Gaustad, Amerks hold off Crunch

Paul Gaustad had a goal and three assists to help Rochester to a 5-2 win over Syracuse at the Blue Cross Arena on Thursday night.

The Amerks, outshot 15-4 in the first period, took control over the final 40 minutes to move into a first-place tie in the North Division.

Gaustad’s fifth goal of the season came at the 12:02 mark of the first and tied the score just over three minutes after Alexander Svitov had given the Crunch a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, Rochester owned a 21-2 edge in shots, but didn’t claim the lead until Derek Roy‘s power-play goal with 1:53 left. The Amerks had six man-advantages in the middle frame and 12 for the game.

Gaustad helped set up Milan Bartovic‘s goal to make it 3-1, and made it a four-point night with an assist on Chris Thorburn‘s marker at the 17:00 mark.

Thomas Vanek closed out the scoring at 17:57 on another power play.

Elsewhere on Thursday:
Mikko Koivu had two goals and an assist to lead Houston to a 5-2 win over San Antonio… Maxime Ouellet made 45 saves and was 6-for-8 in the shootout, but Portland dropped a 3-2 decision to Springfield… Alexei Smirnov scored the winning goal midway through the third period as Cincinnati held off Milwaukee, 2-1… Cory Larose scored twice and Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves as Chicago beat Grand Rapids, 3-1.