Amerks fall flat in loss to Monsters

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Rochester Americans returned to home ice on Wednesday night for a Thanksgiving eve showdown with the Cleveland Monsters. The Amerks struggled to create a strong offensive presence on the Monsters throughout the night which led to a 3-1 loss.

The Amerks spent the majority of the first period defending their own net as the Monsters outshot Rochester 8-3 through the first fourteen minutes of play. Rochester went almost thirteen minutes without a shot attempt from the forty-two second mark to the thirteen-thirty-seven mark of the first.

Rochester had a prime opportunity to open up the scoring in the last ten seconds of the first period, but a diving pad save by Monsters goalie Ivan Fedotov off a shot by Amerks defenseman Jagger Joshua kept the contest scoreless at the end of one. Cleveland outshot the Amerks 14-7, both teams had power-play opportunities, two for the Monsters and one for Rochester.

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The second period started much like the first with the Amerks being outshot by the Monsters 5-1 through the first five minutes. At the eight thirty-nine mark of the first, Cleveland opened up the scoring as center Tate Singleton netted his second goal of the season. Defenseman Corson Ceulemans put up his third assist of the season, while former Buffalo Sabres defenseman Will Butcher was credited with the secondary assist, which was his fourth of the campaign.

Cleveland recorded their second penalty of the night at thirteen forty-four in the second period as defenseman Stanislov Svozil was sent to the box for interference. This ultimately led to the game-tying goal as at fourteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds, as Amerks center Jake Leschyshyn scored his fifth goal of the season off a deflected shot by Isak Rosen who made his return to Rochester's lineup after a stint with the Sabres, to even up the game at one apiece.

Amerks center #7 Jake Leschyshyn celebrating with teammates #91 Konsta Helenius and #72 Carson Meyer after scoring Rochester's first goal. Photo credit: Micheline Veluvolu / Rochester Americans

Right before the end of the second at the eighteen twenty-eight mark, Cleveland pulled back ahead as Ceulemans added a second point to his night after rebounding the shot of Monsters center Luca Del Bel Belluz and putting the puck past Levi.

Through two Cleveland had a thirteen-shot advantage on Rochester leading 30-17, with sixteen of the Monsters shots coming in the second period.

Rochester through eleven minutes in the third period had recorded an 8-5 shot advantage on the Monsters, none of which, went past Fedotov.

The Monsters nearly created a two-goal advantage fifteen minutes into the third, but two shots by defenseman Dysin Mayo and left winger Justin Pearson both hit off of the crossbar and post respectively while Levi was out of his net keeping the score to within one.

Cleveland did end up putting the nail in the coffin on the Amerks as with nineteen seconds left in the third, left winger Mikael Pyythiä broke away from the Amerks defense to put the puck in the empty net, ultimately leading to a 3-1 final score.

Monsters left winger #82 Mikael Pyythiä skating alongside Amerks defenseman #4 Mason Geertsen Photo credit: Micheline Veluvolu / Rochester Americans

Rochester allowed a season high forty shots on goal, with thirty-nine of those occurring with Levi in the net who recorded a season high thirty-seven saves. Amerks head coach Michael Leone still has full confidence in his defense but acknowledges mistakes were made and need to be addressed.

"For us we're a good checking team when we play the game the right way, I mean if you only give up twenty-six shots per game then you're doing something right," he said. "We turned over the puck in bad areas of the ice and no matter who you're playing, you're going to give up chances. And that's everything we talked about before the game that we had to execute, and we didn't play how we needed to play."

Leone does not want this game to deter his squad from a big matchup this upcoming Friday against Syracuse.

"I think our group has built-in a lot of really good hockey that we've played, and it's just one of those games. But we definitely have to be ready for when Syracuse comes," he said.

Amerks defenseman Zac Jones who leads the team in points acknowledged the Amerks' defensive issues in the beginning of the periods tonight where Cleveland was most potent.

"We talk in between periods and stuff, and just for whatever reason we didn't execute tonight," he said. "We do pre-scouting, we do different meetings, stuff like that. The coaches do a good job of preparing us for every opponent. We're the players we got to execute."

Devon Levi even though he faced a season-high in shots is not concerned at all about the team's defense.

"That's what I'm there for, I mean if the boys need me that's why I'm there. I tried to be there for them tonight as best as I could, give the team a chance to win, that's my job regardless of if it's sixty shots or fifteen shots just try to keep them out of the net," he said.

Amerks goalie #27 Devon Levi defending shot attempt by Monsters right winger #88 Jordan Dumais. Photo credit: Micheline Veluvolu / Rochester Americans

This is the second year in a row where the Amerks have been defeated by the Monsters on the eve of Thanksgiving, which is ironically the last time Cleveland beat Rochester. Rochester had come into the night winning five straight against the Monsters dating back to last season where the Amerks were 7-1 against Cleveland. These two teams will meet again for a home and home series on December 27, in Rochester, and December 29, in Cleveland.

The Amerks (11-9-0-0) are back in action on Friday night as they host their thruway rival Syracuse Crunch, who are tied for first place in the north division with the Laval Rocket at 24 points, Rochester sits close behind with 22 points. Puck drop for Friday's game is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.