AMERKS SHUTOUT IN SYRACUSE
Georgiev finishes with 31 saves in his Amerks debut, return to AHL
Oct 18, 2025A night after erupting for seven unanswered goals, the Rochester Americans (2-2-0-0) struggled to generate any offensive firepower as they were unable to solve goaltender Brandon Halverson in a 3-0 loss to the Syracuse Crunch (3-0-0-0) Saturday at Upstate Medical University Arena.
The shutout defeat was the Amerks’ first against the Crunch since Feb. 15, 2019, a span of 75 regular season contests between the intrastate rivals. Furthermore, it was the first road regular season shutout loss against Syracuse since Jan. 13, 2018.
Forwards Noah Östlund (5) and Konsta Helenius (4) combined for nine shots on goal while Isak Rosén, who, along with Östlund, recorded at least one point in the first three games of the seasom, registered three.
Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev (0-1-0) made his Amerks debut after joining the club on a reassignment from the Buffalo Sabres last week. The veteran netminder, who made his first AHL start since Jan. 26, 2019 as a member of the Hartford Wolf Pack, became the first Bulgarian-born goaltender to appear in a game with the franchise.
Matteo Pietroniro logged his first-career two-goal outing to lead Syracuse to a 3-0-0-0 start while Jakob Pelletier, Nick Abruzzese, Dominic James, Tristan Allard, Dylan Duke, and Maxim Groshev all added an assist. Wojciech Stachowiak capped off the scoring by adding his first tally of the campaign.
Halverson (2-0-0) improved to 2-0-0 on the season while notching his first shutout of 2025-26 as he finished with 31 saves. The shutout was his sixth in the last two seasons and seventh in the AHL.
FIRST PERIOD
In a period filled with heavy hits, odd-man rushes, and 30 combined saves, it appeared the two teams were going into the intermission scoreless. However, the Crunch got on the board first with 2:36 left in the frame.
On the ensuing shift after Riley Fiddler-Schultz was denied while on a two-on-one rush with Noah Östund, the home squad brought the puck through the neutral zone. As Abruzzese carried it down the right wing, he sent a pass across the slot to Pelletier to the left of the Amerks net. As Pelletier appeared to carry the puck behind the cage, he quickly centered it for Pietroniro to steer in the yawning net at the 17:26 mark.
SECOND PERIOD
Early in the middle stanza, Allard retrieved the puck to the right of Georgiev and carried it behind the Amerks netminder before sliding a pass to the point for James. As the rookie patiently waited for a shot, he elected to hit Pietroniro on the other side of the zone. Pietroniro allowed Ethan Gauthier to gain position atop the crease before flinging it towards his teammate. Despite a redirection attempt, Pietroniro’s long-range shot would find the upper right corner, doubling Syracuse’s advantage 4:26 into the frame.
Shortly after the goal, the Amerks successfully cleared off two infractions before drawing a slashing penalty with just under five minutes left in the stanza.
Rochester had a few attempts on the man-advantage to chip into the deficit but was unable to do so before the second-period buzzer sounded with the visitors still trailing by a pair.
THIRD PERIOD
Facing the two-goal deficit, Rochester tested Halverson and the Crunch early and often in the final period while also limiting the home team to just one shot through the first 11 minutes of play.
Rochester’s best chance to spoil Halverson’s bid for a shutout came off the stick of Victor Neuchev at the 8:10 mark when the third-year forward gathered a rebound in-between the dots in the offensive zone but was stonewalled as he was all alone.
The Amerks earned another power-play later in the frame, but much like the one in the middle stanza, could not capitalize with the extra skater.
The Crunch sealed the 3-0 victory as Stachowiak batted in Duke’s feed with just over three minutes left in regulation.
UP NEXT
The Amerks look to split the home-and-home series with the Crunch as the action shifts back to Rochester on Wednesday, Oct. 22 for a rematch at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 7:05 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
Goal Scorers
ROC: None
SYR: M. Pietroniro (1 – GWG, 2), W. Stachowiak (1)
Goaltenders
ROC: A. Georgiev – 31/34 (L)
SYR: B. Halverson – 31/31 (W)
Shots
ROC: 31
SYR: 34
Special Teams
ROC: PP (0/2) | PK (3/3)
SYR: PP (0/3) | PK (2/2)
Three Stars:
1. SYR - B. Halverson
2. SYR - M. Pietroniro
3. SYR - D. Carlile