Amerks trail 2-0 as series shifts to Rochester

The Amerks will return to Blue Cross Arena on Wednesday night aiming to change the tide of their series with the Syracuse Crunch. Rochester trails 2-0 in the best-of-five series following a pair of losses in Syracuse over the weekend.
Game 3 is set for 7:05 p.m. in Rochester on Wednesday. Game 4, if necessary, will be played at the same time on Friday. A pair of home wins for the Amerks would set the stage for a deciding Game 5 in Syracuse on Saturday.

"We just need to clean up some things, we know that," coach Chris Taylor told reporters after practice on Monday. "We watched lots of video here to rectify those situations. We didn't like the results, obviously.
"When you're in playoff time, results, that's ultimately what matters. We know that. But now we're back home and we've got a game on Wednesday to regroup here."
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Postseason scoring leaders

T-1. Kevin Porter: 1G - 2A - 3 PTS
T-1. Seth Griffith: 0G - 3A - 3 PTS
T-3: Stuart Percy: 1G - 1A - 2 PTS
T-3: Colin Blackwell: 1G - 1A - 2 PTS
T-3: C.J. Smith: 0G - 2A - 2 PTS

News and notes

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Watch: Youtube Video
- The Amerks played the Crunch 10 times during the regular-season, developing a rivalry that alternate captain Taylor Fedun said has shown in the physicality of their series thus far.

"That's exactly what we were expecting," he said. "That's playoff hockey in this league, especially against a team like Syracuse who've we seen, it seems, like 100 times this year. There's certainly a good rivalry there, a healthy competitiveness, maybe a little bit of hatred and it certainly shows on the ice."

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Game 1: RCH 2 - SYR 6

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The Rochester Americans and Syracuse Crunch exchanged a pair of goals during the opening period of Friday's Game 1 North Division Semifinals, but the Crunch outscored the Amerks 4-0 over the final 40 minutes to came away with a 6-2 win at the War Memorial Arena.
The Amerks were paced by Seth Griffith's two assists while Zach Redmond and Kyle Criscuolo scored their first markers of the postseason. Goaltender Linus Ullmark, who was one of several Amerks to make their AHL playoff debuts, stopped 28 of 33 but was tagged with the loss.
Gabriel Dumont (3+1) and Jamie McBain (1+2) each recorded multi-point outings for the Crunch, who improved to 12-1 on home ice dating back to last spring's Calder Cup Playoffs. Dominik Masin and Brendan Bradley rounded out the scoring while netminder Eddie Pasquale made 28 saves in a winning-effort.
After allowing the Amerks to even the game at 2-2 late in the first period, Syracuse responded with four straight unanswered goals, starting with a marker 1:44 into the second stanza.

Game 2: RCH 5 - SYR 6

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Despite the Rochester Americans scoring a pair of goals in each of the second and third periods of Saturday's Game 2 North Division Semifinal matchup, the Syracuse Crunch outlasted the Amerks as they came away with the 6-5 win at the War Memorial Arena.
The Amerks were led by Stuart Percy, Kevin Porter and Colin Blackwell's two-point performances while Justin Bailey and Nick Baptiste each scored their first professional postseason goals in the loss. Goaltender Linus Ullmark made 16 saves in the contest but was tagged with his second straight defeat.
Matthew Peca (1+3), Alexander Volkov (2+0), Eric Condra (0+2) and former Amerk Mat Bodie (0+2) all helped the Crunch to their 13th home win in the last 14 games dating back to last season's Calder Cup run as they finished with multi-point efforts. Mathieu Joseph, Reid McNeill and Olivier Archambault rounded out the scoring while netminder Eddie Pasquale stopped 20 of 25 shots he faced in saves in the winning effort.
Trailing 6-5 with 11:15 to play in regulation, the Amerks seemed to catch a break as they had 47 seconds of a 5-on-3 man-advantage to work with after high-sticking and delay of game infractions were assessed to Syracuse. The Crunch, however, were able to successfully kill off both penalties to preserve their one-goal cushion.