Amerks comeback bid falls short
- Aiden Locke
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
By: Aiden Locke
ROCHESTER, NY — The Rochester Americans had a tough challenge in front of them on Wednesday night. Bitter North Divison rivals clashed as the Syracuse Crunch came to town. The short handed Amerks struggled in the second period in route to a 5-3 loss to Syracuse.
Rochester found themselves short handed in this matchup due to numerous lineup regulars in forwards Isak Rosén, Josh Dunne and Noah Ostlund being recalled by the Sabres due to injuries up and down the organization. Rochester's own injury problems also contributed to the shorthanded set of forwards currently with the team.
This North Division matchup started fast and furious. Both Rochester and Syracuse generated numerous chances in a period with three goals and 31 combined shots on goal. The Crunch capitalized on two goals while Rochester only scored once on 20 first period shots.
"I mean you look at the first period we probably should have had three or four... the margin for error is really small," Amerks head coach Michael Leone said.
The two Crunch goals in the first period came from forward Wojciech Stachowiak. The first came less than a minute into the game. The second came at the 14:18 mark. Stachowiak fired both from the right circle with heavy Crunch traffic in front of the net which impeded Rochester goalie Devon Levi enough for both to find pay dirt. Stachowiak’s second was tailed on the power play.
Rochester’s early goal was supplied by forward Jake Leschyshyn. A neutral zone turnover by the Crunch provided the Amerks with a two-on-one initial rush that became a three-on-two. A drop pass by forward Viktor Neuchev gave Leschyshyn an open lane in the middle of the ice to fire through a clear path. Crunch goalie Ryan Fanti got a piece of the puck with it trickling past him to tie the game at one.
"I think tonight it was maybe a little inconsistent from our standard and what we want," Amerks captian and defenseman Zach Metsa said. "You hate giving up a goal in the first minute, maybe came out a little flat but we responded well but really from there it's an uphill battle."
Fanti entered the contest with a 3-0-0-0 record including a 1.66 GAA and a .941 save percentage in three starts for the Crunch so far this season. Levi entered the contest with a 5-0-0-0 record including a 1.80 GAA and a .933 save percentage. Levi suffered his first loss on the season with Fanti's record on the year remaining perfect.
The second period had a major ice tilt in favor of Syracuse. The Crunch outshot Rochester 13 to five while scoring a pair of goals including a power play tally by forward Scott Sabourin. His goal was scored off of his skate after he fell down in the slot as Stachowiak threw a shot toward the net. The goal gave Stachowiak a three point night.
"At this point we can't really be making excuses as to why we lose a game like that," Leschyshyn said. "Especially divisional games are super important."
The other Crunch goal came by way of a breakaway by forward Nick Abruzzese that was saved spectacularly by Devon Levi. However the rebound sat right on the edge of the crease where forward Dylan Duke flew in to put the puck away.
The Crunch went into the second intermission leading 4-1.Â
In the third period, Rochester came out with a spark of offense. The Amerks scored two quick goals within the first six minutes of the period. The first of which came from Leschyshyn who sat on the back door where the puck deflected up, bounced off his helmet and into the net.
"When you get down to ten forwards it's kind of a scramble so the guys did their best to try and stick with it," Leschyshyn said.
Amerks forward Red Savage left tonight's contest with an upper body injury and is expected to miss time. Rochester entered the game with 11 forwards in the lineup and seven defenseman.
Metsa scored the third and final goal of Rochester's night off a rush with the breakout started by Levi who was credited with a rare goaltender assist. His goal made the score 4-3 with over 13 minutes left to play, giving the Amerks some late hope.
"We had a lot of good moments that were the work ethic and guys just putting their head down and doing what they need to do," Metsa said.
Metsa finished the night with a goal along with a pair of assists for an impressive three point performance.
The final dagger for Syracuse was delivered with less than five minutes to play by Duke, who scored his second of the night after a neutral zone turnover by Rochester. Duke went top shelf on Levi and beat him clean on a break.
"You make 4-3 and the guys push and get momentum and then you know it's probably one Dev (Devon Levi) wants back in the fifth one," Leone said. "The guys fought really hard and I thought we played a pretty good game."
Rochester has a busy weekend ahead with two games scheduled. The first of which at home on Friday against the Wilks Barre/Scranton Penguins. Puck drop at Blue Cross Arena is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.