ROCHESTER, NY – Second-year defenseman Chad Ruhwedel scored the game-winning goal on the power-play with just 1:14 left in overtime as the Rochester Americans dropped the Hamilton Bulldogs for a 4-3 win Saturday night at The Blue Cross Arena. The win ends a season-long six-game slide for the Amerks that included a loss Friday night to the Bulldogs at the FirstOntario Centre. 
With the victory, the Amerks improve their season record to 10-16-1-0 on the season.
Zac Dalpe, Luke Adam and Phil Varone were the other finishers for the Amerks, with Johan Larsson and Mikhail Grigorenko each adding multi-assist outings for Rochester. After receiving the night off on Friday, Andrey Makarov improved his personal record to 7-7-1 with a 31-save effort.
Drayson Bowman, Christian Thomas and Gabriel Dumont all scored for Hamilton, while Joey MacDonald stopped 38 of Rochester’s 42 shots in net.
The Amerks opened the scoring on a play that began on the stick of Grigorenko, who sent an outlet pass to Larsson down the left wing that released the forward in on a 2-on-1 with Varone. Larsson looked off the defender and slid a pass to Varone, who chipped the puck over the diving MacDonald to put Rochester ahead 1-0 6:29 into the first period.
Hamilton responded less than three minutes later after converting on an odd-man rush of its own, with T.J. Hensick delivering a pass to Bowman, who beat Makarov up high to tie the score. The tie was short-lived, however, when Thomas’ slap-shot on the power-play put the Bulldogs ahead 2-1.
The visitors added insurance 1:33 into the second period after Greg Pateryn’s slap-shot from the blueline was deflected in the slot by Dumont, bringing the score to 3-1.
With the Amerks now trailing by two goals, Matt Ellis held possession of the puck below the goal-line in Hamilton’s zone and managed to hold off a defender before spinning a no-look pass through the crease to Adam. Adam took a few stabs at the puck before finally jamming it past MacDonald to make it a one-score game.
Rochester tied the score 3-3 on the power-play with just under 14 minutes left in regulation when Jake McCabe’s shot from the point was redirected from a sharp angle by Dalpe for the veteran’s fifth goal of the season.
Neither team was able to secure the winning goal prior to the end of regulation, securing a point for both clubs and sending the game to sudden-death overtime. In the extra session, the Amerks controlled the play in the Bulldogs’ zone, forcing Hamilton to take a cross-checking penalty with 2:55 left. The Amerks threw a number of chances on MacDonald, but were thwarted by several blocked shots that nearly denied the man-advantage.
With 1:14 left in overtime, Rochester capitalized on a tic-tac-toe play that ended with Ruhwedel going upstairs on MacDonald to win the game for the Amerks.
