Trevor Kuntar finished another eventful chapter of the Rochester Americans’ rivalry with the Syracuse Crunch, scoring 1:59 into overtime to secure a 3-2 victory Friday at Upstate Medical University Arena.
Kuntar converted a setup from Aidan McDonough and Gavin McCarthy for his fourth goal of the season. The winner rescued Rochester after Syracuse erased a 2-0 deficit, tying the game on Ethan Gauthier’s goal with 1:06 remaining in regulation.
The Amerks improved to 4-3-0-1 and moved ahead 2-1 in the teams’ 12-game season series. Syracuse fell to 3-4-1-0.
McCarthy helps Rochester build an early lead
McCarthy opened the scoring 10:42 into the first period with the first goal of his professional career. Jake Richard and Zac Funk collected the assists.
Matthew Peca doubled the lead at 14:04, scoring his fourth goal of the season on Rochester’s first power play. Conor Sheary and Caleb Jones assisted on the goal, which came during a first period filled with penalties and six fighting majors.
McCarthy later assisted on Kuntar’s overtime winner, giving the defenseman the first multipoint performance of his professional career.
The Amerks entered the night having surrendered a two-goal lead in a 4-2 loss at Syracuse six days earlier. Another Syracuse comeback threatened to produce the same result Friday.
Brendan Furry cut the deficit to 2-1 at 7:15 of the second period. Syracuse then generated 14 shots in the third, compared with nine for Rochester, before Gauthier tied the game at 18:54. Lucas Mercuri and Dylan Duke assisted on both Crunch goals.
Special teams and Villalta help Amerks hold on
Rochester finished 1-for-3 on the power play and killed all three Syracuse opportunities. The teams combined for 64 penalty minutes, including six fighting majors, but neither was penalized after the second period.
Matt Villalta made 22 saves on 24 shots to improve to 4-2-1. He stopped nine of 10 shots over the opening two periods before facing 14 shots during Syracuse’s third-period push.
Mads Søgaard also made 22 saves, facing 25 Rochester shots. The Amerks finished with a 25-24 advantage in shots, including both attempts taken during overtime.
The victory made Rochester 4-0-0-0 in Friday games this season. The Amerks have outscored their opponents 17-5 in those contests.
Rochester will begin a four-game homestand against the Hershey Bears at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday at Blue Cross Arena.
Information gathered from theahl.com.
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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Amerks survive Syracuse comeback to win overtime thriller