Rochester is unable to keep a 2-1 lead over the Crunch.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester Americans (10-15-2-1) held a 2-1 lead in the second period against the Syracuse Crunch (19-10-3-0) before allowing four straight goals and ultimately falling 5-3 to their intrastate rivals Saturday night at The Blue Cross Arena.
Rookie’s Brent Gates, Jr. (1+1) and Mattias Samuelsson (0+2) both chipped in a pair of points as did defenseman Nick DeSimone (0+2) in the defeat. Patrick Polino and Remi Elie each scored to complete the scoring for the Amerks, who finished with a 5-5-2-0 record over the 12-game season series with Syracuse. With his 10th goal of the season, Elie became the first Amerk this season to reach the 10-goal mark. It is also the first time in Elie’s career he has reached the mark.
In his third appearance with Rochester since making his NHL debut, goaltender Michael Houser (0-3-0) made 22 saves but was dealt with the loss. In three starts in the Amerks crease, Houser has made 82 saves while posting a 2.79 goals-against average to go with a .911 save percentage.