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AHL Syracuse Crunch

Amerks Even Season Series with 2-0 Win

March 28, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Allan McPherson scored the game-winning goal Saturday at the War Memorial Arena as the Rochester Americans cooled off the Syracuse Crunch, 2-0. The Amerks (27-33-5-1) evened the season series at four in the final game against the Crunch (40-19-8-0) this season.

With the loss, the Crunch relinquished second place in the Eastern Conference back to the Hershey Bears, who defeated Manchester, 6-2, to move one point ahead of Syracuse.

"If you look over the past couple of weeks, we've been pretty good overall," head coach Rob Zettler said after the loss to the Amerks. "For whatever reason, we were flat tonight. We didn't have a lot of jam or physicality in us. We got a little bit desperate in the third but there wasn't really much going on."

Both goalies pitched shutouts through two periods and the only markings on the scoreboard were penalties and shots until McPherson snapped a quick wrister from the slot past Kristers Gudlevskis, 3:04 into the third period. Dan Catenacci and Chad Ruhwedel recorded the assists on McPherson's second goal of the season.

Gudlevskis' streak of six-straight wins ended with a 24-save performance; his record drops to 24-12-2 on the season. Andrey Makarov recorded his fourth shutout of the season and second against Syracuse. He blanked the Crunch on Halloween, 3-0.

Catenacci tossed the puck into the empty-net with eight seconds left in regulation to close the door on the Crunch, who were looking to tie the game with the extra-attacker.

The Crunch started the night with three power-play opportunities, on the third Joel Vermin took a penalty to lead to 4-on-4 hockey and give Rochester a shortened man advantage of 31 seconds.

After the power play ended, David Broll and Matt Pelech dropped the gloves and locked arms for an extended duration without landing many punches before the referees broke up the fight. J.P. Cote and Jordan Samuels-Thomas fought 12 seconds later and Cote took Samuels-Thomas to the ground with one right cross.

Bradyen Point made his professional debut for the Crunch having signed an entry-level deal an and amateur tryout contract Wednesday. He played on a line with Yanni Gourde and Carter Ashton with Tanner Richard missing his second-straight game.

The Crunch finished 0-for-5 on the power-play, but increased their penalty kill numbers to 33 kills in the past 34 attempts, holding Rochester 0-for-3.

The Crunch host the Binghamton Senators Wednesda before taking their final weekend road trip of the season, visiting Bridgeport Friday and Springfield Saturday. Syracuse plays five of its final nine games at the War Memorial.

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