PLAYOFF PREVIEW: AMERKS SEEK TO SWEEP SYRACUSE ON THE ROAD
Amerks ahead 2-0, looking for first sweep against Crunch since 1997
Apr 30, 2025
By Andrew Mossbrooks | @ Mossbrooks48
After a pair of wins at Blue Cross Arena, the Rochester Americans can punch their ticket to the North Division Finals with a win in Game 3, as the best-of-five North Division Semifinal series against the Crunch continues Syracuse Thursday night at Upstate Medical University Arena in Syracuse.
The Amerks have only swept Syracuse once in their prior six playoff series, last doing so in 1997. There, Greg Walters scored the game-winning-goal in Game 3 to complete the 3-0 sweep of the Crunch. In the 2022-23 season, Syracuse yielded a 2-0 series lead on Rochester before the Amerks rallied to win the series in five games.
Rochester went 4-1-0-1 in six games at Upstate Medical University Arena this past season. Since 2023, four of the last five playoff games played between the Amerks and Crunch in Syracuse have gone past regulation.
GAME TWO RECAP
Devon Levi was impenetrable Sunday afternoon, making 35 saves in a 4-0 shutout win for the Amerks to take a 2-0 series lead on the Crunch. Levi’s shutout is the second of his career against the Crunch, eighth overall, and first in the postseason.
On the scoring front, Kale Clague came through again, now having more points than playoff games played in his career with a goal and two assists Sunday. Konsta Helenius got the scoring started in the first period and was credited with the game-winner, netting his first professional goal in the playoffs in North America. Jiri Kulich blasted a one-timer through for a power-play goal in the dying seconds of the middle frame, and Isak Rosén scored an empty-net goal for good measure in the third period.
Forward Logan Brown and defenseman Max Crozier finished tied for the team lead with five shots each for Syracuse, but that, along with a powerless power-play (0-for-2), weren’t enough to solve Levi, who hasn’t surrendered a goal in 96:31.
Brandon Halverson lost three of his last four regular season games against the Amerks and has now dropped three of his last four postseason starts facing Rochester. The 29-year-old made 18 saves in Sunday’s loss for the Crunch. Through two games in this series, Halverson’s .882 save percentage is the lowest amongst all goaltenders in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
ROSTER SHUFFLING
Amerks head coach Michael Leone confirmed during Wednesday’s media availability that defenseman Vsevolod Komarov and forward Lukas Rousek will both miss Game 3 in Syracuse due to injury.
Komarov left Sunday’s game in the second period following a fight with Syracuse’s Jack Finley. He did not return to the contest. Komarov led Rochester during his rookie season with 85 penalty minutes.
Rousek will miss his first game since last season as the fourth-year Amerk has appeared in 82 consecutive games with Rochester, including both this and last year’s playoff runs. He led all Amerks forwards with 35 assists this past season and has 11 career assists in 12 playoff games against the Crunch.
Leone confirmed the two players jumping into the lineup for the first time this postseason is a pair of Swedes in forward Anton Wahlberg and defenseman Erik Brännström.
Wahlberg’s first playoff goal came in dramatic fashion in Game 1 of last year’s series against the Crunch. Wahlberg’s rookie season saw the Sabres’ 2023 second-round pick post 11 goals and 30 points through 63 games.
Brännström has skated in over 400 professional games in North America, including 294 in the NHL, but has yet to appear in a playoff game. His last postseason appearance was during the 2018 playoffs with HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League.
On the other end, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Syracuse’s NHL parent club, are still in the playoffs. On Wednesday, the Lightning recalled defenseman Max Crozier, who has been among the top blueliners for Syracuse throughout the season.
THAT SPECIAL SOMETHING
Special teams have made a difference through the first two games of the series, with the edge belonging to the Amerks. The team scored on the man-advantage in each game one going 2-for-7 on the power play, while killing all five penalty kills faced against the Crunch.
The Amerks scored eight power-play goals and operated at 17.4% during the regular season against the Crunch, while their penalty kill worked at 90.6%, with the Crunch going just 5-for-53 during their 12-game season series against Rochester.
SWEEP IN SYRACUSE?
The Amerks last swept a team in the 2023 North Division Finals when the team dispatched of Toronto in three games. Both Rochester and Syracuse own a series sweep over the other, with the Amerks doing so in 1997 and Syracuse getting revenge two decades later in 2018. Each of the last two series the Crunch won against Rochester followed with Syracuse being swept the following round.
After topping Rochester in Game 5 last season, Syracuse would go on to be swept by Cleveland, and following Sunday’s 4-0 loss, the Crunch have dropped five straight playoff games, being outscored 18-7 and shutout twice.
Should the Crunch win, a Game 4 would be forced on Saturday, May 3. The winner of this series will face the winner of the Cleveland Monsters and Laval Rocket series in the North Division Finals.
