AMERKS COME UP SHORT IN SHOOTOUT FOR SECOND STRAIGHT NIGHT
Rochester extends point streak to six games in 4-3 shootout loss to Crunch
Mar 1, 2025The Rochester Americans were unable to hold on to 2-0 and 3-2 leads as a late rally from the Syracuse Crunch led to another shootout where the Amerks fell on the wrong end of a 4-3 final Saturday night at Upstate Medical University Arena.
Despite coming up short in the shootout for the second straight night, the Amerks have points in six straight games (4-0-0-2) and continue to lead the AHL with 74 points and a 34-14-3-3 record.
Syracuse has won four of the nine meeting against Rochester this season, with three games being decided past regulation. The Crunch jump back into a playoff spot in the North Division with a 23-18-7-4 record and 57 points.
Rookie forwards Anton Wahlberg and Noah Östlund scored in the first period before Jagger Joshua netted his first as an Amerk late in the third. Devon Levi made 33 saves through 65 minutes, then an additional two stops in the shootout.
Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Graham Slaggert, Zachary Metsa, Josh Dunne, Vsevolod Komarov, and Konsta Helenius all tallied assists against the Crunch.
FIRST PERIOD
After surrendering the first six shots of the game, the Amerks began to pick up the pace midway through the period and Wahlberg capitalized on a great feed at the net front.
In the defensive zone, Komarov forced a puck through the middle of the ice, intending to hit the stick of Slaggert. Instead, the puck went through him and a Crunch defenseman, but the blueliner lost his stick and while retrieving it, the puck ricocheted off the end boards, where Slaggert chased to pick it up. From there, Slaggert saw Wahlberg crashing the net, sliding the puck toward him for the tap-in goal to beat Crunch goaltender Matt Tomkins for Wahlberg’s ninth goal of the season.
After a four-on-four sequence expired, the Amerks immediately pounced on a power-play opportunity that was generated in transition. Helenius spun a puck to Fiddler-Schultz on the left wing. Fiddler-Schultz played it to the middle of the ice for Östlund, who had a give-and-go with Helenius before getting the puck back at a yawning net to score his 10th goal of the season and double Rochester’s lead.
Levi made a sensational save on an odd-man opportunity, where Syracuse’s Conor Geekie fed the puck to Nico Huuuhtanen point-blank to the doorstep of the crease on the left side. Levi went to the splits, flashing the blocker to keep the Crunch off the scoreboard through 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
The Crunch outshot Rochester by a 13-6 margin in the first. That advantage only swelled in the middle period, as Syracuse took 14 of the game’s 17 second-period shots.
Levi continued to dazzle, but was solved on a power-play goal from Jack Finley with under four minutes to play in the period, making it a 2-1 game. Finley’s goal came on the doorstep to Levi’s right. The Crunch forward was intending to pass the puck across the crease, but it instead hit a defender in front and rolled underneath Levi to cut the Syracuse deficit in half.
THIRD PERIOD
It appeared the Crunch had evened the contest over two minutes into the period as Derrick Pouliot slammed a shot to the back of the net with traffic impeding Levi, however, the call on the ice was reversed as veteran forward Jujhar Khaira ran into the Amerks netminder, rendering Levi unable to play his position and, as a result, bringing the goal back on account of interference.
Syracuse would find the 2-2 answer almost 12 minutes into the third when defenseman Steven Santini tracked a puck handed to him atop the zone, then wristed a shot from the middle of the blueline by several bodies, including Levi’s, to tie the game.
The 2-2 tie lasted 2:12 as Joshua made his presence felt. After carrying the puck into the zone for an initial shot on goal, Joshua planted himself in front of Tomkins as his teammates began to cycle. Metsa stepped in for a shot from the left side of the ice that Joshua tipped through for his first goal as an Amerk and first of the season after serving as a healthy scratch the night prior.
Joshua’s goal put Rochester up 3-2 with 5:56 to play, but with under three minutes remaining in regulation and the goaltender pulled, Syracuse again roared back. Max Crozier’s point shot from the left was tipped through the five-hole of Levi by Dylan Duke, equaling the game at 3-3 and forcing overtime.
OVERTIME
Three-on-three was played like a chess match with neither side getting a lot of opportunities. Rochester’s one shot came when Isak Rosén fired a wrist shot from inside the right circle that Tomkins fought off with a kick save.
SHOOTOUT
In the opening round, both sides found the back of the net. Maxim Groshev went forehand- backhand over the blocker of Levi, so Östlund responded by going backhand-forehand over the glove of Tomkins.
The game reached the fourth round, where Geekie stickhandled his way through Levi to put the Crunch up. Rosén came up with a chance to tie it, but was turned away in-tight with a left-leg save from Tomkins to end the contest.
UP NEXT
The Amerks continue their four-game road swing next weekend in Laval with a pair of pivotal North Division games against the Rocket on Friday, March 7 and then again on Saturday march 8. The games will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Friday night, as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
Goal Scorers
SYR: J. Finley (8-PPG), S. Santini (4), D. Duke (16), C. Geekie (SO GWG)
ROC: A. Wahlberg (9), N. Östlund (10-PPG), J. Joshua (1)
Goaltenders
SYR: M. Tomkins – 14/17 (W)
ROC: D. Levi – 33/36 (SOL)
Shots
SYR: 37
ROC: 17
Special Teams
SYR: PP (1/7) | PK (4/5)
ROC: PP (1/5) | PK (6/7)
Three Stars:
1. SYR – C. Geekie
2. SYR – D. Duke
3. SYR - M. Tomkins