Amerks Comeback Falls Short in 2-1 Loss to Crunch
January 10, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release
(Rochester, NY) - The Rochester Americans fell behind early and were unfortunately never able to fully recover as the Amerks closed out their three-game weekend on the losing end of a 2-1 decision to the Syracuse Crunch Sunday evening at The Blue Cross Arena.
Jason Akeson scored the lone Rochester goal midway through the final frame to bring the hosts to within a score, but the Amerks could not complete the comeback and fell to 17-16-2-1 on the season. Jerome Leduc and Mark Pysyk each earned the assists on Akeson's seventh of the year, while goaltender Robin Lehner followed up Friday's win with 20 saves on 22 shots in the loss.
Jeff Tambellini and Henri Ikonen scored for the Crunch, while Kristers Gudlevskis turned in a solid 28-save effort for Syracuse, which like the Amerks, was playing its third game in as many nights.
Syracuse needed all of 1:31 to open the scoring as Tambellini spotted a loose puck off a face-off and sent it past Lehner to put the Crunch up 1-0. After Peca got tied up with Phil Varone following an offensive zone face-off, Tambellini swooped in from his right wing position, stepped around Amerks defenseman Matt Donovan, who was providing support, and snapped his team-leading 16th goal of the season through the legs of Lehner. The Crunch forward has been hot as of late, putting up four goals over his last three games and has points in each of his last five since the turn of the New Year.
The Amerks had several close calls during what proved to be an eventful, but scoreless second period with Rochester again outshooting the Crunch. Justin Bailey had the perhaps the best chance of the frame when he drove a shot through traffic that rang squarely off the left post. Minutes later, Gudlevskis robbed Matt Garbowsky's bid for his first AHL goal and Brady Austin narrowly missed wide of an open net after a nifty goal-mouth set-up from Akeson just as the period was about to expire.
The start of the third yielded more scoring chances for the Amerks with Jerry D'Amigo nearly getting the better of Gudlevskis, but the Syracuse netminder was able to reach back to get a piece of it at the last second.
Ikonen extended the Syracuse lead to 2-0 less than a minute later, taking a cross-ice feed from Peca on the ensuing rush and one-timing it inside the right post at 2:27.
Rochester eventually solved Gudlevskis midway through the final frame when Akeson unloaded a slap-shot from the top of the right circle that sailed through a screen provided by William Carrier. It would be as close as they would get, however, as Gudlevskis and the Crunch were able to hold off the Amerks for the final 10:16 of regulation.
The Amerks make their second trip of the season to Albany on Wednesday, Jan. 13 to face-off with the Devils. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m. and can be heard live on FOX Sports 1280 Rochester.
Goal Scorers
RCH: Akeson (7)
SYR: Tambellini (16), Ikonen (2)
Shots
RCH: 29
SYR: 22
Goaltenders
RCH: Lehner - L (20/22)
SYR: Gudlevskis - W (28/29)
Special Teams
Amerks Power Play: 1-4
Amerks Penalty Kill: 1-1
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