UPL’s saves, Joshua’s penalty killing power Amerks past Crunch

By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA

Wednesday’s 4-2 victory by the Rochester Americans over the Syracuse Crunch was a tale of two ends of the player development spectrum.

First there was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, the goaltender who completed his American Hockey League apprenticeship three years ago, rejoining the Amerks on a conditioning assignment from the parent Buffalo Sabres.

Then there was Jagger Joshua, the third-year rugged winger who is determined to prove his ceiling as a player extends well beyond bottom-six AHL forward.

While Luukkonen made every necessary save – especially the key-moment stops – Joshua scored the game-breaking, short-handed breakaway goal in a justify-the-coach’s-faith moment.

Josh Dunne, Viktor Neuchev and Trevor Kuntar also scored for the Amerks (3-2), who opened 2-0 and 3-1 leads in handing the Crunch (4-1) their first loss.

“I really liked our game tonight,” Amerks coach Michael Leone said. “We checked really well, we were above the puck and we played a connected game. They had to go through five guys to try to beat us.”

He also really liked Joshua’s game. A role player known for his ability to fight and bang bodies on the boards, Joshua has so far provided glimpses of far greater potential. Potential that Leone believes can be fulfilled.

“Jags is one of those guys, I really believe he can play (in the NHL) one day,” Leone said. “There’s way more to Jag’s game.

“We challenged him this summer to get to the player he could be. He trained really hard; he was one of the best testing athletes at the Sabres camp.”

And on Wednesday night, in front of 3,009 fans at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial, he was one of the Amerks best players, with first-star honors to prove it.

Much of it had to do with his late second-period penalty killing. With the Amerks ahead 3-2, Dunne was assessed a double minor for high sticking at 17:27. The lead was very much in jeopardy.

Until it wasn’t. Joshua turned the next two minutes into his own little show. First, he scored his breakaway goal at 18:29, then negated all but four seconds of what was left on Dunne’s penalty by driving to the net and drawing a holding penalty 53 seconds later.

“I appreciate the coach’s trust in me in that position. Maybe last year I didn’t get too much time on the kill and today was my chance and I made the best of the opportunity,” said Joshua, scored one goal, assisted on four and piled up 76 penalty minutes in 24 games after a January trade to the Amerks last season.

His goal on Wednesday came after he chased a loose puck to center, stripped defenseman Maxim Groshev of puck at the Syracuse blue line and moved down the slot by himself before zipping a wrister top shelf past goalie Brandon Halverson’s blocker.

“I always knew that I could do it but it’s nice to show and prove it, but it’s only one goal and I still feel like I have more to prove,” he said. “It was at a big time in the game so I definitely give it some more value, but I mean a goal’s a goal, they all feel pretty good.”

Ahead 4-2, the Amerks played a sound third period in protecting the lead, locking it down well in front of Luukkonen.

The seventh-year pro joined the Amerks for conditioning. It was his first game action since Oct. 1, when he suffered a lower body injury in a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He stopped 21 of 23 shots, including a breakaway and a couple missile one-timers by Conor Geekie.

Luukkonen said he accomplished what was necessary, though he said he wasn’t sure if he will rejoin the Sabres or play again for the Amerks on Friday.

He also said it seemed like just yesterday he was playing in Rochester, even though he had been on the War Memorial ice since November of 2022.

“In a sense it feels like I didn’t miss any time playing here,” Luukkonen said. “I wouldn’t be where I’m at without spending time here. That’s what was special about coming back here, seeing the people I still know and how much I owe them.”

The Amerks started quickly, building a 2-0 lead before the game was nine minutes old.

Dunne’s goal 2:01 into the game gave the Amerks an instant lead. After a Vsevolod Komarov shot sailed high, Olivier Nadeau retrieved the puck behind the net and made a nifty behind-the-back pass to the bottom of the right circle, where Dunn was alone and fired past Halverson.

The Amerks then used their first power play to extended the lead to 2-0 at 8:33. Isak Rosen passed back to Zac Jones at the center point. Halverson stopped his one-timer but Neuchev drove home the rebound.

Geekie’s power-play goal with 52.5 seconds remaining in the first period sliced the lead to 2-1. Luukkonen had no chance to stop Geekie’s bullet one-timer to the short side from the right circle.

The Amerks doubled up the Crunch again in the second period. Kuntar’s goal-mouth deflection of a Jake Leschyshyn shot made it 3-1 on a power play at 7:19 but Nick Abruzzese retaliated for Syracuse with a rebound goal 2:39 later.