SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch fell to the Rochester Americans, 3-2, in a shootout this afternoon at Blue Cross Arena. 
The Crunch earned a standings point, moving to 39-20-3-3 on the season and 6-4-0-1 in the 12-game seasons series with the Americans.
Crunch goaltender Brandon Halverson put a stop to 24-of-26 shots and 0-of-2 shootout attempts. Devon Levi earned the win turning aside 27-of-29 shots and both shootout attempts in net for the Amerks. Syracuse was held scoreless on seven power-play opportunities while Rochester converted on 1-of-4.
The Americans struck first with 7:08 remaining in the opening frame. Zac Jones dished the puck from the top of the right circle to Matteo Costantini in the slot. Costantini then skated across the front of the crease and potted a backhand shot.
At the 4:11 mark of the second period the Crunch evened the score at one. Conor Geekie fed the puck to Jakob Pelletier who skated it out of the defensive zone and along the right boards into the offensive zone. Pelletier slid the puck to Nick Abruzzese who netted a backhander from the bottom of the right circle.
Trevor Kuntar notched a power-play goal 43 seconds into the final frame to make it 2-1, Rochester, when he tipped in Zac Jones’ shot from the right point. Syracuse then tied the game, 2-2, at the 6:24 mark with a snapshot from Ethan Gauthier. Max Groshev tried to punch the puck in from the left goal line, but it popped out to Tommy Miller at the top of the right circle. Miller set up a wide-open Gauthier at the top of the left circle where he fired a snapshot home to force overtime.
The teams remained tied through the overtime period and went to a shootout. Konsta Helenius scored in the first round and Olivier Nadeau found the back of the net in the second round to secure the win for Rochester.
