Matthew Villalta stopped 35 of 36 shots in his Rochester Americans debut, helping the Amerks open their 71st American Hockey League season with a 3-1 victory over the defending Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies on Friday night at Blue Cross Arena.
Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Jake Richard and Conor Sheary scored for Rochester, which carried a shutout into the final two minutes despite being outshot 36-20. Richard scored in his professional debut, while Villalta protected a lead that the Amerks established with two second-period goals.
The result gave Rochester its second consecutive season-opening victory over Toronto. It also extended the Amerks’ home winning streak against the Marlies to four games and gave Rochester five wins in the teams’ past
six regular-season meetings dating to the 2024-25 season.
Rochester turns six power plays into second-period momentum
After a scoreless opening period, Fiddler-Schultz converted Rochester’s third power-play opportunity at 10:05 of the second. Trevor Kuntar and Carson Meyer earned the assists on the first goal of the season.
Richard doubled the lead at 18:51, scoring at even strength off assists from Gavin McCarthy and Thomas Bordeleau. Rochester outshot Toronto 14-3 in the period after managing only three shots in the first.
The Amerks had six power-play opportunities and converted one. Toronto went 1-for-8, with Rochester killing Toronto’s first seven advantages before Henrik Rybinski broke through late in the third.
Villalta holds firm during Toronto’s third-period push
Sheary stretched Rochester’s advantage to 3-0 at 13:06 of the third period, finishing a setup from Matthew Peca. Sheary’s goal came during a period in which the Amerks put only three shots on Toronto goaltender Samuel Hlavaj.
The Marlies generated 20 shots in the period, but Villalta stopped 19. Rybinski ended the shutout with a power-play goal at 18:09, assisted by Luke Haymes and Vinni Lettieri.
Villalta then closed out the win as Rochester faced another delay-of-game penalty with 34 seconds remaining. Hlavaj made 17 saves on 20 shots for Toronto.
Villalta was named the game’s first star, followed by Fiddler-Schultz and Richard. The announced crowd was 6,035.
The victory put Rochester at 1-0-0-0 and Toronto at 0-1-0-0 in the opening game of the AHL’s 91st season. The league’s 32 teams will each play 72 regular-season games, with Rochester competing in the eight-team North Division of the Eastern Conference.
Rochester plays its first road game at 3 p.m. Sunday against the Belleville Senators at CAA Arena. The Marlies return home Saturday to raise their 2026 Calder Cup championship banner before playing the Hamilton Hammers.
Information gathered from theahl.com.
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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Amerks open season with win over defending Calder Cup champs
