AMERKS CLOSE OUT JANUARY WITH 4-1 WIN OVER CRUNCH
Rosen scores twice for the third straight game, Tullio nets his first as an Amerk in over Syracuse
Jan 31, 2025On the strength of his third consecutive two-goal game, Isak Rosén propelled the Rochester Americans (26-12-3-1) to a 4-1 victory over the Syracuse Crunch (18-15-5-4) Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POST-GAME REPORT
With the win, the Amerks improved to 39-11-5-0 when they score three or more goals against the Crunch dating back to the 2016-17 season. Additionally, the club improved to 5-0-0-1 over the last six home games and 4-2-0-0 through the first six games of the season series against Syracuse.
Rosén (2+0), who is now second in the AHL in goals (22) this season, recorded his 15th and 16th points (8+8) against Syracuse over his last 18 games since the start of 2023-24. Brett Murray (1+1) also notched two points, which included his league-leading 11th power-play goal of the slate. Ty Tullio (1+0) scored his first goal with Rochester while Riley Fiddler-Schultz (0+1), Zachary Metsa (0+1), and Noah Östlund (0+1) capped off the scoring with one point each.
Goaltender Devon Levi upped his record to a 14-4-2 mark through his 20 appearances with Rochester this season. The netminder, who has helped the Amerks to at least one standing point in 36 of his 46 games since making his debut in December of 2023, made 27 saves.
FIRST PERIOD
Moments after Murray dumped the puck into the Crunch zone and skated towards the top of goaltender Brandon Halverson’s crease, Rosén forced a turnover to the right of the net. The Swedish forward, who entered the game with back-to-back multi-goal performances, attempted to center it for Murray. As luck would have it, Rosén’s feed glanced off a Syracuse skater before going into the net for a quick 1-0 lead just 4:13 into the first period.
By scoring before the halfway point of the opening period, Rochester has scored the game’s first goal in each of the last three games. It was also the fourth time in the last five contests by the Amerks scored prior to the 10-minute mark.
Nearly five minutes after Rosén gave Rochester its first goal of the night, Tullio forced a turnover just outside the Amerks zone. After providing an outlet pass to Fiddler-Schultz, who absorbed a heavy hit earlier in his shift, the second-year forward pulled up as he skated into the offensive zone and returned the puck back to Tullio. As the winger controlled the pass in the left dot, he wired home his first of the season, doubling Rochester’s lead.
While holding a 2-0 lead nine minutes into the contest, the Amerks drew a tripping infraction to gain the contest’s first power-play.
The Amerks, who entered Friday converting on four of their last nine chances on the man-advantage, kept the puck in the offensive zone for the first minute of the power-play. Mason Jobst and Östlund traded passes before the latter gave it to Metsa atop the zone. The Quinnipiac University product patiently waited and snapped a shot towards the cage. As the puck was loose behind the netminder Murray tapped it the rest of the way for his 11th power-play goal of the season and 19th overall, prematurely ending Halverson’s night just 11 minutes into it.
SECOND PERIOD
Trailing 3-0 to start the period, Syracuse got on the scoreboard five minutes into the frame as Max Crozier and Dylan Duke exchanged a give-and-go pass after crossing into the offensive zone. After Crozier was skating to his right, he returned it to Duke to steer between Levi’s legs for his team-leading 12th of the slate.
The two teams traded several scoring chances for the remaining 15 minutes, but both Levi and Ryan Fanti, who replaced Halverson after Rochester’s third goal in the first period, made timely saves.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third period, Rochester was called for a tripping violation on two occasions and both times successfully cleared off the penalty. The second came while the Crunch also pulled Fanti for the final four minutes of regulation.
After the Amerks killed the penalty and the puck was in the Syracuse zone, Murray gathered a loose puck before he gave it to Rosén to conclude the scoring with 83 seconds remaining to secure the 4-1 win.
STARS AND STRIPES
Isak Rosén, who has scored two goals in each of his last three games and four over his last six outings dating back to Jan. 18, has logged eight points (6+2) over that same span … He is the first Amerk this season to have three straight two-goal games after Brett Murray had a pair versus Belleville in December … Murray, who appeared in his 300th game as an Amerk on Wednesday, was credited with his 100th assist with the club … Zachary Metsa now is tied for the league-lead with 28 assists.
UP NEXT
The Amerks look for the weekend sweep as the home-and-home series shifts to downtown Syracuse’s Upstate Medical University Arena on Saturday, Feb. 1 for a rematch with the Crunch. The 5:00 p.m. matchup will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
Goal Scorers
SYR: D. Duke (12)
ROC: I. Rosén (21, 22), T. Tullio (1 – GWG), B. Murray (19)
Goaltenders
SYR: B. Halverson – 2/5 (L) | R. Fanti – 17/17 (ND)
ROC: D. Levi – 28/27 (W)
Shots
SYR: 28
ROC: 23
Special Teams
SYR: PP (0/3) | PK (1/2)
ROC: PP (1/2) | PK (3/3)
Three Stars:
1. ROC - I. Rosén
2. ROC - D. Levi
3. ROC - T. Tullio