Saturday, January 21, 2012
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Rochester Lancers took a dramatic overtime victory against Eastern Division rivals the Syracuse Silver Knights as Lubo Kocic's power play goal 2 minutes, 10 seconds into overtime gave his side a 12-10 win in front of 3,162 at the Oncenter War Memorial on Saturday night.
The Lancers (7-9) had trailed 10-6 entering the fourth quarter, but cut the deficit to two through Kyle Manscuk 3:09 in. The with just over three minutes remaining Gray Renfrow scored his fifth goal of the season to tie the game 10-10, sending it to overtime. While the Silver Knights (6-10) pressed strongly to open the extra session, they saw Nelson Santana sent to the penalty box 47 seconds in and the Lancers capitalized as Kocic's second goal of the night gave his side victory.
In an intense, physical first half, both teams put on a display of defensive willpower, goalkeeping prowess, and high emotions. Syracuse's Andriy Budnyy scored the only goals of the first half, finding the back of the net once in each to give the Silver Knights a 4-0 lead going into halftime.
The Lancers scored early in the second half as Jeremy Ortiz converted on a power play to pull within two points, but Syracuse's leading scorer Jeff Hughes added the first of his two goals three minutes later on a Silver Knights power play to make it 6-2. Rochester then pulled even on back-to-back goals by Kocic and Doug Miller, but Budnyy then completed his hat trick and Hughes also scored inside the final minute of the quarter as the Silver Knights restored their four-point advantage.
The Lancers, who did not lead until they scored the game-winning goal in overtime, now hold a one-game lead over the Silver Knights for second place in the Eastern Division. The two teams meet once more in the regular season, on Feburary 12 at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena as they battle for a place in the playoffs.
The Silver Knights now hit the road for two games this week. They face off against Missouri on Wednesday night at 8:35 p.m. ET before they head to face Central Division leader Milwaukee on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET in a rematch of a tight contest earlier this month. The Silver Knights then return home to host the Norfolk SharX on Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m. ET.