New Amerks shine in victory over Crunch
By: Mateo Ortiz
ROCHESTER, NY - The Rochester Americans opened the first half of their back-to-back at the Blue Cross Arena on Friday night against the Syracuse Crunch. In the first of 12 meetings between the two teams this season, the Amerks defeated the Crunch, highlighted by a four-goal second period, on their way to a 7-1 victory.
The Crunch, also on the first night of a back-to-back, started Olivier Rodrigue in net. The seventh-year veteran started one game for the Crunch this season, allowing five goals in a 6-1 loss to the Laval Rocket. For the Amerks, it was Matt Villalta between the pipes; in his two starts before Friday night, he recorded a .951 save percentage.
The game remained scoreless through the first half of the opening frame; Syracuse led the way in shots, putting eight on net compared to Rochester's four.
With 2:48 remaining in the first, the Amerks opened the scoring as forward Matteo Constantini put a deflected shot by Riley Fiddler-Schultz past Rodrigue to give Rochester a 1-0 lead. This was Constantini's first goal of the season. In the previous season, Constantini tallied nine points (3+6) in 33 games for Rochester. Fiddler-Schultz was credited with the primary assist, while defenseman Vsevolod Komarow was credited with the secondary assist.
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The Amerks would extend their lead to two, as RW Carson Meyer would score his first goal of the campaign. The 29-year-old tallied 31 points (14+17) for the Amerks last season, which was good enough for seventh place on the team. Constantini, who scored the opening goal just 1:57 prior, was credited with the primary assist, while LW Trevor Kuntar tallied his second assist of the season.
The first period ended with both teams recording nine shots on goal. At the end of the period, Crunch RW Ethan Gauthier was penalized for hooking.
That penalty would come to haunt Syracuse as just 28 seconds into the second period, Amerks RW Jason Polin scored his first goal as an Amerk, off of a cross-ice feed by LW Conor Sheary to give Rochester a 3-0 lead. Polin spent the previous four seasons in the Colorado Avalanche organization, splitting between the Avalanche and their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. Sheary recorded his first assist of the season, while forward Matthew Peca was credited with his second assist of the season on the Polin goal.
At the 5:54 mark of the middle frame, the Crunch would score their lone goal of the game, as LW Brendan Furry scored his first goal of the season off a deflected shot off the right pad of Villalta by defenseman Jarred Tinordi. This was the defenseman's first assist of the season, while forward Dylan Duke put together his second assist of the season.
Rochester would bring their lead back up to three as forward Red Savage put the puck over the left shoulder of Rodrigue for his first goal of the season with 11:15 remaining in the second period. Sheary recorded his second assist of the game on the Savage goal.
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After a Duke tripping penalty, Polin would score his second goal of the game, deflecting the puck past Rodrigue on the power play with 9:30 remaining in the middle stanza to give the Amerks a 5-1 lead. Peca recorded the primary assist for his second of the game; RW Jake Richard was credited with the secondary assist for his first of the season.
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Polin signed with the Buffalo Sabres as a free agent this offseason. He says that the adjustment period for him from Colorado has not been hard, and he's glad to be in Rochester.
"The guys have been great, obviously been trying to travel around and see the city itself, but I can see the passion that's here, and it's a lot of fun to show up to the rink every day," Polin said.
Polin and Amerks head coach Michael Leone share a connection, as they both played college hockey at Western Michigan University. Leone played for the Broncos from 2010 to 2013 while Polin played at WMU from 2019 to 2022. Leone knew that the 27-year-old had a lot of unreleased potential in him, being on a strong Eagles team the past couple of seasons.
"I didn't know the person, but I knew the player," Leone said. "When you look at his numbers, you're like, what's he going to do, but when you watch his game, he does everything right, and he helps you win."
Following a delay-of-game penalty on Furry, the Amerks would record their third power-play goal on the night, as LW Aidan McDonough netted his first goal of the season over the right shoulder of Rodrigue with 5:14 remaining in the second period. Sheary put together his third assist of the night, while Polin recorded his third point of the game, with an assist on the McDonough goal.
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Sheary is in his 13th season of professional hockey, and while he would like to be with the Sabres in the NHL, he understands where he is at this point in his career, and he's happy that he and the team are producing at the level they are to start the season.
"I'm in a position where I'm getting towards the back half of my career here, and I know my time is limited, but I'm just enjoying playing hockey at this point," Sheary said. "Being around some of the younger players, hopefully some of them get their opportunity to."
The action-packed second period would end with the score remaining at 6-1; Rochester took the lead in shots on goal, recording a 19-13 advantage. The Crunch would pull Rodrigue following the second period for backup Mads Søgaard.
The Amerks extended their lead to six with 4:57 left in the third, as Kuntar netted his second goal of the season. Constantini and Komorov both recorded their second assists of the night on the Kuntar goal. The score remained at 7-1 from there, giving Rochester their second win of the 2026/2027 season. Rochester led the way in shots by a 30-24 margin.
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Villalta stopped 23 of 24 shots from the Crunch on Friday night. Leone had high praise for a guy who has also had to make a major adjustment since becoming an Amerk, having only played exclusively in the Western Conference before this season.
He's bouncing off the wall, he's picking them up off the glass, it's almost like he's an extra player out there," Leone said. "He's just so calm, so poised; he's an unbelievable teammate, and we're just really fortunate to have him."
Friday night was the first time the Amerks scored seven goals in a game in almost a full calendar year, with the last occurrence happening on Oct. 17, 2025, in a 7-4 victory over the Utica Comets.
The Amerks (2-0-1) will play the second half of their back-to-back against the aforementioned Comets at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica. Faceoff is scheduled for 6 pm on Saturday.
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