By CRAIG POTTER
Rochester misses an opportunity to win its third straight game for the second time this season.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rochester Americans were looking to play a full 60-minute game against the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night before 3,400 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.
The Amerks were seeking to go 3-0 against the Crunch this season, and for a while it seemed like it might happen.
Rochester held leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but the visitors from the Salt City scored twice in the final 11 minutes of the contest to pull out a 3-2 triumph.
For the third straight game, Sahir Gill scored a goal to tie his career-long point streak at three games. He amassed 4 points (3+1) while also recording 5 points (3+2) over his last 5 games.
In addition, Kyle Criscuolo tallied his third goal of the season, and second in the last two nights.
Former Crunch netminder Adam Wilcox started in the Amerks net but left the game after 49 minutes when Syracuse tied the count 2-2. Linus Ullmark took over the goaltending duties but suffered the loss to drop his record to 3-3-0.
“We let off the gas pedal a little bit and let them climb back into the game,” said rookie defenseman Brendan Guhle. “We got away from our game during the last period by not doing the things that got us the lead, so it is something we will continue to work on.”
Rochester got on the scoreboard first 9:40 into the opening period on a power play goal by Gill. However, the Crunch evened the count, 1-1, despite being outshot 11-2 in the stanza
Criscuolo gave the Amerks a 2-1 lead with 4:35 left to play in the middle frame after he stole the puck in the Crunch end, sent it to C.J. Smith, then redirected his shot in front of netminder Michael Leighton.
“Our defensive corps played their best game of the year tonight,” Amerks head coach Chris Taylor said. “They made a lot of nice plays, but we did not capitalize on opportunities to get the win tonight.”
The Amerks open a busy month of November with 4 of their next 5 games on the road, beginning Wednesday as they travel for a North Division showdown in Utica against the Comets.
Rochester’s lone home game over the next 2 weeks is Friday, Nov. 3 versus the Hershey Bears.
*NOTES – The Buffalo Sabres assigned defenseman Taylor Fedun to the Amerks on Saturday…In a rare situation, the two opposing goalies were facing their former team. Adam Wilcox played for the Crunch last season and Michael Leighton played for the Amerks in the 2005-06 season. Leighton set the AHL record for most career shutouts (46) last season while a member of the Charlotte Checkers. The Amerks are 1-1 versus Leighton this year…For the second time this season, the Amerks missed a chance to string together 3 wins as they won the first two games of the season, both against the Crunch.
Links
Rochester Americans – amerks.com
Videos
Sahir Gill power play goal — https://youtu.be/Zx3PvCYWjpg