SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Phil Myers scored two minutes into the overtime frame to lift the Syracuse Crunch over the Rochester Americans, 3-2, in Game 1 of the North Division Semifinals tonight at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
Declan Carlile and Felix Robert also scored for the Crunch in their Game 1 victory. Cole Koepke and Shawn Element both recorded two assists each.
Goaltender Max Lagace turned aside 21-of-23 shots in net for the Crunch. Malcolm Subban stopped 37-of-40 between the pipes for the Amerks,
The Syracuse power play was successful on 2-of-4 opportunities, while the penalty kill was a perfect 3-for-3.
After a goalless first period, the Crunch opened scoring with a power-play goal 4:12 into the middle frame. Carlile passed the puck over to Koepke, who sent a return feed for Carlile to fire in with a one-timer from the point. Four minutes later, the Amerks evened the score when Tyson Kozak sent a cross-slot feed for Linus Weissbach to poke in on the back door.
Syracuse regained their lead with another power-play goal at the 16:30 mark. Rudolfs Balcers dished the puck down low for Robert to send in with a wrister from the bottom of the right circle. Rochester responded yet again and two minutes later Josh Passolt roofed a rebound past Lagace to knot the score.
The teams remained tied through the third period and the game went to overtime. At the 2:20 mark, Myers grabbed the puck at the blue line, deked around an Amerks defender and scored the game-winner with a shot from between the circles.
The Crunch host the Amerks for Game 2 tomorrow.
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