David Brine scored short-handed 1:55 into overtime as the Rochester Americans rallied from a three-goal deficit to defeat the host Toronto Marlies, 4-3, on Saturday.
The Marlies (2-2-1) led 3-0 after one period before the Amerks rallied in front of 2,234 at Ricoh Coliseum.
This loss extends Toronto’s losing streak to three games. Rochester (4-1-1) took the first meeting, 5-2, on Friday.
Ryan Hamilton opened the scoring with his first goal of the season less than five minutes into the first period.
After Christian Hanson’s shot deflected off Americans’ goalie Tyler Plante, Hamilton quickly flicked the puck in. He would later add an assist.
Despite the early goal, the Marlies missed a number of scoring chances over the next several minutes that proved costly later, including a full-out split by Plante to deny one possible goal.
Persistence still paid off, however, and the Marlies would pad their lead with a pair of scores to make it 3-0.
Andre Deveaux put a wrist shot past Plante from just inside the blue line for another power-play score, and Alex Foster scored his first of the year less than two minutes later.
Amerks break through
The score held up until late in the second, when Rochester finally got on the board. Michal Repik scored two goals in a span of 65 seconds, as his fourth and fifth of the season upped his team-leading points total to eight.
“I thought the momentum actually shifted very early in the second [period],” head coach Dallas Eakins said, of Repik’s goals.
“We had about three shifts in a row where we were a little bit lackadaisical and I could feel it, and I gave it to our bench a little bit.”
Just 1:41 into third, the Amerks wiped the slate clean on Clay Wilson’s second of the year to make it 3-3. Like the game-winner, Wilson’s goal was short-handed.
In the opening frame Toronto outshot Rochester 18-9, and 43-24 for the game. It marked the fourth consecutive contest in which the Marlies had more shots than the opposition.
“We’d like to score more on those shots,” Eakins said. “That’s just something we’ve got to continue to work on.”
Kendal McArdle assisted on Rochester’s first three goals.
Goaltender Adam Munro recorded 20 saves in his first start for the Marlies.