AMERKS SNAP SKID WITH OVERTIME WIN OVER CRUNCH
Feb 25, 2022Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen turned in a career-high 54 save effort and Ethan Prow scored with 1:56 remaining in overtime to propel the Rochester Americans (25-17-3-2) to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the intrastate rival Syracuse Crunch (20-19-5-1) Friday night at Upstate Medical University Arena.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | FINAL |
| Rochester | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -- | 2 |
| Syracuse | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 1 |
The overtime win snaps Rochester’s three-game losing skid and gives the Amerks their first victory over the Crunch since Nov. 27 after going 0-4-1-0 in the previous five matchups. Additionally, Rochester, despite being outshot 55-23, has earned at least one point in five of their last eight games and 23 of the last 36 overall dating back to Nov. 19.
Forward JJ Peterka tallied a pair of helpers to register his seventh multi-point game over his last 19 outings while also producing 22 points (9+13) since the turn of the New Year. With his two-point performance, the Amerks improved to a near-perfect 10-2-0-0 mark this season when rookie winger logs a multi-point game, including 5-0-0-0 on home ice.
Brett Murray continued his career-year as he scored his 12th goal of the season from Dominic Franco and Peterka in the second period before Prow sealed the win with his seventh marker in the overtime period.
Luukkonen evened his record on the campaign to 8-8-1 as he stopped 54 of the 55 shots he faced, which included 24 in the second period alone and 40 over the final 43 minutes of the contest. In 11 of his 17 appearances this season, he has allowed three or few goals-against while averaging nearly 27 saves per game.
WATCH: GAME HIGHLIGHTS
In his season debut for the Crunch, Gemel Smith, who was reclaimed by the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL) off waivers earlier this week, scored the lone Syracuse goal in the first period while rookie netminder Hugo Alnefelt (8-4-3) turned aside 21-of-23 shots.
Trailing 1-0 with under two minutes left in the second period and being outshot 34-14 through the first 38 minutes, Rochester evened the score at one at the 18:21 mark after successfully killing off its initial penalty of the contest.
The Amerks used the momentum from the shorthanded unit on the ensuing shift as Peterka tracked down a puck near the penalty boxes before tucking it around a Syracuse skater and giving himself a breakaway. Peterka sprinted into the offensive zone towards Alnefelt but was stonewalled by the netminder.
After seeing his winger denied, Franco followed the play and tracked the puck behind the cage before he centered a pass to Murray, who drove down the center of the ice. While Alnefelt appeared to lose sight of the puck after stopping Peterka and looking to his right, Murray fired a shot into the open portion of the net to knot the contest before the break.
MURRAY SCORES HIS 12TH OF THE SEASON
In the final period, Rochester was not able to generate much offensively while Luukkonen stopped all 15 shots he faced and overtime was required to determine a winner.
Early in the extra frame, Peterka nearly gave Rochester the win as he attempted a wrap-around goal, but the puck rolled off his stick and Syracuse collected the rebound before it could be stuffed across the goal-line.
Moments later, Peterka banked a pass off the end boards to Prow behind the Amerks net. As Prow shrugged off a Crunch skater in the Rochester zone, he raced into the offensive zone before snapping a shot over the left shoulder of Alnefelt from the left circle for his seventh of slate to give Rochester the 2-1 win.
With the goal, Prow who has 13 points (3+10) over his last 14 games dating back to Jan. 22, has moved into a fourth-place tie for the scoring lead amongst all AHL defensemen. The veteran blueliner has totaled 112 points (34+78) over his last 160 AHL contests dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.
PROW DELIVERS THE GAME-WINNER IN OVERTIME
Syracuse opened the scoring at the 15:34 mark of the first period as Smith banged in a loose rebound from Cole Koepke and Alex Barré-Boulet.
Rochester faced a one-goal deficit after the first period but countered back with a pair of tallies to complete the come-from-behind overtime-win.
The Amerks continue their three-in-three weekend on Saturday, Feb. 26 when they host the Toronto Marlies in the front-end of a home-and-home series at The Blue Cross Arena. The afternoon matinee gets underway at 2:35 p.m. and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV. The contest will also be televised locally on CW Rochester.
|
SYRACUSE |
GAMECENTER |
ROCHESTER |
|
G. Smith (1) |
GOAL-SCORERS |
B. Murray (12), E. Prow (7) |
|
GOALTENDERS |
|
|
0-2 |
POWER-PLAY |
0-1 |
|
1-1 |
PENALTY KILL |
2-2 |
|
55 |
SHOTS ON GOAL |
23 |