AMERKS TOP MONSTERS IN OVERTIME FOR THIRD STRAIGHT WIN
Helenius nets winner, Leinonen earns first win in 4-3 victory over Cleveland
Oct 25, 2025A night after recording a career-high four-point night, Konsta Helenius played the role of hero yet again, this time delivering the game-winning goal in the opening minute of overtime to lift the Rochester Americans (5-2-0-0) to a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Monsters (2-1-1-1) Saturday at Rocket Arena.
By picking up their third win this week and fourth in the last five games, the Amerks move into a two two-way tie with Syracuse for the top spot in the American Hockey League’s North Division standings.
Rochester also improved to 7-0-1-0 in its last eight games in Cleveland dating back to the 2023-24 season. Rochester’s 24 goals through the first seven games are most in the AHL’s North Division while the Amerks are the only team in the league with double digits in power-play tallies (11) this season.
Helenius notched his fifth point of the weekend (3+2) while scoring his fourth goal of the campaign in the victory. Anton Wahlberg and Jake Leschyshyn netted their first and second markers of campaign, respectively, while Nikita Novikov also tacked on his first of the season in the third period.
Jack Rathbone, Jagger Joshua, Red Savage, who made his AHL debut, Brendan Warren and Viktor Neuchev all produced one assist each. Isak Rosén, who became the first Amerk this season to reach double figures in points (10), and Zac Jones both capped off the scoring in overtime. Jones tops all AHL players with nine assists through his first seven games of the season with Rochester.
Goaltender Topias Leinonen (1+1+0) notched his first AHL win by stopping 25 of the 28 shots he faced in just his second appearance in the league.
Luca Del Bel Belluz, Jack Williams and Luca Pinelli all scored once for Cleveland, which appeared in its third overtime game of the campaign, while Dysin Mayo added a pair of helpers. Netminder Ivan Fedotov (1-1-2) made 18 saves in his fourth game with the Monsters this season.
FIRST PERIOD
After being unsuccessful on its first power-play of the contest, Rochester capitalized on the man-advantage on the second at the 12:24 mark of the opening frame.
Just after Fedotov turned aside Trevor Kuntar’s attempt from just out front of the goal crease, Riley Fiddler-Schultz won the ensuing draw back to Rathbone at the right point. The Boston native fired a shot on net for Joshua to dig out of the pads of the Cleveland netminder and Wahlberg to hammer home for his first of the campaign.
The power-play goal appeared to be the only tally of the frame as the clock began to wind down, however, after the Amerks were unable to get the puck of their zone, Del Bel Belluz evened the score in the final minute of play.
SECOND PERIOD
With the score tied at 1-1 midway through the second stanza, the Monsters were on the power-play and drew another one. As the play continued and with Fedotov off the ice on the delayed infraction, Pinelli split between the Amerks defense and finished off Mayo’s feed to give Cleveland its first lead of the night.
Rochester remained unfazed, though, as Tyler Kopff skated through the Cleveland zone before rimming it down behind the net from the right wing. Neuchev gathered the puck and shoveled it to the left point for Ryan Johnson, who immediately fired it towards the cage for Leschyshyn to steer behind Fedotov, tying the score with his second tally of the campaign.
Moments after a sprawling save by Leinonen and successfully clearing off a penalty, Cleveland reclaimed its one-goal lead as Williams netted a goal from inside the left circle with 2:14 remaining in the period. The forward golfed a shot overtop the blocker of the Amerks’ rookie netminder from the dot after being set-up by McKown.
THIRD PERIOD
Trailing 3-2 to start the frame, the Amerks needed just 11 seconds into the period before knotting the score at 3-3.
Immediately after winning the face-off and racing down the right wing to retrieve Warren’s feed just across the blueline, Savage patiently pulled up then connected with a perfect pass to Novikov. While the blueliner was left alone in the slot, he wired a shot over the blocker of Fedotov for his first of the slate.
Both clubs took penalties at various points of the third period, but Leinonen made several game-saving stops while Cleveland held the Amerks to only four shots in the frame.
In the final minute of regulation, Neuchev stood in front of a shot from the right point, and as the puck caromed into the neutral zone, the winger drew a holding infraction.
Rochester managed to get off two shots, however, the third-period clock sounded as the score was deadlocked at 3-3.
OVERTIME
With an extra attacker to start the overtime period, three of the Rochester skaters registered one shot on the net in the opening 50 seconds. As the puck remained inside the Cleveland zone, Rosén’s attempt of a potential game-clincher was denied from inside the right face-off dot. Jones controlled the rebound and tucked behind the net before offering a perfect one-timer for Helenius to convert from the top of the zone to seal the 4-3 win.
UP NEXT
The Amerks continue their season-long four-game road swing on Wednesday, Oct. 29 when they venture north of the border for a divisional matchup against the Belleville Senators. Game time from CAA Arena is slated for a 7:00 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.
STARS AND STRIPES
With tonight's victory, the Amerks improved to 7-0-1-0 in their last eight games in Cleveland dating back to the 2023-24 slate ... Rochester has also won eight of the last nine meetings dating back to last season, outscoring the Monsters 39-19 in that span ... Rookie Red Savage collected his first point as an Amerk in his AHL debut with an assist while goaltender Topias Leinonen picked up his first win in the league … Nikita Novikov scored his 10th career goal with Rochester … The Amerks are 10-0-0-0 all-time when he scores since he made his debut in 2023-24 while outscoring opponents 44-21 during that span ... The Amerks have scored at least four or more goals in each of their five wins this season.
Goal Scorers
ROC: A. Wahlberg (1), J. Leschyshyn (2), N. Novikov (1), K. Helenius (4 – OT GWG)
CLE: L. Del Bel Belluz (1), L. Pinelli (1), J. Williams (1)
Goaltenders
ROC: T. Leinonen – 25/28 (W)
CLE: I. Fedotov– 18/22 (OTL)
Shots
ROC: 22
CLE: 28
Special Teams
ROC: PP (2/5) | PK (5/5)
CLE: PP (0/5) | PK (3/5)
Three Stars:
1. ROC - J. Leschyshyn
2. ROC - K. Helenius
3. CLE - D. Mayo