scoring for the ‘Dogs, while Luke Adam notched the lone goal for the Rochester Americans.

The good news after the first period, two of the four Bulldogs goals in the first came on the power-play, and that’s refreshing. It’s well documented that the ‘Dogs have had a rough go thus far on the man advantage, and scoring the two goals up a man this afternoon is a good sign moving forward for the team.

Sven Andrighetto, who was a healthy scratch on Friday in St. John’s, scored three points in the Bulldogs victory. I think he got the message loud a clear on Friday when he sat out and watched the team from the stands.

Bulldogs head coach Sylvain Lefebvre spoke to the media after the game and provided some insight on why he decided  to scratch Andrighetto.  ”You don’t want to do that, but sometimes you do have to do that,” said the Lefebvre in a much happier mood. ”For a coach there’s only so many ways to send messages and that’s one. [Andrighetto] responded really well tonight and that’s what we want. He’s a big part of this organization and he’s a top prospect,” said coach.

Lefebvre said Andrighetto was scratched because of the compete level and inconsistent performances. The coaching staff in Hamilton want Andrighetto to be NHL ready and not AHL. This was defiantly  an eye opener for the young forward.

In the middle frame, the Americans would strike back and score three unanswered goals to tie the game at four a piece, with Matt Ellis, Chad Rutwedel and Jake McCabe scoring the goals for the Americans, who have struggled to string along wins in their past 10 games.

The third period would see a game that would remain tied. And if it weren’t for netminder Mike Condon, it would be a different story.

Condon played a really solid game in the final period of Sunday’s afternoon matinee, as he made a handful of saves that kept the puck out of the net and gave the Bulldogs the opportunity to send the game to overtime, where they would eventually score the game winner.

Just a little over two minutes into the extra frame, forward T.J. Hensick scored his third goal of the season, and notching the Bulldogs sixth win of the 2014-15 campaign.

The Bulldogs are back in action on Wednesday as they travel to Utica to take on the Comets. The Bulldogs next home game is on Friday as they host division rivals Toronto Marlies.