Amerks begin playoff run with a win
- Victor Menendez
- Apr 25
- 4 min read
By: Victor Menendez / Assistant Sports Director
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Rochester Americans won the first game of the North Division Semifinal series against the Syracuse Crunch by a score of 3-2 on Friday night. After going down 2-0 early in the second period, the Amerks rallied to score three unanswered goals to come out with the win.
"It's the group we've been all year," Amerks head coach Michael Leone said. "I didn't think that the two goals that they [Syracuse] scored were necessarily earned. A lot of character to come back. Going up against a team that allows the least amount of goals."
Rochester is no stranger to playing the Crunch in the playoffs. In last springs postseason, Syracuse beat the Amerks in the first round with a 5-2 win in a win-or-go-home game five. In 2023, it was the Amerks who sent the Crunch home, reverse sweeping them in the first round after Syracuse had taken the first two games of the series.
With this being the third consecutive postseason to see these two teams match up in the North Division Semifinals, a rivalry is brewing between the clubs.
"We play these guys a lot so there's no shortage of hostility between us so it's always nice when we can beat them," Amerks center Riley Fiddler-Schultz said. "But no matter who the team is on the other side it's always big to get a win in the playoffs."
Although no goals were scored in the first 16 minutes of action, Rochester applied pressure to Crunch goalie Brandon Halverson, putting 16 shots on goal in the timeframe.
With just 3:49 remaining in the period, Amerks defenseman Kale Clague took a holding penalty to give Syracuse a two-minute man-advantage. The Rochester penalty kill, which ranked third in the AHL in the regular season, allowed just one shot during the two minutes, keeping the game scoreless.
At the end of 20 minutes of play, the Amerks were outshooting Syracuse 16-10.
The scoreless tie was broken just 21 seconds into the second frame. Syracuse winger Conor Sheary skated across the middle of the Rochester zone and fired a wrist shot past Amerks goalie Devon Levi to put the Crunch up one.
Syracuse center Dylan Duke added on to the Crunch lead just over three minutes later as another shot got past Levi to put Rochester down two.
Amerks winger Brendan Warren brought some life back into Blue Cross Arena less than a minute later as he recovered a loose puck in front of the Crunch net and cashed in to cut the deficit in half.
Video credit: @AmerksHockey on X.
The home crowd stayed standing as Syracuse center Tristan Allard was called for a delay of game penalty shortly later, putting the Amerks on the power play.
Rochester couldn't get anything going for the first 90 seconds of the man-advantage. That was until Amerks center Konsta Helenius put a pass right on the stick of Fiddler-Schultz who buried a wrist shot to tie the game at two and send Blue Cross Arena into a frenzy.
Video credit: @AmerksHockey on X.
"It was just a different feeling, a different energy," Leone said. "Just the energy of the crowd, the group, especially at the end of the game, it was just unreal."
A few more offsetting penalties and physical play wrapped up the final 10 minutes of the second period. Both teams had been physical from the get-go, but the second period finally saw some repercussions for their actions as Nikita Novikov for Rochester and Anthony Angello for Syracuse were each sent to the box for roughing.
"They're a big heavy team, that's one of their strengths," Fiddler-Schultz said. "We knew coming in that we were going to need to match that and be ready for it. I think we did a really good job tonight at not just taking the hits that they were giving us, but making sure that we were the aggressors as well."
Both teams put up eight shots in the second frame, netting two goals apiece and taking us to the third period tied at two.
The Amerks had a prime opportunity to take the lead less than two minutes into the final period as Syracuse defenseman Roman Schmidt was sent to the box for tripping.
Rochester's power play couldn't get anything going during the man-advantage, not putting a single shot on goal. However, they were able to keep the puck in the Crunch's zone and just seconds after the penalty expired, Clague took a one-timer slap-shot from just inside the blue line that beat Halverson to give Rochester its first lead of the night.
Video credit: @AmerksHockey on X.
That lead would hold for the rest of the game as, despite Syracuse putting nine shots on goal in the period, Levi would stop each one of them, giving the Amerks the win.
Rochester improves to 1-0 in the series with the victory. The Amerks will host game two of this series as well on Sunday, April 27. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.
Kommentare