Levi Backstops Amerks to Fifth Straight Win in Return from All-Star Break
February 7, 2025 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release
(Rochester, NY) - The Rochester Americans (28-12-3-1) picked up right where they left in their return from the annual AHL All-Star break and Devon Levi again lived up to his All-Star status as the second-year netminder turned in a flawless 29-save performance to pick up his third shutout of the season while backstopping the Amerks to a 4-0 win over the Belleville Senators (18-16-1-4) Friday at The Blue Cross Arena.
The win extends Rochester's win streak to five straight games and improves the Amerks to 6-0-0-1 over their last seven home contests. Rochester has outscored Belleville 22-8 in the four meetings this season, which includes a 19-6 margin in the last three meetings since Dec. 13, 2024.
Kale Clague, Konsta Helenius, and Anton Wahlberg (1+1) all contributed a pair of points with a goal and an assist each. Graham Slaggert (1+0), Jack Rathbone (0+1), Viktor Neuchev (0+1), Vsevolod Komarov (0+1), and Nicolas Aubé-Kubel (0+1) rounded out the scoring in the win.
Levi pushed his record to a 15-4-2 mark through his 21 appearances with Rochester this season. The netminder, who has helped the Amerks to at least one standing point in 37 of his 47 games since making his debut in December of 2023, finished with 29 saves, which included 21 in the final two periods.
FIRST PERIOD
Despite not being able to capitalize on its first power-play of the night, Rochester opened the scoring at the 10:06 mark of the first period on Helenius' seventh tally of the campaign. The rookie forward grabbed Clague's nifty backhanded pass from just inside the blueline before picking the top right corner of Leevi Merilainen's net to give the Amerks a 1-0 lead.
As the first period was nearing its completion, Aubé-Kubel took the puck into the offensive zone after the Amerks successfully cleared their first penalty of the game. The newcomer rimmed the puck around below the Belleville net to Slaggert, who sent a return pass back to Aubé-Kubel at the right corner. The veteran forward threw a pass towards the front of the net, and after a slight redirect from Neuchev, Clague buried a shot for his ninth of the season with just over two minutes to play.
SECOND PERIOD
In the second period, Belleville, who trailed 2-0 after the initial period, outshot Rochester 10-7 but faced the same deficit as both clubs went into their respective locker rooms.
THIRD PERIOD
The Senators drew three of the four infractions in the third period, but more strong goaltending from Levi, which included four grade-A saves in a four-minute span, kept Belleville silent.
As the game was winding down, Merilainen was summoned to the bench for an extra-attacker, allowing Slaggert and Wahlberg to find the empty net 1:35 apart to secure the 4-0 win.
STARS AND STRIPES
Rochester improved to 9-1-1-0 all-time when defenseman Kale Clague has scored at least one goal since joining the organization, which also includes a 6-0-0-1 mark in 2024-25 ... Devon Levi is the first Rochester netminder to record three or more shutouts in the same season since Andrew Hammond (4) during the 2019-20 slate ... Konsta Helenius logged his fifth multi-point game of the season while Clague netted his seventh.
UP NEXT
The Amerks look for their sixth straight win at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse where they'll take on the Cleveland Monsters on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 7:05 p.m. The North Division matchup will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.
Goal Scorers
BEL: None
ROC: K. Helenius (7 - GWG), K. Clague (9), G. Slaggert (9), A. Wahlberg (8)
Goaltenders
BEL: L. Merilainen - 22/24 (L)
ROC: D. Levi - 29/29 (W)
Shots
BEL: 29
ROC: 26
Special Teams
BEL: PP (0/4) | PK (3/3)
ROC: PP (0/3) | PK (4/4)
Three Stars:
1. ROC - D. Levi
2. ROC - K. Clague
3. ROC - K. Helenius
--@AmerksHockey--
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