SYRACUSE, N.Y.  – The Rochester Americans scored five unanswered goals on their way to a 5-2 victory over the Syracuse Crunch tonight at the War Memorial Arena.
 
The loss moves the Crunch to 45-21-4-3 on the season and 5-4-1-1 in the 12-game season series with the Amerks.
 
Goaltender Atte Tolvanen stopped 30-of-35 between the pipes for the Crunch, while Adam Wilcox earned the win with 15 saves in net for the Amerks. Syracuse went 0-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.
 
Rochester opened scoring just 33 seconds into the game when Kevin Porter chased down a loose puck and fed it to Wayne Simpson to finish off. The Amerks doubled their lead with 2:48 remaining in the first period. Dalton Smith skated the puck into the zone and centered it for Andrew MacWilliam to tip in. Tyler Randell recorded the secondary assist.
 
The Amerks added three more in the second period before the Crunch finally responded. At the 2:05 mark, Yannick Veilleux fired home a rebound from the slot while on the power play. Assists went to Taylor Leier and Rasmus Asplund. Two minutes later, Zach Redmond set up Smith for a shot from the right point that changed direction and beat Tolvanen. Halfway through the frame, Simpson potted his second of the game when he jammed in a backhand from along the goal line with the help of Brandon Hickey and Asplund.
 
Syracuse finally solved Wilcox with 30 seconds remaining in the middle stanza. Andy Andreoff's shot bounced off a defender's skate and into the slot for Alex Barre-Boulet to send home. Carter Verhaeghe tallied a point on the goal.
 
The Crunch scored the only third-period goal 5:54 into the frame when Dennis Yan sniped a shot through traffic from the right circle. Barre-Boulet made it a multi-point night with the primary assist, while Cal Foote recorded the secondary. Syracuse was unable to complete a comeback and split the weekend's home-and-home series with Rochester.
 
The Crunch host the Laval Rocket on Friday at 7 p.m.
 
Single game tickets and packages for the 2018-19 season are on sale now and can be purchased in person at the Crunch office located inside the War Memorial Arena at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse, by calling the office at 315-473-4444 or online through Ticketmaster. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@syracusecrunch) using #SyrCrunch.
 
Crunchables: Dennis Yan snapped a 14-game goal-scoring drought tonight…Alex Barre-Boulet is tied for the league-lead with 33 goals…Carter Verhaeghe is tied for the league-lead with 77 points.