AMERKS YOUTH SPARK GAME 1 WIN OVER CRUNCH
Swedish trio of Wahlberg, Ostlund and Rosen all score in 3-2 win over Syracuse in playoff opener
Apr 26, 2024The Rochester Americans (1-0) jumped out to a two-goal lead before Isak Rosén capped a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Syracuse Crunch (0-1) in Game 1 of the North Division Semifinals Friday at The Blue Cross Arena. Rochester leads the best-of-five series 1-0 heading into Game 2 Sunday afternoon.
GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY POSTGAME REPORT
The Amerks, who finished the regular season with a 13-2-1-1 record over its final 17 games, have won four straight postseason contests against Syracuse dating back to last year’s second-round series.
Along with Rosén, rookies Anton Wahlberg and Noah Östlund, who were two of the seven rookies to dress for the Amerks, both found the back of the net in their AHL postseason debuts. Östlund’s goal was his first goal in North America. Lukas Rousek, Viktor Neuchev, Zach Metsa, and Nikita Novikov totaled one assist each in the win.
Devon Levi (1-0) made 35 saves in his postseason debut to become the first rookie goaltender to win a playoff game for Rochester since Andrey Makarov did so on May 2, 2014. Levi was also the first netminder to earn the win in his debut since Ryan Miller on April 20, 2005.
Dylan Duke, who made his AHL debut, and Jordy Bellerive both scored in the second and third periods, respectively, for the Crunch. Brandon Halverson (1-0) manned the pipes for the first time in his AHL postseason career, and despite stopping 23 of the 26 shots, suffered the defeat.
Nearly 90 seconds after the Crunch evened the game at 2-2 in the final period, the Amerks reclaimed their cushion as Rosén redirected Metsa’s shot from the right point. While Novikov was awarded the secondary assist, Östlund broke the puck free from behind the net and moved it up the wall to his fellow rookie teammate.
Each team had chances for the final 9:39 of regulation, but Levi denied the Crunch’s best scoring opportunity in the dying seconds of the contest while Halverson was pulled for the extra attacker to preserve the 3-2 win.
On the second shift of the contest, Wahlberg dumped the puck inside the Crunch zone from the neutral zone. After Syracuse turned it over at center ice, Prow provided a quick pass back to Wahlberg at the blueline. Wahlberg, the youngest player of the series (18 years, 9 months, and 22 days), then streaked down the left wing, cut to the slot while eluding two Syracuse defensemen and slipped a backhanded shot past Halverson to give Rochester a 1-0 lead at the 18:59 mark.
Later in the period after successfully clearing off its first penalty of the night, Rochester drew a holding infraction to earn its first power-play with just over eight minutes left in the frame.
On the man-advantage, Prow kept the puck inside the Crunch zone before sliding it to his left for Neuchev. The rookie forward provided a quick pass to Rousek, who then set up a perfect one-timer for Östlund with 6:22 left in the opening frame.
While Rochester took the 2-0 lead into the intermission break, the Crunch cut the deficit in half as Duke tracked down a loose puck in the right corner of Levi. Syracuse’s rookie forward fired a sharp-angled shot that glanced up and overtop the Rochester netminder at the 13:21 mark.
The Crunch knotted the score with 12:01 left in the final period when Bellerive scooped up the puck in the center of the ice before roofing a shot from the left dot while on an odd-mad rush with Gage Goncalves.
Rochester remained unfazed, responding 30 seconds later as Rosén steered in the go-ahead goal, which provided to be the game-winner.
The Amerks will look to take a 2-0 lead in the series as the intrastate rivals meet for Game 2 of the best-of-five series on Sunday, April 28 at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 3:05 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
Stars and Stripes:
Rookies Anton Wahlberg, Noah Östlund, Viktor Neuchev, Nikita Novikov, Ryan Johnson, and Devon Levi all made their Calder Cup Playoff debuts tonight … First-year blueliner Zach Metsa, who appeared in 13 games during Rochester’s run to the Eastern Conference Finals last spring, has tallied three points (1+2) in his last five postseason contests … Isak Rosén scored his first playoff game since Game 3 of the North Division Finals against Toronto on May 17, 2023 ... Dating back to the regular season, Rosen has seven scored game-winning goals this season.
Goal Scorers
SYR: D. Duke (1), J. Bellerive (1)
ROC: A. Wahlberg (1), N. Östlund (1), I. Rosén (1)
Goaltenders
SYR: B. Halverson – 23/26 (L)
ROC: D. Levi – 35/37 (W)
Shots
SYR: 37
ROC: 26
Special Teams
SYR: PP (0/2) | PK (0/1)
ROC: PP (1/1) | PK (2/2)
Three Stars
1. ROC - I. Rosén
2. ROC - N. Östlund
3. ROC - D. Levi