AMERKS OPEN MARCH WITH 6-3 LOSS TO CRUNCH
Mar 2, 2022The Rochester Americans (26-20-3-2) fell into a three-goal deficit in the first period, and despite pulling within one in the third, were unable to complete the comeback as they dropped a 6-3 decision to the intrastate rival Syracuse Crunch (22-19-6-1) Wednesday at The Blue Cross Arena.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | SO | FINAL |
| Syracuse | 3 | 0 | 3 | -- | -- | 6 |
| Rochester | 1 | 0 | 2 | -- | -- | 3 |
POST-GAME REPORT GAME SUMMARY PHOTO GALLERY
Tonight’s meeting was the seventh between the North Division rivals since Jan. 5 and the ninth of 12 overall this season. The Amerks claimed the first two meetings, but the Crunch have responded with points in seven straight (6-0-1-0) while Rochester has earned at least one point in six of its last 11 games overall.
Forward Arttu Ruotsalainen (2+0), who has tallied 24 points on 10 goals and 14 assists over his last 26 games since the turn of the New Year, scored a pair of goals for the second straight game to pace the Amerks while Mitch Eliot recorded his first multi-point effort with a pair of helpers. Defenseman Josh Teves, who played in his 100th AHL contest, scored his first-career shorthanded goal and Rochester’s first from a blueliner since Casey Fitzgerald did so on Mar. 3, 2021. JJ Peterka, Brett Murray, Ben Holmstrom and Brandon Davidson, who appeared in his 400th pro game, all turned in an assist. Jack Doremus made his AHL/Amerks debut after joining the team on a professional tryout earlier in the week.
WATCH: GAME HIGHLIGHTS
Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (9-9-1), who made his fourth appearance in the last five games and sixth of the previous eight, made 22 saves in 50 minutes before being replaced by Aaron Dell (7-3-1) at the 9:51 mark in the third period. Dell made five saves in 8:24 of relief.
Alex Barre-Boulet registered a game-high four points on two goals on two assists while Darren Raddysh (1+1), Cole Koepke (1+2), and Sean Day (0+2) all logged multi-point efforts in the win. Gabriel Dumont and Antoine Morand capped off the scoring for the Crunch, who improved to 5-3-1-0 this season versus the Amerks.
WATCH: SETH APPERT POST-GAME
Rookie netminder Hugo Alnefelt pushed his record to 9-4-4 on the slate as he turned aside 21 of the 24 shots he faced.
The Amerks faced a 3-1 deficit at the start of the final period and by the 8:00 mark of the frame, the Crunch had a 4-3 advantage.
WATCH: ARTTU RUOTSALAINEN POST-GAME
Just 90 seconds after Raddysh scored on a one-time feed from Anthony Richard and Koepke, Rochester trimmed the deficit in half on Ruotsalainen’s first of two on the night.
The Finnish forward skated through the neutral zone before sliding a pass to Linus Weissbach along the right face-off dot. Weissbach patiently waited for Murray streaking in front of the net only to have Eliot jam at the rebound. While Alnefelt stopped both Murray and Eliot, Ruotsalainen finished on the play 4:19 into the period.
WATCH: JOSH TEVES POST-GAME
Three minutes later, Ruotsalainen sniped in his second of the night after collecting an outlet feed from Eliot and Davidson.
The two-goal outing from Ruotsalainen is his second in as many games and seventh since the Jan. 1.
WATCH: MITCH ELIOT POST-GAME
Syracuse, clinging to 4-3 lead with 12:11 left in the third, countered back with a pair of tallies, including Barre-Boulet’s empty-netter in the final two minutes of play.
The Amerks fell behind 3-0 in the opening period before Teves booked his shorthanded tally from Peterka and Holmstrom at the 16:37 mark.
Rochester heads north of the border on Friday, March 4 for the first of back-to-back meetings with the Belleville Senators at CAA Arena. The North Division matchup gets underway at 7:00 p.m. and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV.
|
SYRACUSE |
GAMECENTER |
ROCHESTER |
D. Raddysh (3), A. Morand (3) |
GOAL-SCORERS |
J. Teves (3), A. Ruotsalainen (9, 10) |
|
GOALTENDERS |
U. Lukkonen – 22/27 (L) A. Dell – 5/5 (ND) |
|
1-5 |
POWER-PLAY |
0-3 |
|
3-3 |
PENALTY KILL |
4-5 |
|
33 |
SHOTS ON GOAL |
24 |