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AHL Rochester Americans

Amerks Stumble in 5-1 Loss to Monsters

March 31, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY) ... The Cleveland Monsters scored twice in the opening eight minutes and rode a near-perfect performance from veteran goaltender Brad Thiessen on their way to a 5-1 win over the Rochester Americans Wednesday at The Blue Cross Arena.

The loss snaps Rochester's home point streak at four games (3-0-1-0) and drops the Amerks to 6-4-1-1 on the season.

Veteran forward Michael Mersch provided the lone tally for the Amerks, spoiling Thiessen's bid for his first shutout since April 3, 2019 with a power-play goal late in the third period. Brandon Biro, coming off a three-point effort Friday against Syracuse, notched an assist as did fellow rookie forward Patrick Polino, who registered his first pro point on Mersch's third of the season. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonnen made 24 saves while making his ninth start in 12 games for Rochester.

Jake Christiansen (1+2) and Adam Helewka (0+2) each turned in multi-point efforts while Gavin Bayreuther, Tyler Sikura, Josh Dunne and Zach Jordan rounded out the scoring for the Monsters, who improved to 5-2-0 in their last seven games. Thiessen stopped all but one of the 23 shots he faced to collect his second straight win and third in his last four appearances.

Cleveland needed just 3:47 into the contest to take a 1-0 lead on Christiansen's first of the season. As former AHL Rookie of the Year Nathan Gerbe carried the puck into the Rochester zone along the right-wing wall, the former Buffalo Sabre sent a cross-ice pass to Christiansen, who was trailing the play. The Monsters defenseman caught the pass in stride just inside the Amerks blueline before picking the upper corner from the left face-off dot to give Cleveland the early advantage.

It was the 12th time in 13 games this season the Monsters scored the first goal of the game.

The Monsters doubled their lead just over four minutes later on a play that began and ended with Bayreuther scoring his first pro goal. Bayreuther, who came into the matchup coming off a franchise-record four-assist performance against Texas on Sunday, led the rush out of the Cleveland zone and advanced the puck to Evan Polei at center ice. As the Monsters gained the offensive zone, the team exchanged a series of slick passes before Bayreuther tapped home a centering feed from Carson Meyer atop the crease at the 8:00 mark.

Shortly after, Rochester had its best chance of the night to get on the board with 1:12 worth of a two-man advantage following consecutive penalties to Cleveland, but Thiessen managed to keep everything in front of him.

The visitors appeared to increase their lead to 3-0 early in the middle frame, but the apparent goal from Helewka was waved off for what was later determined as goaltender interference by the Monsters forward. Cleveland, however, would eventually get its third of the night after Sikura swatted in a bouncing puck off an initial offering from Christiansen.

With time starting to dwindle, the teams exchanged power-play goals in the latter half of the third period, beginning with Dunne notching his first of the season at 9:59 before Mersch answered at 16:09, effectively ruining Thiessen's shutout bid to make it a 4-1 game.

Rochester pulled Luukkonen in the waning minutes in favor of the extra attacker, but Jordan added an empty-netter with 1:36 to play to seal the 5-1 for Cleveland.

The Amerks close out their three-game homestand on Friday, April 2 when they host the Syracuse Crunch in the first leg of a home-and-home series at The Blue Cross Arena. Game time is slated for a 7:05 p.m. start and will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM ESPN Rochester and AHLTV. The North Division matchup will also be tape-delayed on CW Rochester beginning at 10 p.m.

Post-Game Interviews

Amerks forward Michael Mersch - https://youtu.be/UtlSKf9sy0E

Amerks defenseman Casey Fitzgerald - https://youtu.be/7pT-n64sQGU

Amerks head coach Seth Appert - https://youtu.be/_st2jnYszDg

Goal Scorers

ROC: M. Mersch (3)

CLE: J. Christiansen (1), G. Bayreuther (1), T. Sikura (5), J. Dunne (1), Z. Jordan (3)

Goaltenders

ROC: U. Luukkonen - 24/28 (L)

CLE: B. Thiessen - 23/24 (W)

Shots

ROC: 24

CLE: 29

Special Teams

ROC: PP (1/6) | PK (2/3)

CLE: PP (1/3) | PK (5/6)

Three Stars

1. J. Christiansen (CLE)

2. B. Thiessen (CLE)

3. A. Helewka (CLE)

Check out the Rochester Americans Statistics



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