Amerks win with hat trick from unlikely star
When Keaton Ellerby says he’s not a goal-scorer, believe him.
He’s not now, nor has he ever been.
Except the second-year defenseman is going to have a hard time convincing his Rochester Americans teammates, the Syracuse Crunch or the 6,092 fans who were at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial on Friday night.
Ellerby shot the puck three times and found the net every time in leading the Amerks to a 5-2 victory over the Crunch.
“What happened?” he asked. “I don’t know. I’m probably the most surprised person but most excited person in the building.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a hat trick before.”
That’s a good bet, considering he scored only three goals as an American Hockey League rookie last season and only six in his four years of major junior in the Western Hockey League.
All the scoring for the Amerks came from players who haven’t been doing much of it so far for the 14-2-1 hockey club.
Second-year forward Shawn Matthias, who is still adapting to his role as the checking line left winger, scored his second of the season and assisted on two other goals.
Second-year forward Andrew Sweetland, who has been used on the fourth line or not at all, scored his first goal of the season. And looked like Sidney Crosby doing it.
“They don’t ask how, they just ask how many,” Sweetland said, downplaying the cleverness of his down-the-slot puck-handling.
Goalie Alexander Salak improved to 11-1, though he wasn’t tested too often. He faced only 18 shots.
But he did make yet another improbable, rabbit-out-of-the-hat save. As Jared Aulin shot toward an open net from 15 feet away late in the first period, Salak dived to his right and caught the puck in mid-air. Not with his catching glove but with his blocker hand.
It was, almost assuredly, the first time a goalie has caught a shot puck with the mostly unprotected fingers and palm of his blocker hand in downtown Rochester.
“Am I surprised?” coach Benoit Groulx said. “Not really anymore. There are many stops he’s made that I’ve never seen anywhere.”
He’d never seen Salak before this year, though.
“In my career I’ve done that many times,” Salak said. “Just trying to make the fans happy.”
Tough-guy wingers Steve MacIntyre and Jimmy Bonneau both did that with fights. Bonneau rocked Brett Gallant in their first-period fight, then MacIntyre dropped Crunch tough-guy winger Jon Mirasty with a solid right in their third-period scrap. Except Mirasty got right up and kept fighting.
“He’s got a head like a cinder block,” MacIntyre said. “Jonny’s a tough kid. He’s tougher than a piece of shoe leather.”
KEVINO@DemocratandChronicle.com
Kevin’s 3 stars
1. Keaton Ellerby, D, Amerks … 3 shots, 3 goals, totally in charge.
2. Shawn Matthias, LW, Amerks … 1 goal, 2 assists, plus-3, solid on the backcheck and on the wall.
3. Clay Wilson, D, Amerks … 2 assists, helped control play.
