Peca's Milestone Night Not Enough against Amerks
AHL Springfield Thunderbirds

Peca's Milestone Night Not Enough against Amerks

Published on April 2, 2025 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Thunderbirds News Release


ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (33-27-2-4) received another multi-point performance from their captain but could not muster enough offense to squeak past the Rochester Americans (40-18-4-3), who came away with a 4-2 win on Wednesday night at Blue Cross Arena. The Amerks punched their ticket to the Calder Cup Playoffs with the victory.

The T-Birds came out with a purpose in the opening period in enemy territory, generating lots of early pressure in the Amerks' zone, and it nearly culminated in a 1-0 lead when Hugh McGing jammed a wraparound through Levi shy of the five-minute mark.

However, upon official review, the goal was washed out. Not even 30 seconds later, Rochester had the 1-0 lead instead as Massachusetts native Jack Rathbone flipped a wrister over Colten Ellis on the glove side at 5:14 of the period.

Despite the unfortunate turn of events, Springfield kept the pedal down, making a strong penalty kill on Rochester's first man-advantage of the night and turning that success into more offensive momentum. Otto Stenberg ended a 15-game goal drought when a Corey Schueneman point shot turned into a changeup and a pass to the rookie in the low slot. Stenberg quickly turned and elevated a shot over Devon Levi's stick to tie the score 11 minutes after Rathbone had made it a 1-0 game. T-Birds captain Matthew Peca picked up the secondary assist, setting a new personal career-high in points (61) in a season.

Peca added another milestone to his spectacular season in the final minute of the frame, as he found himself in the perfect place at the bottom of the right-wing circle when a Leo Loof shot rocketed off the end boards right to Peca's blade, who punched it into a yawning net before Levi could recover, giving Springfield the 2-1 lead at 19:30 and giving the captain his first 30-goal season. He became the fifth player in the AHL to reach the plateau this season.

The T-Birds had a bevy of glorious chances to extend their lead in the early stages of the second, but Levi rose to the occasion with a pair of breakaway saves on Peca and Tarun Fizer. Rochester rewarded their goaltender's efforts with an equalizer at the 8:59 mark when a Graham Slaggert attempt from the left wing bounced right to the stick of a crashing Anton Wahlberg, who shuffled a backhand try over Ellis to make it a 2-2 game.

An innocent-looking rush from Isak Rosen in the third period resulted in the game-winner at 8:41 of the third as the Amerks' leading goal scorer surprised Ellis with a short-side wrister than squeezed through the goaltender's arm to give Rochester a 3-2 lead.

Springfield's power play had one more chance to try to muster a comeback bid, but Levi and the Amerks' stout defense did not allow the T-Birds to recover. Noah Ostlund extended his goal streak to six straight games, finishing the night with an empty-netter in the final minute.

As a result, the T-Birds' magic number to clinch a Calder Cup playoff spot remains at 4. They will look to chop that number down to 2 on Friday as they visit the Utica Comets inside Adirondack Bank Center for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.

Fans can get their Thunderbirds tickets for the Calder Cup playoff push today by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or by visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.

Check out the Springfield Thunderbirds Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central