The Rochester Americans (11-8-1-1) opened up the scoring in the first period but the Syracuse Crunch (9-8-2-2) added the next five goals to hand the Amerks a 5-1 loss Wednesday at The Blue Cross Arena.

At the tail-end of October, and the early weeks of the 2022-23 American Hockey League campaign, the Rochester Americans were facing some growing pains when it came to their defensive core.

The Rochester Americans (11-6-1-1) return to The Blue Cross Arena tonight to kick-off a busy stretch of three games in four nights against the intrastate rival Syracuse Crunch.

This week, the Rochester Americans are back to a full schedule of three games over a four-day span and Amerks head coach Seth Appert is excited about it.

With the arrival of December came a four-day trip to take on the Cleveland Monsters, the return of third-year pro Brandon Biro and proof that the Rochester Americans can rely on their depth for balance offensive production on any given night

Brandon Biro scored twice over the final 40 minutes of regulation, but the Rochester Americans (11-7-1-1) were on the wrong side of a 4-3 score Saturday night against the Cleveland Monsters (10-6-1-2) at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.