The Rochester Americans lost in the final minute of the game against the Syracuse Crunch last night. They have now lost the last eight games played against the Crunch.
The Amerks scored first when Anthony Stewart scored fresh off being benched on Sunday. His 13th goal was scored at 8:29. Stewart was clearly trying to show all night that he doesn’t want to be watching the game from the bench any more this season.
Syracuse took advantage of a bogus powerplay when Marc Methot scored. Stefan Meyer was in the box for holding even though a Crunch player was squeezing Meyer’s hand in his armpit.
Jordan Henry got a quick tripping penalty in the second period. Kirill Starkov scored to make the score 2-1 at 2:41.
Less than two minutes later, Rochester native, Derek Whitmore scored his first professional goal at 4:09 to tie the game back up 2-2.
The rest of the second period had both teams in the penalty box a few times with no scoring happening.
Only 1:37 into the 3rd period, Mark Mancari was hooked in the Amerks’ zone but, he was also called for diving. This seems to be a call the Amerks are getting a lot lately. But, it’s hard to dive when you have a stick between your skates pulling you sideways.
The Crunch took advantage of the 4-on-4 when David Cullen scored at 3:06. But, the Amerks wouldn’t take that. Mark Mancari, fresh out of the penalty box, got a great shot off from the point. It sailed right past LaCosta tying the game once again.
 The Amerks looked like they could at least hold the game into overtime until Marek Zagrapan took a holding penalty with a little over two minutes left in the game. Nate DiCasmirro scored on the powerplay, lifting the Crunch over the Amerks 4-3.
After the Crunch scored there was 52 seconds left in the game. Which is more than enough to score a goal to tie it up again. But, a blunder by the coaches and players left too many men on the ice for the puck drop after the goal. The Amerks came out with a too many men penalty. Shortly after that Dylan Hunter got another penalty for closing his hand on the puck. Two very stupid penalties to take at the end of the game when you are down by one.
The Amerks play the Crunch two more time this season. Let’s hope the Amerks can pull a solid game against the hot Syracuse Crunch on Sunday.
Tonight the Amerks play at home against the Grand Rapids Griffins. The puck drops at 7:35PM.
