Third-Period Comeback Falls Short in Loss to Crunch
AHL Rochester Americans

Third-Period Comeback Falls Short in Loss to Crunch

Published on March 20, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release


Rochester, NY - The Rochester Americans (25-24-5-3) scored twice in a span of 3:48 late in the third period to cut a four-goal deficit in half, but ultimately were unable to complete the comeback in dropping a 5-3 decision to the intrastate rival Syracuse Crunch (36-19-3-2) Friday night at The Blue Cross Arena.

GAME SUMMARY

The Amerks are winless (0-2-0-1) in their last three games opposite the Crunch after posting three straight victories. It marks the first time Rochester has dropped three consecutive games against Syracuse since the 2023-24 season when they had a showed a 0-3-2-0 mark over a five-game stretch.

Leading point-getter Zac Jones notched his ninth goal of the season while Riley Fiddler-Schultz and Carson Meyer registered their 19th and 12th, respectively, in the final frame for Rochester, which has dropped 12 of its last 13 contests. Jagger Joshua, Gavin Bayreuther, Olivier Nadeau, Anton Wahlberg, and Matteo Costantini all added assists.

Goaltender Scott Ratzlaff (4-3-1) made 16 saves in his ninth appearance of the campaign for Rochester. In his seven previous starts this season, the rookie netminder had faced 23 shots or more prior to tonight.

Conor Geekie (2+0), Nick Abruzzese (2+0), Jakob Pelleitier (0+2), Dylan Duke (0+2), and Matthew Peca (0+2) all had a multi-point game for the Crunch, who clinched a playoff spot for the eighth straight season with the win. Mitchell Chaffee closed out the scoring by adding his 21st goal.

Netminder Brandon Halverson improved to 22-7-4 as he made 34th appearance of the slate, stopping 29 of 32 shots he faced.

FIRST PERIOD

While the shots finished nearly even through the first 20 minutes of play, Rochester had the better of the scoring chances while also taking a 1-0 lead into the break.

Prior to the goal with just over four minutes left in the frame, the Amerks had a few chances on Halverson. The best chance came after newcomer Kaleb Lawrence forced a turnover behind the Syracuse net, but Graham Slaggert was denied by the left foot of the netminder.

Just 10 minutes after Slaggert was stopped, Nadeau played the puck out of the Amerks' end of the ice to Costantini, who then sped his way down the right wing. While the rookie winger was unable to generate a shot, he and Nadeau teamed up yet again to gain possession behind Halverson. Costantini rimmed the puck around the wall to Jones before the latter impressively weaved his way from the point to the top of the crease before slipping in a shot in-between the legs of the goaltender to break the scoreless contest at the 15:45 mark.

The goal was Rochester's first in the opening period versus the Crunch since Jan. 7, after being blanked each of the previous four games.

SECOND PERIOD

Facing a one-goal deficit to start the second stanza, Syracuse drew back-to-back penalties less than two minutes apart and capitalized on both ensuing power-plays to grab a 2-1 lead eight minutes into the period, which would also ignite a five-goal run.

Geekie kicked off Syracuse's string of power-play goals as he blasted a one-time feed from Peca, who returned to the Crunch via trade last week, and Pelletier before Chaffee beat Ratzlaff over the left shoulder.

The Crunch drew another penalty moments after the Chaffee goal, and despite not converting on the extra skater, Abruzzese finished off the feed atop the crease for his 10th at the 11:47 mark to close out a run of five straight goals for Syracuse.

Rochester finally gained some energy back as they drew a pair of power-plays of its own but could not beat Halverson before the completion of the middle stanza.

THIRD PERIOD

Syracuse doubled its lead as they scored a pair of goals less than 60 seconds apart on Geekie and Abruzzese's second of the night less than five minutes into the third.

Trailing by a 5-1 score, Joshua forced a Crunch skater to play the puck up the ice before Fiddler-Schultz batted it down in-between the face-off circles. The Edmonton native took a stride towards the net and then roofed his team-leading 19th goal past Halverson at the 13:08 mark.

To conclude the night, Meyer converted from the left dot on the power-play from Bayreuther and Wahlberg with just over three minutes left to play.

Despite pulling Ratzlaff for the final two minutes, the Amerks were unable to close the gap any further as the horn sounded and the score showing 5-3.

UP NEXT

The Amerks wrap up their weekend on Sunday, March 22 as they host the Hartford Wolf Pack for the only time this season at 3:05 p.m. The afternoon matinee from The Blue Cross Arena will be carried live on The Sports Leader 95.7 FM/950 AM WGR Rochester as well as AHLTV on FloHockey.

Goal Scorers

SYR: C. Geekie (15, 16 - GWG), M. Chaffee (21), N. Abruzzese (10, 11)

ROC: Z. Jones (9), R. Fiddler-Schultz (19), C. Meyer (12)

Goaltenders

SYR: B. Halverson - 29/32 (W)

ROC: S. Ratzlaff - 16/21 (L)

Shots

SYR: 21

ROC: 32

Special Teams

SYR: PP (2/3) | PK (2/3)

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

Three Stars:

1. SYR - C. Geekie

2. SYR - N. Abruzzese

3. SYR - J. Pelletier

--@AmerksHockey--

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