AMERKS OVERPOWER MONSTERS FOR SIXTH STRAIGHT WIN
Aube-Kubel nets a pair as Amerks score five unanswered goals in 5-1 rout of Cleveland
Feb 11, 2025The Rochester Americans (29-12-3-1) scored five straight unanswered goals, including a pair from forward Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, to earn their sixth straight win with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Monsters (24-14-4-4) Tuesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The win, Rochester’s league-leading 19th road victory of the season, improves the Amerks to 6-0-1-0 in their last seven trips to Ohio dating back to last season. Additionally, the Amerks, who have outscored Cleveland 27-15 through the first six games this season, close out the road portion of the season series with a perfect 4-0-0-0 record, a feat last achieved in 2019-20 when the Amerks claimed all three road contests against the Monsters.
Along with Aubé-Kubel (2+0) logging a multi-point effort, his first with Rochester, forwards Anton Wahlberg (0+2) and Brendan Warren (0+2) both notched two assists in the win. Brett Murray and Tyson Kozak each scored in the first and third periods, respectively, before Isak Rosén added Rochester’s fifth tally of the night.
Jack Rathbone (0+1), Noah Östlund (0+1) and former Monster Josh Dunne (0+1) completed the scoring.
Goaltender Devon Levi pushed his record to a 16-4-2 mark through his first 22 appearances with Rochester this season. The netminder, who has helped the Amerks to at least one standing point in 38 of his 48 games since making his debut in December of 2023, made 21 saves, which included just 13 in the final 40 minutes of regulation.
FIRST PERIOD
After serving a hooking penalty earlier in the first period, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Cleveland’s leading point-getter, carried the puck down the right wing into the Rochester zone. The two-time AHL All-Star made his way to the right of Levi before redirecting Roman Ahcan’s point shot to open the scoring with his 17th marker of the campaign.
With the period winding down and the Amerks facing a 1-0 deficit, the visitors flipped the score as they tacked on a pair in less than a minute to gain a 2-1 advantage they carried into the intermission break.
On the first of the two tallies, Warren, who returned to the lineup last Friday after being out since Jan. 17, carried the puck out of the zone before poking it beyond the reach of a Cleveland defenseman and in the path of Aubé-Kubel, who was streaking down the middle of the ice. The veteran forward caught it in stride just inside the Monsters blueline before sprinting towards the net and slipping a shot through Cleveland netminder Jet Greaves’ legs to even the score at the 16:39 mark.
Following the second goal of the season by Aubé-Kubel, Wahlberg dumped the puck down the wall as he was near the benches. As the puck made its way behind the Cleveland net, it took a fortuitous bounce for Östlund to shovel to the top of the crease where Murray jammed it home before a sprawling Greaves could recover in time.
SECOND PERIOD
Less than four minutes into the middle stanza, Cleveland saw an opportunity to even the score, however, the puck missed a stick at the back door and into the corner. Dunne gathered it before providing an outlet pass to Warren as he and Aubé-Kubel were again skating on an odd-man rush. Prior to Warren crossing the blueline, he sprung Aubé-Kubel on another breakaway opportunity for his second of the contest, giving Rochester a 3-1 lead.
After the goal 3:48 into the frame, both Levi and Greaves combined to turn aside the next 21 shots in the period to keep the game a two-goal game.
THIRD PERIOD
During the final period, Rochester was shorthanded for an abbreviated penalty near the seven-minute mark. While the Monsters attempted to bring the puck into the offensive zone, Rathbone intercepted the feed and promptly tapped the puck ahead to Wahlberg near Cleveland’s bench. The winger, who has five points (1+4) over his last three games, carried the puck down the right wing, then perfectly slid a backdoor feed under a diving defender for Kozak to flip into the net for his first career shorthanded tally.
Facing a three-goal deficit and with time running out, Cleveland summoned Greaves to the bench for an extra skater, however, Rosén capped the scoring on the night as he buried his team-leading 24th goal of the season moments afterwards.
STARS AND STRIPES
With tonight’s win, goaltender Devon Levi improved to 15-3-1 in his last 19 games with the Amerks while showing a 1.99 goals-against-average and .926 save percentage… Tyson Kozak became the fourth different Rochester player this season to score a shorthanded goal, joining Graham Slaggert (5), Anton Wahlberg (1), and Brendan Warren (1) … It marked the ninth straight season to have four or more players complete the feat dating back to the 2016-17 campaign … Tonight's two-goal game by Nicolas Aubé-Kubel is his first in the AHL since Mar. 22, 2019 ... Brendan Warren notched his first two-assist outing since Dec. 19, 2021 ... Tonight’s win was the team’s 19th on the road this season, the most in the AHL ... The franchise record for most road wins is 25, set in in 1998-99 and again in 2018-19, while the single-season mark for most road points is 55, set in 1998-99.
UP NEXT
The red-hot Amerks return home to begin a three-in-three weekend on Friday, Feb. 14 when they host the Syracuse Crunch in an intrastate showdown at The Blue Cross Arena. The 7:05 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
ROC: N. Aubé-Kubel (2, 3), B. Murray (21 – GWG), T. Kozak (7), I. Rosén (24)
CLE: T. Fix-Wolansky (17)
Goaltenders
ROC: D. Levi – 21/22 (W)
CLE: J. Greaves – 32/36 (L)
Shots
ROC: 37
CLE: 22
Special Teams
ROC: PP (0/5) | PK (4/4)
CLE: PP (0/4) | PK (5/5)
Three Stars:
1. ROC - N. Aubé-Kubel
2. ROC - B. Warren
3. ROC - A. Wahlberg