Courtesy of Amerks.com
Cleveland, OH – In the sixth round of the shootout, Sabres prospect Konsta Helenius netted the game-winning-goal to lift the Rochester Americans (3-3-0-0) to a 5-4 win over the Cleveland Monsters (2-3-0-1) Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
With the win, the Amerks jump to .500 on the season for the first time, having topped Cleveland in both of their encounters on the week, including a 6-1 win against the Monsters at home on Wednesday. Rochester has scored the first goal in each of its six games to begin the 2024-25 campaign and eight of the last nine games dating back to the previous season.
Brett Murray, Tyson Kozak, and Mason Jobst each recorded goals and an assist, while Isak Rosen joined their multi-point efforts with two assists. Lukas Rousek scored his first goal of the season, while defensemen Jack Rathbone and Zach Metsa each contributed to the win with assists.
Veteran goaltender Michael Houser (3-1-0) picked up his second win in a row on the season, making 38 saves along with stopping five of six shootout attempts. Jet Greaves took the loss in goal for Cleveland with a 40-save effort, going 4-for-6 in the shootout.
FIRST PERIOD
On their 22nd power-play of the season, Murray cashed in to put the Amerks on the board 10:58 into the first. The 6-foot-5 forward used his size and frame to cut to the front of the net, angling his stick to tip a pass from Rosen into the blue paint and past Greaves.
Trey Fix-Wolansky wasted no time responding, evening the score 22 seconds later, but Rochester would regain the lead in the final minute of the frame. With 59 seconds to play, Murray was planted in the slot before blasting a shot onto Greaves. The Monsters’ goaltender surrendered a rebound to his left, where Rousek was seated to flick the puck by Greaves’ glove, giving the Amerks a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
The middle stanza featured four goals and two penalty shot saves as both Houser and Greaves matched either with penalty shot saves on Owen Sillinger and Graham Slaggert, respectively.
Cleveland earned its first lead of the contest with goals six minutes apart, beginning with Roman Ahcan stealing a bouncing puck in the slot to even the score 5:21 into the period. Corson Ceulemans put the Monsters ahead when the defensemen crossed over the blueline from the left-wing side, slinging a puck over the glove of Houser for the 3-2 advantage. Cleveland fired a game high-18 shots on goal in the period.
Only seven seconds passed between Ceulemans putting Cleveland ahead and Jobst netting the game-tying conversion. Immediately following a face-off win at center ice, the Amerks rushed into the zone, where the captain corralled a spin-o-rama pass from Kozak off the wing, leading Jobst to the front of the goal where he shuffled the puck from his backhand through the five-hole of Greaves to make it 3-3.
After getting an assist, Kozak scored for a third straight game, posting his team-leading fourth goal of the season. With Rathbone on the left point, the blueliner guided the puck to the net front off a shot that Kozak got a piece of, forcing the puck through and into the back of the net with less than two minutes remaining in the second to give Rochester another one-goal lead by making it 4-3.
THIRD PERIOD
Luca Del Bel Belluz tied the game 5:30 into the final frame of regulation. The player who led Cleveland rookies in scoring from a season ago was racing toward the front of the net, catching a pass from Stanislav Svozil from the right wing to push the puck past Houser, evening the score at 4-4.
Houser made a bevy of quality stops throughout the contest. After denying Sillinger in the second period on a penalty shot, the veteran netminder had his number again late in the third. With 3:14 to play, Sillinger streaked down the right wing with time and space, before sending a wrist shot to the net that Houser robbed with a glove save. The 13-year pro came up big again at the buzzer, stopping Ahcan on the right side of the goal with a quality save in the final second, allowing the Amerks to force overtime.
OVERTIME
A combined nine shots were put on goal in overtime, with Rochester owning the 6-3 advantage. Just over a minute in, Helenius took a shot that nearly crossed through, but was stopped at the last second by Greaves. On the other end, Fix-Wolansky crept toward the front of the net, but Houser sprung out, launching the Cleveland forward while keeping the game alive. Noah Östlund nearly ended the game moments later, but was turned away on a great shot from inside the right-wing circle as the glove of Greaves flashed across.
SHOOTOUT
Cleveland struck first in the second round of the shootout when Del Bel Belluz solved Houser, but with the game on the line, Jobst forced the contest to continue with a shot that beat Greaves in round three. The breakaway battle continued until Helenius stepped up in the top of the sixth round, cruising down the middle before drifting right, then shooting left, going underneath the leg pad of Greaves for the lead.
Houser was faced with Cleveland’s Cameron Butler, who aimed five-hole, but was stonewalled for the Amerks netminder to secure the win.
UP NEXT
For a third straight week, the Amerks will face a North Division rival two games in a row as the team begins November with a weekend set in Utica, where they’ll take on the Comets who enter the week winless through the team’s first six games of the season.
Very entertaining game. Clearly the best of the short season so far (Amerks actually were 1-1 after 2 games)
Finally scored a power play goal. On to Utica…a team that has really gotten off to a brutal start. Those teams are dangerous to play because you know they are ready to break out.
So we had a good week replace a bad one. Props to the guys.