JJ Peterka's hat-trick too much for Comets to overcome in game two
The Utica Comets suffered a 4-3 loss to the Rochester Americans in game two of the North Division Semifinals Saturday night.
Like game one, the Amerks jumped out to an early lead.
Just 20 seconds into the game, Rochester forward Mark Jankowski scored a goal to quiet the crowd at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. 10 minutes later, it was JJ Peterka who scored his second goal of the series to give his team a 2-0 lead.
“Well, I think we had an excuse in game one. We have no excuse today," Comets head coach Kevin Dineen said after team got off to another slow start. "I think it's been an ongoing thing with our team and it's something that you better address within the next 20 hours or you're going to be in big trouble tomorrow."
In game one, the fans would have to wait until the second period to have something to cheer about, in Saturday’s game, A.J. Greer re-energized the Comets’ fans with a goal with 4:35 left in the first period to cut the deficit to 2-1.
In the second period, the Comets tied the game at 2-2 after Robbie Russo scored a goal with 16:32 remaining.
Later in the period, Peterka continued his impressive series when he netted his second goal of the night – third of the series – to give the Amerks a 3-2 lead with 7:48 left.
Despite a rough night, the Comets continued to fight back. Brian Flynn tied the game with 18:28 left in the third period. Flynn's goal would be all the offense either team could muster that period and the game went into sudden-death overtime.
One minute and 29 seconds into overtime, Peterka scored his third goal of the night to send the series back to Rochester tied at one game each.
AHL playoffs: Utica Comets roar back to defeat Rochester Amerks 6-3 in Game 1 of AHL playoffs series
What it means
With the loss, the Comets have lost home-ice advantage as the team will now have to win one of the next two road games to win the best-of-five series.
By the numbers
2
Utica's Robbie Russo's point total – one goal, one assist.
3
The amount of goal's scored by Rochester's JJ Peterka.
19
A.J. Greer's point total against the Amerks this season.
Three stars
Peyton Krebs
Assisted on three goals for the Amerks.
A.J. Greer
Scored the first goal of the night for the Comets.
JJ Peterka
Recorded a hat-trick in the win for Rochester.
What they said
"You can light guys up, you can make adjustments, you can change some of your personnel, at the end of it has to be a team-wide effort to play a more sound structure, to play with more energy and to play with more pace, which we've gotten away with at certain times this year. But certainly I would say we got what we deserved tonight." - Dineen
"I'm not sure if it's any one thing. Maybe it's just the playoffs, something like that." - Utica's Robbie Russo on the physicality between the two teams.
"It's amazing when you move your feet like (Peterka) did tonight, the puck tends to find you." - Dineen
How to buy tickets for Utica Comets vs. Rochester Americans Games 3 and 4
Games three and four will be will be played at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. Game three will be played 5:05 p.m. Sunday, May 15 and game four is set to take place 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 17. Tickets can be purchased online at amerks.com/tickets.
Kenny Lacy is a sports reporter for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Kenny Lacy at klacy@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: AHL playoffs: Comets fall to the Amerks in game two
