AMERKS SWEEP WEEKEND WITH 5-2 WIN OVER MONSTERS
Kulich, Murray each reach the 20-goal mark, Subban earns career-high 17th win of the season
Mar 26, 2023Four different skaters posted multi-points and Malcolm Subban made 19 saves to help the Rochester Americans (31-25-4-3) put the finishing touches on another perfect weekend as they defeated the Cleveland Monsters (28-26-5-2) 5-2 on Sunday afternoon at The Blue Cross Arena.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POST-GAME REPORT
With the win, the Amerks have earned a point in 12 of their last 17 games, going 8-5-2-2 over that span. Rochester, who shows a 3-0-1-1 record in its previous five home contests, recorded three straight victories in three days against three different teams.
Along with Jiri Kulich (2+0) reaching the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his pro career, Brett Murray (1+1) also reached the mark late in the third period. Isak Rosen (1+1) and Ethan Prow (0+2) both notched a multi-point effort in the win while Sean Malone scored his 13th of the season. Lukas Rousek, who returned from his first-career NHL recall earlier in the morning, Linus Weissbach, Lawrence Pilut, Michael Mersch, Matt Bartkowski and Filip Cederqvist all registered an assist to cap the scoring.
Subban (17-13-3) established a new career-high as he earned his 17th win of the season by making 19 saves. Over his last five appearances, the Toronto, Ontario native shows a 3-0-2 record along with a shutout.
Joona Luoto scored his 14th marker of the season before Corson Ceulemans netted his professional for Cleveland, which saw its three-game win streak halted.
Daniil Tarasov (5-6-0) and Jet Greaves (15-12-5) split the goaltending duties. Tarasov, who drew the nod in the crease, made 16 saves in 25 minutes before Greaves finished the contest turning aside nine of the 11 shots he faced.
Midway through the third period with the score 3-2 in favor of Rochester, the two clubs were called for a penalty one minute apart.
The Amerks gained the power-play as their initial infraction expired, and much like in the first period, used the extra skater to their advantage.
Rochester kept the puck inside the blueline as Weissbach was positioned at the far side of the ice. The Swedish forward slid a pass to Prow at the opposite point before Rosen snapped a shot from the left circle.
Just prior to Rosen’s shot reaching the crease, it glanced off Malone to give the Amerks a two-goal cushion with nearly eight minutes to play in regulation.
The Monsters pulled Greaves for the final three minutes in an effort to stage a comeback, however, Murray erased any hopes as he sealed the 5-2 win with his 20th of the season.
In the first period, following a wide shot to the left of Tarasov, it appeared Cleveland was about to break the puck out of the zone before Rousek stripped a Monsters skater and sent it down the wall to Weissbach. The forward, who scored the shootout-clinching goal in Saturday’s shootout over Utica, cut to the center of the ice and laid a pass for Bartkowski atop the left point. With his head up, the veteran blueliner fired a shot-pass in-front of the net for Kulich to redirect over the netminder’s shoulder to give Rochester a 1-0 lead at the 7:41 mark.
In the second frame, Rochester drew its first power-play of the tilt as Cleveland was called for a trip 4:51 into the period.
On the infraction, the Amerks needed only 30 seconds to utilize the man-advantage as Kulich blasted a one-time feed from Rousek and Murray for his second of the night and team-leading 21st of the season.
After Tarasov removed himself from the contest with an apparent injury, Rochester pushed its lead to three as Rosen wired a shot from the right circle with 12:28 left in the period.
Prior to the completion of the middle period, Cleveland cut into the deficit on Luoto’s 14th of the season from Alex Whelan and Josh Dunne at the 17:31 mark.
The Monsters rode the momentum into the final 20 minutes of play and made it a one-goal game as Ceulemans scored 4:35 into the frame from Cole and Owen Sillinger.
Rochester did not let Cleveland get any closer, though, as Malone and Murray both scored to put the finishing touches on the weekend sweep.
The Amerks continue their push to the playoffs on Wednesday, March 29 when they close out the final full month of the season in a rematch with the Monsters at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 7:05 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 and Brett Murray becoming the first players this season to reach the 20-goal mark, the Amerks have now had at least one player from all but two seasons (excluding the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons) in the 67-year history of the franchise score 20 or more goals dating back to Bronco Horvath’s team-leading 37 tallies during the Amerks’ inaugural 1956-57 campaign ... Kulich, the youngest regular player in the league, is only the fourth player in league history to score more than 20 goals during his 18-year-old season (turning 19 after Jan. 1) and first since Robert Dome of Syracuse recorded 21 in 1997-98 ... He also becomes just the second Amerks player in franchise history to reach the mark as an 18-year-old since Jozef Cierny scored 27 during his only season in Rochester in 1992-93.
Goal Scorers
CLE: J. Luoto (14), C. Ceulemans (1)
ROC: J. Kulich (20, 21), I. Rosen (11), S. Malone (13), B. Murray (20)
Goaltenders
CLE: D. Tarasov – 16/18 (ND) | J. Greaves – 9/11 (L)
ROC: M. Subban – 19/21 (W)
Shots
CLE: 21
ROC: 30
Special Teams
CLE: PP (0/3) | PK (1/3)
ROC: PP (2/3) | PK (3/3)
Three Stars
1. ROC – J. Kulich
2. ROC – I. Rosen
3. ROC – M. Subban