SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Crunch rallied back from a two-goal deficit to force overtime and defeat the Rochester Americans, 3-2, tonight at Blue Cross Arena.
The Crunch went down by two in the second period before Gabriel Dumont rattled off back-to-back goals just 2:54 apart to send the game into overtime where Cole Koepke potted the game-winner. The victory advances the Crunch to 14-11-3-1 on the season and 4-2-0-0 in the 12-game season series against the Amerks.
Netminder Hugo Alnefelt earned the win stopping 28-of-30 shots between the pipes for the Crunch. Amerks goaltender Mat Robson turned aside 25-of-28. Syracuse was unable to convert on their one power-play opportunity, but went a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
After a scoreless first period, the Amerks opened scoring just 24 seconds into the middle frame. After Michael Mersch forced a turnover, Jack Quinn grabbed the loose puck and went bar down from between the circles. Rochester doubled their lead at 4:20 during an odd-man rush when Brendan Warren sped down the left wing and scored.
The Crunch responded with two late-period goals from Dumont to tie the game. His first came at the 16:59 mark when he was down low to tip in Sean Day’s right point shot. With just seven seconds remaining in the period, Dumont evened the score when he backhanded a rebound past Robson from the bottom of the left circle.
The Crunch took the win 54 seconds into the overtime frame when Koepke stole the puck in the neutral zone and fired in the game-winner from the right circle.
Syracuse returns home to begin a home-and-home weekend series against the Utica Comets.
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