The Rochester Americans built a 2-0 lead midway through the opening frame only to see the Toronto Marlies respond with a pair of goals in the second before completing the comeback 3:29 into overtime to steal a 3-2 win in the 2024-25 regular season finale Saturday afternoon at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
The Amerks, who locked up second place in the AHL’s North Division, close out their 69th season with a 42-22-5-3 record and 92 points, marking the team’s best finish since 2018-19. The Marlies, meanwhile, sweep the weekend against Rochester to finish fourth in the division with a 37-33-4-8 record.
Lukas Rousek snapped a 37-game goal-less drought with his seventh goal of the season less than five minutes into the first period before Konsta Helenius added his 14th of the year later in the frame. Jack Rathbone and Anton Wahlberg notched the assists on Rousek’s goal and Tyler Kopff recorded his first professional point with the lone assist on Helenius’s tally.
Felix Sandström earned the start in the season finale for Rochester, stopping 29 of the 32 shots he faced, including all 13 in the opening period.
Newcomer Luke Haymes, who joined the Marlies on an Amateur Tryout after wrapping up his junior season at Dartmouth College, factored in on all three Toronto goals, including scoring the game-tying goal in the closing minutes of the second period to force overtime. He also earned an assist on the Marlies’ other two goals, capping the night with the primary helper on Zach Solow’s overtime game-winner.
Artur Akhtyamov made 24 saves to earn the win, snapping a personal four-game skid in the process.
Early in the first period, Rousek absorbed a hit along the left wing boards near center ice while playing the puck into the offensive zone. Later in the shift, the Czechia native provided Rathbone a pass at the right point before darting towards the crease and finishing off the blueliner’s shot for his seventh goal of the season.
Holding a one-goal lead, Kopff forced a turnover near center ice then carried the puck across the blueline. As the Brown University product reached the far circle, he dropped it back for Helenius to thread through the pads of Akhtyamov, doubling Rochester’s lead midway through the frame.
Along with a two-goal lead, the Amerks outshot the Marlies by a commanding 13-2 advantage.
The Marlies turned the tables on the Amerks in the second, scoring twice in less than eight minutes to turn a two-goal deficit into a 2-2 tie.
Matthew Barbolini trimmed the deficit in half with his fourth of the season at the 8:49 mark, converting off a nifty three-way passing play before teaming up with Ryan Kirwan to set-up Haymes’s second goal in eight games as the North Division rivals entered the break all even at 2-2.
Neither team could break the stalemate in the final 20 minutes of regulation despite a combined 21 shots and several Grade-A scoring chances for each side, so overtime was needed to determine a winner.
Toronto controlled much of the pace of play during the extra session, recording three shots on goal while keeping Rochester to none. The Marlies won it on their third shot of the overtime period when Solow took a one-touch, cross-ice feed from Haymes and snapped a shot over a sprawling Sandstrom from the left circle to seal the 3-2 win for the Marlies.
