Special Teams Power Amerks Past Crunch
AHL Rochester Americans

Special Teams Power Amerks Past Crunch

Published on October 23, 2025 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


(Rochester, NY) - A pair of power-play goals and a shorthanded tally helped the Rochester Americans (3-2-0-0) defeat the Syracuse Crunch (4-1-0-0) by a 4-2 score Wednesday night at The Blue Cross Arena.

With the win, Rochester, which earned a split of the home-and-home series with the Crunch, has won its first two home games of the season and three of the last four dating back to the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

Viktor Neuchev recorded his second tally of the season for the Amerks while Josh Dunne, who made his season debut with Rochester after starting the season with the Buffalo Sabres, and Trevor Kuntar each scored their first. Jagger Joshua capped off the goal scoring as he recorded his first-career shorthanded goal in the second stanza.

Jack Rathbone, Jake Leschyshyn, Isak Rosén, Oliver Nadeau, Zac Jones, and Vsevolod Komarov all produced one assist each for the Amerks.

Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (1-0-0) made his first appearance with Rochester since Nov. 9, 2022, after being loaned to Rochester for a conditioning stint from the Sabres. Luukkonen stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced to earn the win.

Nick Abruzzese (1+1) notched a pair of points for Syracuse, which entered the game with a perfect 4-0-0-0 record to start its season. Conor Geekie (1+0), Steven Santini (0+1), Jacob Pelletier (0+1), and Declan Carlile (0+1) each had one point.

Netminder Brandon Halverson (2-1-0) took his first defeat of the season after posting a shutout win on Saturday against Rochester. The Traverse City, Michigan, native made 24 saves in his third appearance of the year.

FIRST PERIOD

Less than two minutes into the contest, Dunne bumped the puck to the left point inside the Crunch zone before skating down the right wing. Komarov was the recipient of Dunne's feed and fired a shot towards the net but it was inadvertently redirected overtop the net and off the glass to Nadeau. After Nadeau collected it off the glass, he provided a quick, no-look pass to Dunne to hammer inside the right post just 2:01 in.

Five minutes later, Rochester drew a holding penalty before doubling its lead at the 8:23 mark of the first period.

After being handed a pass from Rosén, Jones, who sprinted to his left to keep puck inside the blueline, fired a shot from top of the zone. With bodies in front of Halverson, Neuchev scooped the rebound and blasted it past the glove of the netminder, extending the advantage.

While the Amerks held the Crunch without a shot for the first 14 minutes of play, the visitors got on the board in the final 60 seconds as Geekie beat Luukkonen over the shoulder with a one-time blast from the right circle.

SECOND PERIOD

After the two clubs combined for three goals in the opening period, the second stanza also saw them post three tallies, two of which came via Rochester's special team units.

Luukkonen made a pair of timely saves early in the period to generate some early momentum before Rochester drew another holding infraction, this time 5:45 into the second.

On the man-advantage, the Crunch was able to clear off the penalty, however, the Amerks used the extra skater to their advantage before Kuntar doubled the lead as he steered in Leschyshyn's centering feed.

Syracuse responded nearly immediately after Kuntar's first goal as an Amerk as Abruzzese, who left a drop pass to Geekie on an odd-man rush, banged in a rebound from Santini at the 9:58 mark.

Later in the frame, a Crunch skater fumbled the puck exiting his zone, but as the skater attempted to retrieve it, Joshua poked it free and sped off in the opposite direction. The rugged forward shrugged him off before converting on the breakaway opportunity for his first career shorthanded goal with 91 seconds left in the period.

THIRD PERIOD

Each team had a penalty midway through the period, but the score remained 4-2 with under seven minutes on the clock.

The game remained tight, but neither club could generate any scoring chances down the stretch before Halverson was summoned to the bench for an extra attacker.

To close out the game, Rochester successfully cleared off its final two infractions to earn the 4-2 victory.

UP NEXT

The Amerks close out the home portion of the first month of the season as they welcome the Laval Rocket to 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 The Fan Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.

STARS AND STRIPES

With tonight's 4-2 victory, the Amerks improved to 43-11-5-1 when the team has scored three or more goals versus Syracuse in the regular season since the start of 2016-17... Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has won each of his last four games and six of his last eight in the AHL dating back to Oct. 19, 2022... Rochester has tallied a pair power-play goals in each of its first two games of the season series with Syracuse dating back the 2024-25 slate.

Goal Scorers

SYR: C. Geekie (1), N. Abruzzese (1)

ROC: J. Dunne (1), V. Neuchev (2), T. Kuntar (1), J. Jagger (1)

Goaltenders

SYR: B. Halverson - 24/28 (L)

ROC: U. Luukkonen - 21/23 (W)

Shots

SYR: 23

ROC: 28

Special Teams

SYR: PP (1/6) | PK (4/6)

ROC: PP (2/6) | PK (5/6)

Three Stars:

1. ROC - J. Joshua

2. ROC - U. Luukkonen

3. SYR - N. Abruzzese

POST-GAME SOUND AND HIGHLIGHTS

GAME HIGHLIGHTS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjzkIBTZK9k

MICHAEL LEONE POST-GAME: https://youtu.be/MWFH7UwJEVU

JAGGER JOSHUA POST-GAME: https://youtu.be/kJj6YrAbqL0

UKKO-PEKKA LUUKKONEN POST-GAME: https://youtu.be/t3jAPrt_OGY

Check out the Rochester Americans Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from October 23, 2025


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