AMERKS, SUBBAN BLANK CRUNCH TO EVEN SERIES
Subban stops all 31 shots, Kulich scores for second straight game as Rochester forces decisive Game 5
Apr 30, 2023Goaltender Malcolm Subban earned his first career AHL postseason shutout as the Rochester Americans (2-2) blanked the Syracuse Crunch (2-2) by a 4-0 score in Game 4 of the North Division Semifinals Sunday afternoon at The Blue Cross Arena.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POST-GAME REPORT
With the win, Rochester evened the best-of-five series 2-2 and staved off elimination for the second straight game to force a decisive winner-take-all Game 5 on Saturday, May 6 in Syracuse.
After scoring a goal in his playoff debut Friday night, Jiri Kulich opened the scoring Sunday while also recording an assist for a two-point effort for Rochester. Ethan Prow notched two assists while Lawrence Pilut, Mason Jobst and Tyson Kozak added third-period goals. Lukas Rousek, Linus Weissbach and Michael Mersch each registered an assist.
Subban (2-2) stopped all 31 shots he faced to extend the series for the Amerks while recording Rochester’s first postseason shutout since Ryan Miller blanked Hamilton in Game 1 of the opening round series on May 5, 2004.
Alex Barre-Boulet and Declan Carlile each registered four shots for Syracuse while goaltender Max Lagace made 22 saves in the defeat.
Less than three minutes into the contest, a Crunch skater attempted to clear the puck out of the defensive own zone, however, it went into the stands and gave Rochester a power-play.
During the man-advantage, the Amerks were unable to generate much offensively for the first 60 seconds. After gathering Prow’s feed to the left of net, Rousek tried to skate in-between the dots but lost control of the puck, which trickled to the far circle for a waiting Kulich to boom past Lagace at the 3:38 mark.
The game remained a one-score game until three minutes into the final period of regulation.
Early in the final frame, Kulich entered the Crunch zone with the puck. Weissbach followed the rookie forward and tracked the puck to the wall. Pilut retrieved a pass at the left point and walked the blueline before roofing a shot that caromed off the stick of a Syracuse defender for his first goal of the postseason.
Carrying a 2-0 lead with under five minutes to play, Jobst won a face-off to right of the Crunch netminder. Mersch collected the puck and centered it for Jobst to rifle over Lagace’s shoulder for his second in as many games.
Facing a three-goal deficit, Lagace was pulled for an extra skater in the hopes of spoiling Subban’s shutout bid, but Kozak sealed the 4-0 victory.
The best-of-five series shifts back to Syracuse for a decisive Game 5 on Saturday, May 6 at Upstate Medical University Arena. Puck drop is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
Storyline Stripes:
With Jiri Kulich's first-period goal, the Amerks have gone 4-for-10 on the power-play over the last two games of the series, which includes scoring three times on four chances in Game 3 … The Amerks have outscored Syracuse 8-4 in the third period throughout the series … With his third-period goal, Lawrence Pilut has three points (1+2) in four playoff contests, tying him for 11th amongst all AHL defensemen while Kulich is tied for fifth in postseason scoring amongst all AHL rookies.
Goal Scorers
SYR: None
ROC: J. Kulich (2), L. Pilut (1), M. Jobst (2), T. Kozak (1)
Goaltenders
SYR: M. Lagace – 22/25 (L)
ROC: M. Subban – 31/31 (W)
Shots
SYR: 31
ROC: 26
Special Teams
SYR: PP (0/1) | PK (5/6)
ROC: PP (1/6) | PK (1/1)
Three Stars
1. ROC - M. Subban
2. ROC - J. Kulich
3. ROC - E. Prow