AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks Comeback Falls Short in 4-3 Loss to Crunch

February 22, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY)... The Rochester Americans fought back from two separate multi-goal deficits, but could not complete the comeback effort as the Amerks closes out the weekend with a 4-3 loss against the AHL-leading Syracuse Crunch Sunday evening at The Blue Cross Arena. The Amerks threw 29 shots on net at Syracuse starting goaltender Allen York, but ultimately dropped their fourth consecutive game.

The Amerks fall to 22-29-4-0 on the season and have now lost four of their six games against this season against the Crunch, who they'll meet again on Wednesday when Syracuse makes its final visit of the season.

Brodie Reid, Phil Varone and Jerry D'Amigo all scored a goal for the Amerks, while Brayden Irwin pitched in with two assists. Cameron Burt, playing in just his second game for the Amerks, added his first point of the season with an assist. Andrey Makarov started in net for the Amerks and made 19 saves as his personal record now sits at 14-14-3.

Vladislav Namestnikov led Syracuse with two goals and one assist, including the eventual game-winner, while Matthew Corrente tallied a goal and an assist. Dalton Smith also added a goal and York made 26 saves in goal.

Just six minutes into the game, the Amerks entered the Syracuse zone on a 3-on-2 rush with Zac Dalpe trailing the play as the third man. Varone crossed the blueline with the puck and centered a pass to Dalpe, who whipped a snap-shot off the inside of the right post. Syracuse immediately countered, and opened the scoring when Namestnikov deflected Slater Koekkoek's shot-pass at the 6:14 mark.

Syracuse added another goal with 2:06 left in the opening period when Corrente slipped a shot from the right wing through Makarov's five-hole to earn a 2-0 lead.

Both teams combined for two goals apiece during the second period, with all of the scores coming in the final 3:14 of the middle frame. Smith scored Syracuse's third goal of the night off of his own rebound following a split-save from Makarov, but shortly thereafter, the Amerks broke through Syracuse's defense to cut the lead to 3-1. Reid was the finisher on the play, utilizing some open ice in the Crunch zone to break in alone on the right side and fooling York with a backhand-to-forehand deke for the veteran's eighth goal of the season.

Namestnikov scored his second of the game to put Syracuse ahead 4-1 with 1:49 left in the second period, but Rochester gained a power-play in the final 30 seconds and took advantage. The play began with a scrum in front of the net after Burt's shot from outside, with a number of Amerks taking jabs at the puck. Finally, with 1.1 seconds on the clock, Varone swooped in and poked the puck in the net to bring the Amerks back within two scores.

The Amerks cut Syracuse's lead to one with 11:27 left in the third period when Irwin flipped a pass up the middle to D'Amigo, who raced in on a breakaway and took a shot that slipped past York's glove and in.

Looking for the tying goal, the Amerks pulled Makarov with 1:17 left in regulation to send out an extra offensive attacker. Rochester nearly evened the score on a wide-open chance in front for Tim Schaller, but the puck was blocked by a defender into the corner as Syracuse hung on to close out the game with the 4-3 2in.

The Amerks are back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 24 when they travel to Cleveland for a 10:45 a.m. matchup against the Lake Erie Monsters at Quicken Loans Arena. The game will be third of four meetings between the former North Division rivals this season and will be carried live on WBER 90.5 FM.

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