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Barons: Rare broken stick penalty
sets up loss Cleveland fails to hold 2-0 lead
1/16/04 - by Craig Haueter
The
Rochester Americans took advantage of rookie Garrett Staffords
unfortunate broken stick penalty late in the third period to convert a power
play goal by Jason Dawe for a 4-3 win over the Barons Friday night at Blue
Cross Arena. Stafford failed to drop his stick after breaking it while firing a
slap shot from the point and attempted to use it while trying to poke-check the
puck from Michael Ryan.
Neither team capitalized on power play chances
in a scoreless first period. Ryan Miller made several key saves for the Amerks
including a rebound try from Doug Murray, who was looking for his third goal in
as many games. The Barons dominated play in the opening twenty minutes out
shooting Rochester 16-8.
The Barons scored twice in the first 9:12 of
the second period on a short-handed tally by Jon DiSalvatore who pounded a slap
shot through the body of Ryan Miller then Grant Stevenson converted a Miroslav
Zalesak pass into his sixth goal of the season. Rochester would storm back to
the lead with three goals of their own before the period ended. Milan
Bartovics short-handed goal at 10:38 sparked the rally. Domenic Pittis
blocked Doug Murrays point shot and the puck bounced out to center to
Bartovic who sped away on a breakaway flipping the puck past goalie Nolan
Schaefer for his 14th goal. Michael Ryans wrist shot goal at the 12:26
mark tied the game at two. The periods only power play goal then gave
Rochester their first lead of the night as Jason Pominville converted his 18th
goal of the season with just 47 seconds remaining in the period.
Rochester started the charitable play in the third period as some sloppy play
in their defensive zone allowed Patrick Rissmiller to find Tomas Plihal with
the errant puck on the doorstep all alone, Plihal converted to tie the contest
at 3-3. Staffords mental lapse four minutes later led to Dawes
game-winner, Rochesters second power play goal of the game. The Barons
return to action tonight (Saturday) in Syracuse against the
Crunch.
Barons
Notes
Cleveland will be without the services of defenseman
Matt Carkner this weekend. He is suffering from several ailments including his
throat and shoulder. Carkner should be available next weekend according to
coach Roy Sommer. Carkner leads the club with a +11 rating. He is the first
player in franchise history to eclipse a +10 at any point in the
season.
Goalie Seamus Kotyk has returned from injury and was to make
the trip with Cleveland. However, Kotyk will join the NHL Sharks in Colorado
Saturday night while San Joses goalie Evgeni Nabokov and his wife await
the birth of their first child back in San Jose.
The Barons Player of
the Week is defenseman Doug Murray. Murray scored two goals last weekend, one
each in Hamilton and Grand Rapids. The 63, 240-pounder was even for
the week and took 6 shots. He is known for his bone-jarring checks.
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