By: Joey Campbell
ROCHESTER, NY--- The Rochester Americans looked to split a two-game series going up against the cross-town rival Syracuse Crunch, who won 4-2 over the Amerks Wednesday night. Leaning on the hot hand of Goalie Devon Levi, the Amerks got the win 3-1 to split the series.
With the win, it gave Levi his seventh win in his last eight starts with the Rochester Americans.
"I didn't even know that was the record," Levi said. "I haven't even looked at anything like that, just trying to take it one game at a time."
Levi, who is 7-2-1 in the AHL this season got his 11th start over his last 14 games for the Americans in which he has accumulated a save percentage of .909. For the Crunch, they turned to Brandon Halverson who is 8-3-4 who made his 16th start of the season holding a save percentage of .935.
Just 44 seconds into the contest, the Americans struck first. Defenseman Nikita Novikov recovered the puck in the offensive zone just above the left circle. With a couple nifty moves to his backhand, he was able to create some space where he released a snapshot that snuck by the pad of Halverson to give them a 1-0 lead.
Novikov's lead taking goal on Dec. 20 2024. Video Credit: @AmerksHockey on X
The Americans domainted the overall pace of play during the first period leading in the shots on goal category 11-4. The Amerks forecheck created several oppurtunities for the offense in transition but some key saves from Halverson kept it at 1-0.
Three minutes into the second period, the Amerks added to their lead shorthanded. Crunch Center Logan Brown was setting up the powerplay before turning it over to Amerks forward Josh Dunne. Dunne carried it over into the offensive zone before dropping it back to a tailing Graham Slaggert who sniped it top right corner over the glove of Halverson to extend the lead to 2-0. With the goal, it ties Slaggert with Brian Pinho (Bridgeport Islanders) with the most shorthanded goals in the league at three.
Slaggert's shorthanded goal on Dec. 20 2024. Video Credits: @AmerksHockey on X
"Dunner did just a really nice job dropping it and kind of taking the D with him and luckily I saw a little opening in-between and just kind of ripped it," Slaggert said. "First and foremost we want to kill the penalty, but it's definetley fun to score a few."
Through two periods, the Rochester Americans held a multi-goal lead even though the Crunch outshot the Amerks 10-5 in the second. Levi has showcased his athleticism and composure throughout the contest making some big saves to keep the Crunch off the board.
The Crunch's frustrations showed throughout the third period. Halverson shoved down Amerks defenseman Brett Murray in front of the net a handful of times before escalting into a shouting match and push fight between both teams. Referees assesed minor roughing penalties to both Murray and Halverson before 'Refs You Suck' chants erupted from the crowd.
"Anytime the game gets that way for one, you want your guys to stick up for themselves, and I thought we did that," Leone said. "Another thing is you can't control the chaos in the game, you got to keep some poise and composure to get through those situations."
Shortly after the penalities were assesed with just under ten minutes to play, Syracuse got on the board, shortly after a power play had expired for Syracuse. Forward Jesse Ylonen stormed up the ice before cutting towards the front of Levi and dropping it to Brown. A cross crease pass from Brown to Declan Carlile cut the Amerks lead in half at 2-1.
There was hope for the Crunch after going on the powerplay with under four minutes of play remaining. However, all hope was lost when Amerks winger Viktor Neuchev added an empty net goal to increase the lead to 3-1.
Both powerplays went 0/5 today with the Crunch getting three powerplay opportunities in the third period with nothing to show for it.
"I thought our penalty kill won us the game tonight," Leone said.
With the win, the Rochester Americans improve to 16-9-3-0 to keep them at third in the North division. As for the Crunch, they fall to 11-8-4-3 placing them sixth in the North division.
The Rochester Americans travel to Ohio on Sunday for a matchup against the Cleveland Monsters. Puck drop is at 3:00 p.m.
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