ROCHESTER, N.Y. --- The Rochester Americans fell to The Syracuse Crunch 5-1 in a poor special teams showing from The Amerks. Featuring five failed power plays, Rochester couldn’t capitalize in key opportunities and ultimately fell to the inter-state rivals. Some highlights on the day included Jiri Kulich’s first game at Center for Rochester, the 28th overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft. He lined up with fellow rookies Isak Rosen and Aleksandr Kisakov. Jeremy Davies added an assist to his Amerks tally, only his second as he was recently sent from Buffalo. Malcom Subban got the start in net, notching 23 saves.
The first period followed suit of most Crunch and Americans games, with five total penalties in the period. The Amerks were first to score as Jeremy Davies wrapped around the back of the net and put a pass in to the mixer for Brett Murray, who slotted it home near post with virtually no space. Just before the end of the period The Crunch tied it up as Captain Gabriel Dumont notched a very similar goal to that of Rochester.
The second period was another quiet affair although still just as physical, the first goal was scored 14 minutes in. Defenseman Ryan Jones notched the tally to give Syracuse the lead. From there, Rochester looked poor defensively and continuously mishandled the puck.
In the third period that mishandling continued and some poor puck luck fell upon Rochester. Darren Radish assisted three goals in the period for the Crunch. The first, a tip from Gabriel Fortier around eight minutes into the period, following Rochesters fifth unsuccessful power play of the game. Then another was put into the mixer by Raddysh, this one hit by Gage Concalves two minutes later.
With just over five minutes left in the period Rochester pulled Subban and went to 6-5 hockey. They possessed the puck for almost the remainder of the game and good not get the upper hand on Syracuse, despite having an extra skater on offense. Syracuse Scored their third of the period on the empty net with 31 seconds left, sealing the score at 5-1 in favor of the Crunch.
Following that loss, Rochester fall to 11-8-1 on the season and will move on to another divisional opponent as they host the Utica Comets on Friday night at Blue Cross Arena, puck drop at 7:05 p.m.
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