AMERKS RALLY, TOP CRUNCH IN SHOOTOUT
Nov 30, 2024The Rochester Americans (10-6-3-0) erased a two-goal deficit before capping a 3-2 victory in the fourth round of the shootout to complete the weekend sweep over the Syracuse Crunch (8-7-1-3) Saturday at Upstate Medical University Arena.
With the win, Rochester has earned at least one point in 12 of its last 16 games dating back to Oct. 23 and closed out the month of November with back-to-back wins over the Crunch. Additionally, the Amerks, who entered the contest showing a 36-11-5-0 record when scoring three or more goals against the Crunch, have defeated Syracuse in each of their last four regular-season meetings dating back to last season.
Forward Isak Rosén scored his third goal of the weekend and team-leading seventh overall while Kale Clague extended his point streak to match a season-best three games as he netted his fourth. Clague has five points (2+3) over his last five outings while Rosén had four (2+2) in the weekend sweep over the Crunch.
Zachary Metsa, Lukas Rousek, Jack Rathbone, and Viktor Neuchev all recorded an assist in the win while Neuchev was the lone scorer in the skills competition.
In his fifth appearance with Rochester this season and second in as many nights, Devon Levi (3-1-1) stopped 13 of the 15 shots he faced while also stopping all four he saw in the shootout to earn his second straight win. The second-year netminder, who has held the opposition to three or fewer goals in all but six of his 31 appearances with the Amerks, only saw three shots in the third period and none in overtime as Rochester outshot Syracuse 47-15 in the contest.
FIRST PERIOD
Less than three minutes into the contest, Syracuse’s Tyson Feist sprung the play to the right of his netminder as he passed the puck to Milo Roelens. The latter collected the feed and banged it off the boards ahead to Niko Huuhtanen as he darted up the ice. As Huuhtanen reached the top of the right dot, he uncorked a blast past the glove of Levi for his eighth of the campaign just 2:43 into the contest.
After the goal, the two clubs combined for 12 penalty minutes, and despite Rochester outshooting the Crunch 12-6 in the stanza, they trailed by a one-score game.
SECOND PERIOD
The middle stanza began nearly the same way as the first with Syracuse scoring less than three minutes in to double its lead.
The Crunch narrowly converted on a 3-on-2 rush, but Jaydon Dureau just missed netting his second of the campaign from the right side. The White City, Saskatchewan, native controlled the rebound and rimmed it around the boards to Derrick Pouliot at the right point. The 2016 Stanley Cup Champion drifted to the center of the ice and fired a shot that clanged off the left post and landed directly for Jesse Ylönen to tuck under the crossbar at the 2:52 mark.
Rochester responded shortly after the tally as Jobst won a face-off to the left of Syracuse goaltender Matt Tomkins. As the puck sat in the dot, Neuchev pushed it back to the point for Metsa and the second-year blueliner snapped a shot from the top of the zone. With bodies in-front of the Crunch crease, Rosén redirected it for his third of the weekend and team-leading seventh of the season with 14:48 left in the frame.
The Amerks used the momentum and drew a double minor high-sticking infraction just 20 seconds after the tally.
While they were unable to capitalize with the man-advantage for the first half of the penalty, Rochester tied the contest seconds into the second minor. Rousek carried the puck into the offensive zone from the right-wing side before eventually giving it to Clague at the far side of the ice. Clague exchanged passes with Rathbone before blistering a shot for his fourth of the season.
The two clubs went into the final 20 minutes of regulation deadlocked at 2-2 despite Rochester holding a lead in shots, 31-12.
THIRD PERIOD
Neither team generated many scoring chances in the final frame even though they each took two penalties. The Amerks recorded 11 shots over the period while holding the Crunch to only three, all of which came in the final 60 seconds, but the game remained tied.
OVERTIME
As the two clubs felt each other out for much of extra period, Rochester, who outshot Syracuse 4-0, nearly got the win with 59 seconds left, however, Metsa’s shot rang off the crossbar.
SHOOTOUT
Syracuse elected to shoot first in the shootout, but it turned into a goaltending duel as Levi and Tomkins stopped seven of the eight shooters. In a winner-take-all-situation, Neuchev took the puck from right to left, and using some trickery, wired a shot past the blocker to cap the 3-2 victory.
STARS AND STRIPES
Through the first two games of season-series with the Crunch this season, Rochester has outshot Syracuse 62-35, which includes a 21-9 advantage in the opening period… Dating back to last season, eight of the last 14 games between the two clubs have been decided by one goal… Forward Isak Rosén has notched 16 points (5+11) in 25 career games versus Syracuse while goaltender Devon Levi has posted a 4-2-0 mark and a 2.37 goals-against-average in eight appearances.
UP NEXT
The Amerks kick off the final month of the calendar year on Wednesday, Dec. 4 as they welcome back the Utica Comets for 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: I. Rosén (7), K. Clague (4)
SYR: N. Huuhtanen (8), J. Ylönen (2)
Goaltenders
ROC: D. Levi – 13/15 (W)
SYR: M. Tomkins – 44/46 (SOL)
Shots
ROC: 47
SYR: 15
Special Teams
ROC: PP (1/7) | PK (5/5)
SYR: PP (0/5) | PK (6/7)
Three Stars:
1. ROC – V. Neuchev
2. SYR – M. Tomkins
3. ROC – D. Pouliot