The Rochester Americans are now on the brink of elimination as they lost their second straight one goal decision against Toronto. In fact, Game Two played out pretty much like Game One did with a few variations. The Americans lost a 4-3 game with Jerry D’Amigo scoring two goals and the game winning goal late in the game.
In the first period, the Marlies got the scoring started early as Jerry D’Amigo got started right where he left off with a goal 1:44 into the game. The lone assist on the goal came from Philippe Dupuis, his only point of the night. Toronto would increase the lead to two goals on their lone power play goal of the night from Mike Zigomanis. The Americans looked like they were in serious trouble as the Marlies looked like the dominant team in the first period, but Rochester ended the period outshooting Toronto 10-6.
The second period saw the first major shift in the game as Nazem Kadri almost put Toronto up 3-0 as he had David Leggio down and out and put the puck off both posts and watched it tiptoe along the goal line but never fully cross it. The Americans took advantage of this several minutes later as Marcus Foligno scored his second goal of the series to work the Marlies lead down to one. Three minutes later, Phil Varone scored just seconds after the Americans were coming off the power play to tie the game up. That tie would not last long though as Nicolas Deschamps gave Toronto a 3-2 lead with 1:38 left in the second period.
Rochester found their offensive legs a bit more in the second period, but Toronto had a bunch of quality scoring chances that looked like sure goals that were either saved by posts or never crossed the line. The Marlies came out of the period outshooting Rochester 11-9, bringing the shot totals to a 19-17 Rochester advantage through two periods.
TJ Brennan tied the game up for Rochester again three minutes into the third period from another awkward angle. Brennan has scored twice in this series with both goals coming from between the icing line and the top of the left faceoff circle. That would be the last goal the Americans would score though as Jerry D’Amigo scored the game winning goal with 1:50 left in the game to give Toronto another 4-3 victory.
The series shifts back to Rochester for the next two games with Game Three coming on Monday night. This season, Toronto went 4-0-0-1 in Rochester this season.