In a match-up of two goaltenders making their AHL playoffs debut, it was Rochester’s Devon Levi that won the battle. The highly-touted Buffalo Sabres prospect stopped 35 of 37 shots, including 13-of-14 in the third period, as the Americans held off the Crunch, 3-2, to win the first game in the best-of-five series. On the other side, Brandon Halverson rebounded from a shaky start to stop 23 of 26.
Rochester staked themselves to a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the game when Anton Wahlberg capped off an excellent individual effort as he out-muscled Chris Harpur and then cut inside Sean Day before tucking a backhand past Halverson.
Noah Ostlund doubled the lead as the Amerks scored on their lone power play of the game. With Devante Stephens in the box for holding, Ostlund walked into a one-timer and beat Halverson cleanly.
After that less-than-stellar start, the Crunch played pretty well for the next forty minutes as they generated 28 shots over the final two periods while holding the Amerks to just 19. Levi was up to the task, turning aside most of their chances until the 13:21 mark when rookie Dylan Duke recorded his first goal as a professional. It wasn’t anything spectacular, in fact it might not even have been a shot as Duke threw the puck towards the net with Daniel Walcott crashing the net. Duke’s shot hit Levi and somehow trickled through his pads and into the net.
Dylan Duke (Daniel Walcott, Declan Carlile)
Levi recovered to finish the period strong. The Crunch kept attacking in the third period and tied it up with another first Crunch goal. This time it came from deadline pick-up Jordy Bellerive. The Crunch won the puck in the neutral zone and Bellerive had a quick two-on-one with Gage Goncalves. The veteran forward elected to shoot and beat Levi clean over the shoulder.
Jordy Bellerive (Daniel Walcott, Chris Harpur) 2-2
The game was only tied for a few minutes, though. With the Crunch caught in their own zone and unable to clear the puck (sounds familiar) Isak Rosen tipped home a point shot that beat Halverson with traffic in front of the net.
The Crunch pushed, but couldn’t find the equalizer, even with Halverson pulled for the extra attacker. The best chance came when Jack Finley slid a pass through the crease to Alex Barre-Boulet, at the back post, but the puck jumped over BB’s stick.
The two teams will meet again on Sunday at 3:00 pm in Rochester.
