SYRACUSE, N.Y. ­­– The Syracuse Crunch edged the Rochester Americans, 5-3, tonight at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
 
The win advances the Crunch to 14-8-1-0 on the season and 6-3-1-0 in the 12-game season series with the Amerks.
 
Crunch goaltender Sam Montembeault turned aside 19-of-22 shots in victory. Billy Christopoulos stopped 2-of-5 in net for the Amerks before being relieved by Stefanos Lekkas late in the first period. Lekkas went on to stop 23-of-24. Syracuse went 1-for-2 on the power play and shut down Rochester's lone man-advantage.
 
The Crunch opened scoring just 13 seconds into the game when Henry Bowlby redirected Peter Abbandonato's centering pass from the right-side boards. At 4:10, Ben Thomas fired a shot from the blue line for Gabe Fortier to redirect in while cutting in front of the net. Syracuse continued scoring and went up 3-0 at 14:49 when Ryan Lohin netted a wrister from between the circles.
 
The Amerks finally got on the board with 2:21 remaining in the first period. Remi Elie sped down the right wing, cut in front of the crease and tucked the puck behind an outstretched Montembeault. Two minutes later, Rochester came back within one when Dominic Franco sent in a long right-point shot.
 
Rochester tied the game at 13:39 of the second period off wrister from Michael Mersch in the high slot. Syracuse responded and regained their lead five minutes later on the power play. Boris Katchouk set up Taylor Raddysh for a shot from the top of the right circle.
 
Syracuse held Rochester off in the third period and Katchouk hit the empty net in the final minute to secure the win.
 
The Crunch host the Utica Comets tomorrow at 3 p.m.
 
Ticket packages for the 2021-22 season are on sale now and can be purchased by calling the office at 315-473-4444. 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: Boris Katchouk is on a 13-game points streak (10g, 13a)…Taylor Raddysh is on an 11-game points streak (8g, 11a)…Henry Bowlby's goal is the quickest this season topping Taylor Raddysh's goal at 17 seconds on April 10 against Utica.