By: Joseph Keyser
ROCHESTER, N.Y.—The Rochester Amerks beat the Syracuse Crunch 4-1 while letting up no goals on three penalty kills.
The stars of the night were Amerks winger Isak Rosén who scored two goals on the night and Amerks goalkeeper Devon Levi who saved 27 of 28 shots (96.4%).
“(Nathan) Paetsch does an unbelievable job with their penalty kill,” Amerks head coach Mike Leone said. “It’s been a foundational pillar for our team. He gives them a really good plan. They know how to execute it.”
Rochester’s special teams made the difference in the game on both ends. Letting up no goals on the penalty kill, and sinking one on a power play of their own.
“Against Syracuse you need to get to the net front as a team,” Amerks defenseman Zachary Metsa said. “You could say it’s luck. But I think you earn your own luck by doing the right things over and over.”
In the beginning of the first, both teams struggled to find any offensive openings, with only two shots being taken in the first four minutes of action, both by Syracuse.
The first goal of the night came four minutes into the action. The puck bounced off Crunch defensemen Tobie Bisson’s skate and snuck in the bottom left corner of the net after Rosén hit what looked like an off-target pass. With that goal, Rosén became tied for second in the AHL in goals on the season with 21.
Just under five minutes later, Rochester winger Ty Tullio scored his first goal of the season by sneaking the puck under Brandon Halverson’s blocker after getting a pass from center Riley Fiddler-Schultz.
“The weight of the world is off my shoulders,” Tullio said. “It was a long tunnel that I didn’t think was ending. But credit to my teammates and all the staff here, keeping me in the right mindset.”
The Amerks went up 3-0 during the first power play of the night when winger Brett Murray sunk the puck off a rebounded shot by Metsa at 11:16 in the first.
Syracuse had seen enough from Halverson after Murray’s goal and swapped Ryan Fanti into the net for his first action of the season.
Syracuse outshot Rochester 10-8 in the first frame, but had no goals to show for it.
The only Crunch goal of the night came 5:20 into the second period. Center Dylan Duke flicked the puck into the top left corner of the net from the crease after he and defenseman Max Crozier pinned and split the defensive zone.
The rest of the second frame was scoreless. Syracuse took nine shots in the frame, while Rochester took eight.
With under five minutes left in the contest, Rochester center Mason Jobst was called for a tripping penalty, putting the Amerks on the back foot for two minutes.
After calling a timeout during their power play, Syracuse went empty net and failed to score.
Rosén sealed the game with his second goal of the night on an empty netter after a pass from Murray, leaving 1:23 on the clock. That goal put Rosén ahead of Calgary's Rory Kerins in goals on the season. Rosén trails Toronto's Alex Steeves by only two goals this season.
In the final frame, the Amerks were outshot 7-9.
The Amerks and Crunch play again Saturday at 5 p.m. in Syracuse.
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