PLAYOFF PREVIEW: AMERKS HOST GAME 1 AGAINST CRUNCH
Intrastate rivals meet in North Division Semifinal for third straight year.
Apr 24, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
For the third year in a row, the Rochester Americans begin their quest for the Calder Cup as they start the 2025 playoffs against the Syracuse Crunch.
The intrastate foes encounter one another in a best-of-five North Division Semifinal round. Both sides have earned series wins over the last two years, with Rochester rallying from down 2-0 to win three straight in 2023, followed by the Crunch getting payback in last spring’s postseason.
During the 2024-25 regular season, Rochester showed a 7-3-1-1 record against Syracuse, including a 3-2-1-0 mark at Blue Cross Arena. The Amerks have home-ice advantage, hosting Games 1 and 2, and a fifth game, if necessary. Both the 2023 and 2024 playoff series between the Amerks and Crunch reached a do-or-die fifth game.
HOW THEY FINISHED
Konsta Helenius scored the final goal of Rochester’s regular season as the Amerks completed their 72-game slate with a 3-2 overtime loss in Toronto Saturday evening. The final week of the season was bonus hockey for Rochester, as the team had already locked up second place in the North Division with three games remaining. The Amerks have been playoff bound since clinching a berth on April 2. After that, the team finished 2-4-1-0 down the stretch, but were without numerous key contributors in their lineup due to call-ups.
The path was much more difficult for Syracuse this season, as the Crunch didn’t secure a playoff berth until the final week of the season. Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate went on a run to the finish line, winning eight of its final 10 contests. The Crunch did lose their final game of the regular season, dropping a 3-2 contest to Utica on their home ice. Cooper Flinton scored his first professional goal to nab the Crunch a 2-1 lead heading into the third, but goaltender Ethan Langenegger surrendered two goals in the final six minutes of regulation to drop the contest for Syracuse.
Rochester finished its 69th season in franchise history with a 42-22-5-3 record, posting 92 points for its best finish since the 2018-19 season.
Syracuse ended the campaign six points back of the Amerks with 86 and a 37-23-8-4 mark. The number is one point shy of last year’s totals where the team also finished third in the North Division.
FANTASTIC FOUR
Rochester’s lineup is expected to be bolstered with the addition of four forwards who were up with the Buffalo Sabres. Amerks’ leading-scorer Isak Rosén, along with fellow Swede Noah Östlund returned to the lineup for Game 72 with Rochester, while forwards Tyson Kozak and Sabres stud Jiri Kulich were reassigned to the Flower City before season’s end and are expected to draw back into the Amerks lineup for Game 1.
The quartet combined for 57 goals and 108 points during their time in Rochester. Rosén and Östlund spent the bulk of their campaigns wearing the red, white, and blue, while Kozak nearly split his season evenly, playing 31 games for the Amerks and 21 for Buffalo.
Kulich last wore an Amerks jersey on Nov. 13, 2024, completing a four-game stint with Rochester before returning to Buffalo and never looking back. The Czechia-born forward spent the bulk of his time with the Sabres centering the team’s top line. As a rookie in the NHL, the 21-year-old finished eighth in rookie goal-scoring with 15 and completed his season with 24 points in 62 games.
Ahead of this season, Kulich led Rochester in goals in each of the last two seasons, becoming the first Amerk since Hall of Famer Jody Gage to lead the team in goals in consecutive seasons.
KINGS OF THE CREASE
It appears the North Division Semfinal series will not only be a rematch of teams, but goaltenders as well, with Rochester’s Devon Levi expected to oppose Syracuse’s Brandon Halverson in net.
The two faced off in each of the five meetings between the teams in last year’s playoff series, with Halverson taking the victory, though shot volume was much lighter for the veteran journeyman.
This past season, Levi took the net for nine of the 12 games against Syracuse, while Halverson faced the Amerks eight times. Levi’s first professional shutout came against Syracuse when the 23-year-old made 20 saves in 3-0 win on Nov. 29. The All-Star goaltender finished the season with 25 wins and led the AHL with seven shutouts.
Halverson wasn’t far behind with five shutouts to his credit and 22 wins. The goaltenders continue to draw near parallels in other numbers, including goals-against average where Levi finished sixth with a 2.20 and Halverson seventh at 2.22. Levi also ranked sixth in save percentage, sporting a .919 to Halverson’s .915, which was good for eighth in the league.
Despite appearing in one more game than Levi, Halverson trailed the Sabres’ prospect in minutes played, as Levi finished fourth in the league with Halverson ranking fifth. Two of Halverson’s eight appearances against the Amerks saw the goaltender pulled before the third period.